The German competition authority Bundeskartellamt preliminarily assesses that PayPal’s ban on surcharges for customers who use the payment service may violate competition law.
Since 2018, PayPal has prohibited online shops from charging special fees for payments via the service, even though the company’s fees for merchants are higher than average, according to the authority.
The authority believes that the rules may hamper competition from cheaper payment services, since merchants cannot pass on cost differences to customers. Instead, the costs risk being spread across all consumers through higher prices.
Bundeskartellamt is also considering requiring the repayment of financial benefits that PayPal may have obtained through potential violations of the rules.
PayPal now has the opportunity to submit comments. The authority emphasizes that the assessment is preliminary and that no final decision has yet been made.
