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Integration of PayPal in the payment process: Now it is questionable whether the payment service is indispensable
Photo: Silas Stein / dpa
The Federal Cartel Office in Bonn has initiated proceedings against the payment service PayPal.
The subject of the proceedings are two clauses in the terms and conditions for dealers that could restrict competition and violate the ban on abuse, as the cartel office announced on Monday.
It first wants to examine the market power of PayPal.
According to market studies, PayPal is the leading provider of online payments in Germany, as the Cartel Office explained.
It wants to examine the market power of PayPal and the extent to which online retailers are dependent on offering PayPal as a payment method.
PayPal is more expensive than others
According to the two PayPal clauses at issue, retailers are not allowed to offer their goods and services at lower prices if customers choose a cheaper payment method than PayPal.
In addition, sellers may not express any preference for payment methods other than PayPal or make their use more convenient for customers.
According to the Cartel Office, PayPal is one of the most expensive online payment services in Germany: The standard fee in Germany is 2.49 to 2.99 percent of the payment amount plus 34 to 39 cents per payment.
Usually, merchants pass the fees on to the product prices, so that consumers ultimately bear the costs of the payment services - unlike the shipping costs, however, they are usually not shown separately.
If retailers are now prevented from taking into account the different costs of the various payment methods with corresponding surcharges or discounts, other and new payment methods can hold their own less well in price and quality competition or not even come onto the market, as the Cartel Office explained.
"Market-dominant" payment services could thus gain more leeway for their own pricing.
»Consumers would then suffer in particular, as they ultimately pay these higher costs indirectly via the product prices.«
tmk/AFP
