ASIC Sues PayPal: Alleges Unfair Terms for Small Aussie Businesses

Thursday, 07/09/2023 | 06:49 GMT by Arnab Shome
  • PayPal gives only 60 days to businesses to challenge any errors with fees.
  • The payments firm has about 608,275 active business account contracts in the country.
PayPal

The Aussie financial market watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), is taking the local arm of PayPal to court, alleging that standard contract terms of the digital payments giant are unfair to small business customers.

ASIC Calls PayPal’s Contract Unfair

According to the announcement today (Thursday), PayPal Australia Pty Limited provided small businesses a time period of 60 days to notify any errors or discrepancies in fees that the payment platform is charging. If the 60-day deadline is passed, the small businesses have to accept those fees to be accurate.

The Aussie regulator alleged the terms as unfair since it allows PayPal to retain overcharged or incorrectly charged fees if the small businesses failed to point out the fees within 60 days of appearing in the account statement.

ASIC pointed out that the contract term causes a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of small businesses. The lawsuit additionally highlighted that it is not reasonably necessary to protect PayPal’s legitimate interests, and the terms would cause detriment to PayPal business account holders.

Will There Be Any Retrospective Action?

PayPal Australia added the alleged unfair contract term initially in 2010, which was applied to standard form consumer contracts for financial products and services. On 12 November 2016, the payments company expanded it to include small business contracts.

There were about 608,275 business account contracts between PayPal and active users in Australia at the end of June.

The regulator is now seeking a declaration that the term is void, along with injunctions and corrective orders.

“ASIC has commenced this action to protect the interests of small businesses,” said Sarah Court, the Deputy Chair at ASIC. “We allege this term is unfair because it allows PayPal to escape the consequences of its own errors in overcharging small businesses, and places additional burdens on small businesses to detect and correct charging errors.”

Meanwhile, PayPal will suspend its crypto services in the United Kingdom from October for a minimum of three months due to regulations in the country.

The Aussie financial market watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), is taking the local arm of PayPal to court, alleging that standard contract terms of the digital payments giant are unfair to small business customers.

ASIC Calls PayPal’s Contract Unfair

According to the announcement today (Thursday), PayPal Australia Pty Limited provided small businesses a time period of 60 days to notify any errors or discrepancies in fees that the payment platform is charging. If the 60-day deadline is passed, the small businesses have to accept those fees to be accurate.

The Aussie regulator alleged the terms as unfair since it allows PayPal to retain overcharged or incorrectly charged fees if the small businesses failed to point out the fees within 60 days of appearing in the account statement.

ASIC pointed out that the contract term causes a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of small businesses. The lawsuit additionally highlighted that it is not reasonably necessary to protect PayPal’s legitimate interests, and the terms would cause detriment to PayPal business account holders.

Will There Be Any Retrospective Action?

PayPal Australia added the alleged unfair contract term initially in 2010, which was applied to standard form consumer contracts for financial products and services. On 12 November 2016, the payments company expanded it to include small business contracts.

There were about 608,275 business account contracts between PayPal and active users in Australia at the end of June.

The regulator is now seeking a declaration that the term is void, along with injunctions and corrective orders.

“ASIC has commenced this action to protect the interests of small businesses,” said Sarah Court, the Deputy Chair at ASIC. “We allege this term is unfair because it allows PayPal to escape the consequences of its own errors in overcharging small businesses, and places additional burdens on small businesses to detect and correct charging errors.”

Meanwhile, PayPal will suspend its crypto services in the United Kingdom from October for a minimum of three months due to regulations in the country.

About the Author: Arnab Shome
Arnab Shome
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About the Author: Arnab Shome
Arnab is an electronics engineer-turned-financial editor. He entered the industry covering the cryptocurrency market for Finance Magnates and later expanded his reach to forex as well. He is passionate about the changing regulatory landscape on financial markets and keenly follows the disruptions in the industry with new-age technologies.
  • 6596 Articles
  • 94 Followers

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