FAQ Fee reduction
Worldline will reduce your debit card fees from 1 September 2025
More favourable transaction costs for merchants for debit card payments
If your customers pay by card in your shop, you as a merchant can save costs in future: Worldline is optimising its fee structure for debit cards in the face-to-face business with a fee reduction to relieve the burden on merchants and make the acceptance of national and international Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit even more attractive. The fee reduction applies to all transactions with a purchase amount of up to CHF 14.99 and will come into force in Switzerland from 1 September 2025. Your existing pricing model will remain unchanged for higher purchase amounts (CHF 15 or more).
The most important questions and answers
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Our fee reduction means that all transactions with a purchase amount of up to CHF 14.99 that are made with a national and international Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit in face-to-face shops are discounted.
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For lower purchase amounts, the pro rata transaction costs for merchants are often relatively high compared to turnover. With this targeted reduction, we want to ease the burden on merchants and help them to reduce their costs. This mutually agreed regulation was developed in co-operation with the price watchdog.
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Worldline analyses its external fee structures at regular intervals in order to make them more transparent and cost-effective for the benefit of merchants and consumers. Our decision to adjust fees is significantly influenced by the development of the interchange fees of the card-issuing banks as well as the scheme fees of the card networks. For Debit Mastercard, Worldline already reduced its fees by 2 centimes in August 2024 as a consequence of the reduced interchange fee. For Visa Debit, there are not yet any new final regulations for adjusting the interchange fee.
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The cost structure in e-commerce has not changed since the introduction of the new debit cards. Unlike in the face-to-face sector, there are no fixed fees here, but rather variable costs that are passed on directly to the merchants. The reduction in fees is deliberately focussed on the face-to-face area, where the relative cost burdens are greatest.
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If you have any further questions about the fee reduction, please do not hesitate to contact us at campaign.ch@worldline.com.