Following the payment service users (PSUs)' complaints that, when authorising card payment transactions on a web shop with an domain extension of Member State A in the amount of, for example, currency A 100, the Payment Services Provider (PSP) issuing the payment card later charges the PSU a different amount (for example, Currency A 105).

The Member State A’s Competent Authority asked the PSPs for an explanation and received the following response from the industry: 

This situation occurs with card payments on a web (internet) shop of an EU merchant that has a domain extension of Member State A, but that is not a Member State A merchant, where the payment service provider is another EU acquirer (not from Member State A).

At the moment of a card payment, the transaction is presented to the cardholder in the amount expressed in Member State A currency. This is the only amount and currency to which the cardholder gives consent at the point of sale, i.e., the “original currency” of such a transaction is Member State A’s currency.

This is also the amount and the currency that the foreign merchant submits for further processing and settlement with Payment Schemes.

However, the foreign merchant’s acquirer settles those card payment transactions with Payment Schemes in the chosen “settlement currency”, e.g., EUR, USD, etc. Such a settlement value is sent to card issuers.

The issuer receives the original and the settlement amount, as well as the currency. The billing amount and the currency for which the issuer charges the cardholders depend on the issuer’s regular cards’ foreign exchange set-up.

Some card issuers charge their cardholders in the original amount and currency, i.e., in Member State A currency. However, other issuers convert the received settlement amount to the HRK value, which is different from the original amount in Member State A currency (due to different exchange rates and dates applied by the issuer), i.e., cardholders are billed in the Member State A currency amount, which is different from the original Member State A currency amount to which they gave consent at the point of sale.

Since a foreign merchant and a foreign merchant’s acquirer participate in this chain, according to the industry's opinion, such cases are beyond the PSP issuers' control.