Google Pay has reportedly started charging users a convenience fee when they do a mobile recharge plan via the app’s unified payments interface (UPI) service. After years of allowing users to recharge their prepaid plan and pay bills at no additional cost.
As Google is joining rival payment platforms Paytm and PhonePe in charging users for prepaid recharge payments made via Google Pay.
Google is yet to make an announcement for this to the introduction of convenience fees on its payment app.
As per report, Google Pay has begun charging a convenience fee for mobile recharge plans on the payment service.
A screenshot share by the user shows that Google adds a Rs. 3 convenience fee to the Rs. 749 prepaid recharge plan from Jio.
This screenshot indicates the convenience fee is inclusive of GST.
The user adds that the convenience fee shows up for both UPI and card transactions.
Mobile recharge plans worth less than Rs. 100 will not be charge a convenience fee, while recharge plans that cost up to Rs. 200 and up to Rs. 300 will be charged Rs. 2 and Rs. 3, respectively, according to report.
Transactions worth more than Rs. 300 will charge a Rs. 3 convenience fee.
But, it is unclear whether the section was add recently as part of the 10th November 2023 update.
Google’s terms said that users will be notified of applicable fees before the transaction is complete.
The updated terms of service also said that fees might be determine by the company at its own discretion.
As it appears that purchasing recharge plans via the operator’s website is the only way to avoid convenience fees.
It should be noted that Google Pay isn’t the first payment service provider to charge additional fees for transactions.
These charges were previously introduce by Paytm and PhonePe, similar to other online services for ordering food online or booking movie tickets.
