Attempted Extortion: Why the Price of POS Terminal Services Has Doubled

In recent days, Auroranews has received numerous complaints from citizens regarding the sharp increase in the price of POS terminal servicing. Specifically, seven companies providing these services have raised their fees twice, from 1,800 AMD to 3,600 AMD, without any justification. Experts assert that this is nothing short of an attempt to exploit citizens for excessive profit—essentially a form of theft.

Amidst rising public outcry, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission recently fined the companies a total of 288,828,000 AMD for setting unjustified high prices for POS terminal services. More specifically, the commission imposed a fine on a group of companies including “Toc-master,” “Inttech,” “Q Terminal,” “POS Strich,” “Terminal Serv,” “Meri-Krist,” and “Smart Solutions” for establishing unjustified high prices (increased from 1,800 AMD to 3,600 AMD), as well as for implementing discriminatory pricing, which led to abuse of dominant market position.

Furthermore, the commission has mandated an end to the establishment and enforcement of unjustified high and discriminatory prices and has ordered that additional revenues collected from operators for POS terminal services between November 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025, be refunded or offset based on the provision laid out in their decision.

Auroranews has attempted to contact the aforementioned companies, but our inquiries have largely gone unanswered. Specifically, four companies promised to provide clarification on the reasons behind the 100% increase in service fees at a later time. We will present this information to our readers once it becomes available.

Notably, this issue has also been addressed by MP Babken Tunyan from the Civil Contract faction in the National Assembly. “Since last year, businesses have been complaining that companies providing POS terminal services have sharply raised their prices almost simultaneously. They have also approached us, the MPs, in response to which we noted that an investigation has been initiated at the Competition Protection Commission, and the issue will soon be resolved. The Commission has already made a decision stating that companies imposing unjustified high prices for POS terminal services will return the additional revenue collected from operators, cease the establishment of unjustified high and discriminatory prices, and will be fined 288.8 million AMD,” Tunyan stated on Facebook.