Merchants charging fees for using APT, page-2

Currently the consumer has no downside to making a purchase through APT. Largely it provides a budgeting tool, while their existing credit cards provide their liquidity. Adding a surcharge will push consumers into other forms of payment being Cash (cheaper) or Credit Cards (get rewards for spending i.e. cashbacks).

The risk is real for APT as their existing model has been built around selling their army of buyers to merchants in exchange for those 3-5% fees. Should merchants be able to start passing on some or all of that cost, while still offering other alternatives for buying, then you'll see APTs strength diminish.

APT can combat this similar to how credit cards do (provide points/cashback) but this will ultimately hurt their revenues.