Red Balloon Pty Ltd has paid penalties of A$43,200 "following the issue of four infringement notices by the ACCC for alleged breaches of the new excessive payment surcharges laws in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010," the regulator said on Friday. "Red Balloon is an online trader that sells 'experiences' in Australia, such as skydiving jumps, wine tours, and cooking classes," it said.Red Balloon "is classified as a large business under the excessive payment surcharges provisions," ACCC explained."The ban on excessive surcharges has applied to large businesses in Australia for more than a year, commencing on 1 September 2016.  For all other Australian businesses, the new ban has applied since 1 September this year," it said.The ACCC alleged that on 31 March and 30 June 2017, Red Balloon charged four consumers excessive payment surcharges in respect of payments they made by MasterCard credit, Visa credit, Visa debit and MasterCard debit respectively."Red Balloon was charging these customers more than allowed under the law prohibiting excessive payment surcharges on card transactions," ACCC deputy chair Michael Schaper said."This provides that businesses can only pass on to customers what it costs to accept the payment, including fees such as merchant service fees, and terminal rental and maintenance fees."If a business wants to impose a payment surcharge on card transactions, that business is responsible for ascertaining the cost of acceptance of the payment before imposing the surcharge onto customers," Schaper said.Red Balloon has since lowered its payment surcharges to the correct amounts, and cooperated with the investigation, the ACCC said.