Card Surcharge Ban
Australia’s Card Surcharge Rules Changed. Has Your Website Caught Up?
Your card machine may have updated, but your website might still add an old fee. Here’s what Australian businesses should check after the October 2026 changes.
Farhan Nur Hamim · 14 October 2026 · 7 min read
Australia’s Card Surcharge Rules Changed. Has Your Website Caught Up?
Your payment terminal has stopped adding a card surcharge.
Your website still says “1.5% card fee applies”.
An old payment link adds the fee anyway.
The customer has one question: Which price am I actually paying?
This is an illustrative situation, not a claim about a particular business. It shows why Australia’s October 2026 card surcharge changes are also a website, communication and customer-experience issue.
For a tradie collecting deposits, a retailer selling online or a service business taking bookings, changing one setting may leave several other places out of date.
What changed in Australia?
The RBA’s reforms allowed eftpos, Mastercard and Visa to introduce no-surcharge rules from 1 October 2026. Other networks also adopted no-surcharge positions.
The implementation dates in current official guidance include:
Network or payment service | No-surcharge position took effect |
|---|---|
eftpos, Mastercard and Visa | 1 October 2026 |
American Express, JCB and UnionPay | 1 October 2026 |
PayPal | 5 October 2026 |
The rules and any exceptions depend on the network and applicable law. Confirm your particular arrangement with your payment service provider.
For eftpos, Mastercard and Visa, the changes cover payments in-store, online and through cards stored in mobile wallets.
Your card machine and your website may have different settings
A change at the payment terminal does not establish what your website, invoicing software or booking tool is doing.
Square provides a useful example. Its guidance says it automatically disabled its card-surcharge setting on 1 October. However, Square cannot automatically remove a card surcharge a seller created through another mechanism, such as a custom service charge. Third-party integrations need separate checking.
That is why “our provider switched it off” is a starting point for investigation.
Check the actual payment journey.
A small fee can create a bigger trust problem
Consider this hypothetical example:
Item | Old checkout configuration | Corrected configuration |
|---|---|---|
Displayed total price | A$250.00 | A$250.00 |
Card surcharge of 1.5% | A$3.75 | A$0.00 |
Amount charged | A$253.75 | A$250.00 |
The corrected column assumes the underlying price stays unchanged, the payment is covered by a no-surcharge rule and no other applicable charge exists.
The 1.5% rate is an illustration, not an Australian average.
A customer who sees one amount on a quote and another at payment may question the rest of the transaction. Your team then needs to explain a mismatch that could have been found before the customer encountered it.
We recommend treating accurate pricing as part of website quality. Our website trust checklist explores the wider information customers use to assess a business.
Five places an old surcharge can hide
1. Checkout and booking settings
Inspect the final screen before payment, including any change that occurs when a customer selects a payment method.
Check percentage fees, fixed fees and custom charges. Find out which system creates each line item before making changes.
A fee labelled “service fee” needs investigation if it is really being charged because the customer pays by card. The ACCC warns against avoiding no-surcharge rules by renaming a card-payment surcharge.
Legitimate charges unrelated to payment method are a separate matter.
2. Payment links and deposit requests
Open the payment links your team currently sends to customers.
Test the journey from a quote email or booking confirmation, not only from your homepage. Check deposits as well as final payments.
Compare the requested amount with the payment screen. Confirm how the integration calculates any additional fee.
Use your provider’s supported testing process. Do not assume that a change to one link or checkout automatically reaches every connected tool.
3. Invoice and quote templates
Look for old wording in templates your team reuses:
Card-fee notes at the bottom of a quote.
Payment instructions in invoice emails.
Saved deposit-request messages.
Attachments describing accepted payment methods.
The RBA says a card payment made on or after 1 October may no longer support surcharging even if the invoice was issued earlier. It also says business-to-business card payments are not automatically exempt.
Check the applicable rules with your provider before treating an older invoice or business customer as an exception.
4. Website pages and downloadable material
Search your website and documents for wording such as:
“Card surcharge”.
“Processing fee”.
“Credit card fee”.
“Payment handling fee”.
A match does not prove that a fee is prohibited. It identifies something to review against how the fee actually works.
Include pricing pages, FAQs, booking terms, product information, menus and downloadable brochures. Assign one person to maintain a list of the places that need changing.
If your business has several customer journeys, website design and structure should make their pricing information easier to maintain consistently.
5. Connected tools and staff instructions
A booking provider, invoice system, online store and physical terminal may each have their own configuration.
Create a simple record:
Where the customer pays | Who manages the settings? | Has it been checked? |
|---|---|---|
Website checkout | Your nominated website or store administrator | Record date and result. |
Booking platform | Booking-system administrator | Record date and result. |
Invoice payment link | Accounts team or software provider | Record date and result. |
Payment terminal | Merchant service provider and authorized staff | Record date and result. |
Explain confirmed changes to the people answering customer questions. They should know the current price and where to escalate a mismatch.
ASBFEO’s guidance likewise asks businesses to review payment systems and keep information consistent across physical and online channels.
Removing a surcharge does not remove your processing costs
Your business may still pay its provider for accepting payments.
Review those costs and your overall pricing using your own figures. The ACCC says businesses can adjust prices, but explanations about prices and reasons for increases must be accurate.
Do not describe a broader price increase as solely caused by card fees if other costs are part of the decision.
If rising costs are creating wider pressure, our article on why higher sales do not always solve cash-flow problems provides related business context.
What about cash discounts and other fees?
Payment-method discounts can still be offered. The ACCC says they should be explained before a customer decides to book, order or pay. The full undiscounted price must be displayed; a discounted price should be shown alongside it.
The card-surcharge changes also do not automatically remove genuine weekend, public-holiday or booking fees. Those charges still have their own disclosure and pricing requirements.
For consumer-facing pricing, the ACCC generally requires a prominent minimum total price including taxes and unavoidable or pre-selected charges. Its guidance also explains specific situations, including hospitality surcharges.
Check the relevant guidance for your business rather than assuming every extra fee follows the same rule.
Run a customer-journey check this week
Choose one service, booking or product and follow its route from first price display to receipt.
Record:
The price the customer initially sees.
Any selected options or legitimate additional charges.
The amount requested in the quote or payment link.
The total shown immediately before payment.
The amount and fee descriptions on the receipt.
Where the figures differ, identify the reason and confirm that it is appropriate. Correct the configuration and wording together.
Have the responsible person verify the journey again after the change. Keep a record of the result so staff can refer to the same information.
An ongoing website care plan can help organise content updates and maintenance. Payment settings and provider responsibilities should still be confirmed separately.
How Rewaver can help
Rewaver supports trade and service business websites through website design, content updates and ongoing maintenance.
If your pricing pages, forms and payment information no longer agree, start by identifying which systems and people control them.
We can discuss the website work required and coordinate confirmed changes with the relevant providers. Your payment provider remains the source for rules specific to your payment arrangement.
Talk to Rewaver about reviewing your website’s pricing and customer journey.
Frequently asked questions
Does Australia’s 2026 card surcharge change apply online?
For covered eftpos, Mastercard and Visa payments, yes. The industry guidance includes online transactions and payments made with those cards in mobile wallets.
Will my provider update everything automatically?
Do not assume it. Square’s own guidance distinguishes its automatic surcharge setting from custom charges and third-party integrations. Check your provider and each connected system.
Can an old invoice still include a card surcharge?
An earlier invoice date does not automatically preserve surcharging for a later payment. Confirm the applicable network rules with your payment provider.
Should I remove every fee from my website?
No. Review what each fee represents. Charges unrelated to paying by card have separate pricing and disclosure requirements.
Information checked on 14 October 2026. Confirm network rules, exceptions and implementation details with your payment provider.
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