The Reserve Bank of Australia’s card surcharging ban came into effect on 1 October 2026, meaning businesses can no longer add a surcharge when customers pay by eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express. 

If your business previously applied card surcharges, you may need to update your payment systems, pricing and customer information to reflect the changes. If you have any questions about how the changes affect your payment arrangements, contact your merchant service provider for further information.

What your business needs to do now

If you are still working through what these changes mean for your business, now is the time to:

  • Check where you apply card surcharges: Review your eftpos terminals, point-of-sale systems, invoicing software, online payment platforms and other payment systems.
  • Understand your card payment costs: Review your transaction volumes, merchant fees and other payment-related costs.
  • Review your pricing: Consider how removing card surcharges affect your costs and prices.
  • Update your systems: Make sure the required changes have been made and test your systems to ensure they are working as intended.
  • Contact your merchant service provider: If your merchant terminals or systems haven’t been automatically updated, discuss what actions you need to take with your merchant service provider. You may also wish to compare services and fees from other providers.
  • Prepare your staff: Make sure they understand the changes and can explain them clearly to customers.

Communicating the change with customers

You should make sure any changes to your pricing or payment arrangements are clearly explained to your customers. This includes:

  • Removing card surcharge information from menus, websites, booking systems, invoices and other customer-facing materials, unless it relates to weekend or public holiday surcharges.
  • Updating displayed prices where necessary.
  • Ensuring staff can explain any pricing changes to customers.
  • Checking information is consistent across your physical and online channels.

Note: If you change the price of a product or service, do not mislead customers about the reason for the increase. Here are examples of how the changes may work.

No card surcharge
A convenience store displays a drink for $4.95. The customer pays $4.95 whether they pay by cash, debit card or credit card.

Public holiday surcharge
A business applies a clearly disclosed public holiday surcharge. For example: “A 10% public holiday surcharge applies today.”

More information and resources

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