Australia bans extra card fees at checkout from 1 October
Reviewed by Helen Jones
From 1 October 2026, Australian merchants generally cannot add a separate surcharge when a customer pays with eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express, including prepaid, debit and credit cards on those networks. The Reserve Bank of Australia is ending its ban on no-surcharge rules, after which the networks enforce the change through merchant contracts. PayPal’s matching no-surcharge rule starts on 5 October 2026. The ACCC has warned businesses not to hide a card fee under another name. Cash or PayID discounts remain allowed if they are clearly disclosed, and booking, delivery, weekend or holiday fees can still exist. Card processing costs do not vanish. They come out of merchant margin instead of a visible checkout add-on. The change generally covers overseas-issued cards. An invoice raised earlier can lose its surcharge if the customer pays after the start date. Taxi card fees stay under state or territory rules.
Until now, many Australian checkouts could show a card surcharge as a separate line, so the listed price looked lower and the processor fee was passed through in the open. For a tiny product business, that was a simple way to keep list prices round while the customer absorbed the card cost. After 1 October that pass-through disappears at the point of sale. The listed price has to carry the fee, or margin shrinks. Relabelling the same charge as an admin or processing fee is the risk the ACCC is already flagging. Discounts for cash or PayID still work if they are honest, but they are a discount off a true price, not a workaround for a banned card add-on.
Analysis
This is a change to act on if you take Australian card payments, not a trend to watch from the sidelines. Open Stripe, PayPal and any AU invoice templates this week, turn off surcharge add-ons, fold the fee into the listed price, and flag any unpaid invoices that will settle after 1 October so they do not still try to collect a banned line item.
Source note
Pulse published by Collab365 Spaces, reviewed by Helen Jones on . Cite as "Australia bans extra card fees at checkout from 1 October", Collab365 Spaces. 1 source referenced.