From 1 October 2026, Australian businesses that accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos card payments will no longer be able to charge customers a separate card surcharge.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has announced changes allowing these card networks to introduce “no surcharge” rules for debit, credit and prepaid card payments.

What does this mean for businesses?

Many businesses currently recover merchant fees by adding a card surcharge at the point of payment. Once surcharging is removed, those costs will still exist, but businesses may no longer be able to pass them on separately.

This means business owners will need to review how they recover payment processing costs.

For many businesses, this is likely to mean one or more of the following:

• increasing prices to absorb card processing costs
• reviewing margins on lower-value transactions
• comparing merchant fee rates between providers
• encouraging lower-cost payment methods where appropriate
• reviewing whether existing pricing models remain sustainable

Why prices may need to increase

Although customers may no longer see a separate card surcharge, the cost of accepting card payments does not disappear.

Merchant fees, payment platform fees and administration costs will still need to be paid by the business. If these costs cannot be recovered as a separate surcharge, they will generally need to be built into the overall price of goods and services.

This may particularly affect businesses with tight margins, high transaction volumes or a large number of small card payments, such as hospitality, retail, trades, health services and professional service firms.

Review your pricing before the changes apply

Businesses should not wait until the rules commence to consider the impact.

Now is a good time to:

• identify how much your business currently pays in merchant and payment processing fees
• calculate how much surcharge income you currently recover from customers
• assess whether current prices still achieve your required margins
• compare payment providers and card processing arrangements
• update quotes, engagement terms, price lists and customer communications where required

The key takeaway

The removal of card surcharges may simplify pricing for consumers, but it is not cost-free for businesses.

Business owners should treat this as a pricing and margin issue, not just a payment processing issue. In many cases, prices may need to increase so the business can continue to recover the cost of accepting card payments.

Please contact our office if you would like assistance reviewing how these changes may affect your pricing, margins or cash flow.