Card surcharge ban Australia: what businesses must change

The card surcharge ban in Australia generally requires businesses to remove surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard, Visa, American Express and UnionPay payments from 1 October 2026. PayPal follows from 5 October. Exceptions can apply under network rules, law or regulation. Check your payment arrangements, then update customer terms, quotes, invoices and payment settings.

If your terms of trade, quotes or invoices still carry a surcharge line, check whether the applicable no-surcharge rule prevents you collecting it. Here is where the line hides, and how to rewrite it.

Can you still add a card surcharge from 1 October?

Generally, no, for the payment methods covered below, subject to applicable exceptions. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lifted its prohibition on no-surcharge rules for the designated networks—eftpos, Mastercard and Visa—from 1 October 2026. Those networks introduced no-surcharge rules. American Express and UnionPay also removed surcharging, although they are not formally regulated by the RBA.

PayPal's rule takes effect on 5 October 2026, as the RBA FAQ's PayPal endnote confirms. The dates differ, so check the payment method as well as the payment date.

So the ban doesn't sit in your terms of trade. It reaches you through a contract you have already signed. The ACCC says the no-surcharge rules "are set by each card network's scheme rules and merchant contracts". Your merchant agreement with your payment provider is where the rule bites. The networks and payment providers enforce it, not the ACCC.

Some providers have said they may switch off surcharging in their systems from 1 October. So a surcharge line in your terms may already be one your terminal won't charge.

The ban is about how the customer pays. Weekend, booking and service fees that don't depend on payment method can stay.

The no-surcharge entries are subject to exemptions under the relevant network rules, law or regulation. Confirm any exemption before relying on it.

Does the card surcharge ban apply to business-to-business payments?

Yes, as a starting point. The RBA FAQ covers business-to-business payments and not-for-profits. Exceptions can arise under network rules, law or regulation; company status alone does not create one.

It's easy to file surcharges under retail. But the commercial card your client's accounts team uses is still a Visa or Mastercard. A wholesaler, a cleaning company and an IT provider are all inside the change.

Ask your payment provider to confirm the applicable rule and any exemption in writing. If the claimed exemption depends on law or regulation, confirm its scope with the relevant regulator or your legal adviser before relying on it.

What about invoices sent before 1 October?

An earlier invoice does not preserve a surcharge if the payment is covered by a no-surcharge rule when it is made. Apply the relevant start date and check any exemption. The RBA specifically warns businesses about invoices issued before 1 October but paid afterwards.

A worked example. A Brisbane commercial cleaning company sends a client an invoice for $8,800, including GST, on 22 September. Its terms of trade say card payments attract a 1.5% surcharge. The invoice is due on 22 October. The figures here are illustrative. Assume the payments are covered by the relevant no-surcharge rules and no network, legal or regulatory exemption applies.

In this example, an invoice saying "$8,932 if paid by card" is now wrong for the covered payments. Reissue it, or send the client a short note confirming the amount payable is $8,800.

Where a surcharge clause hides in your contracts

Most surcharge wording was written once and copied everywhere. Check these five places.

1. Terms of trade and credit applications. The payment clause, and any definition of "Fees" or "Total Price" that includes a surcharge.

2. Quotes and proposals. A line such as "prices exclude a 1.5% card surcharge". A quote accepted in September can still be affected when payment is made in November.

3. Invoice templates and accounting software. A surcharge line or a payment link that adds a fee automatically.

4. Subscription and recurring service terms. A monthly charge to a stored card or PayPal account. Check each charge against the applicable start date and any exemption.

5. Website checkout and booking terms. The online terms your customers tick before paying.

Search each one for "surcharge", "card fee", "merchant fee", "processing fee" and "%". The last one finds the clauses nobody labelled.

Rewriting the surcharge clause in your terms of trade

A typical clause does two jobs. Both need attention.

The version that fails:

7.4 Payment by credit card incurs a surcharge of 1.5% of the invoice amount. The Supplier may vary the surcharge at any time by notice to the Customer.

Where a no-surcharge rule applies, the first sentence asks for a charge your merchant agreement no longer allows. The second gives you a one-sided right to change a price term.

That second sentence matters more than it looks. If your terms are a standard form contract, the unfair contract terms rules apply. They protect customers with fewer than 100 employees or under $10 million in annual turnover. The ACCC lists, as a term that may be unfair, one that lets one side change the contract but not the other. Proposing or relying on an unfair term can now attract a penalty. We cover the penalty side in can you be fined for an unfair contract term.

An illustrative replacement for a business removing surcharges:

7.4 The Customer may pay by bank transfer or, where offered by the Supplier, by eftpos, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, UnionPay or PayPal. No surcharge applies to these payment methods.

7.5 The Supplier may offer a discount for payment by bank transfer. Any discount will be shown on the quote or invoice, beside the full price.

This example adopts a no-surcharge policy for the listed methods; keep only the methods you actually offer. Clause 7.5 is optional. Keep it only if you plan to use it. The full price has to be shown clearly, not just the discounted one.

Delete the old wording rather than leaving it in with a note. Then search the rest of the document for anything that referred to it.

Building the card cost into your price

You still pay to accept cards. The RBA's answer is to reflect that cost in your overall prices, not as a separate charge.

The arithmetic is short. Take the share of revenue paid by card and multiply it by your card rate. That is the cost as a share of revenue. Your merchant statement gives you the rate.

A worked example, with illustrative figures. A business invoices $100,000 a month. 60% is paid by card, at a rate of 1.2%.

A rise of about 0.73% covers the card cost. It is slightly more than 0.72%, because the card rate also applies to the higher price.

The RBA also lowered the caps on interchange fees for consumer credit and debit cards from 1 October. Interchange is a fee paid to the bank that issued the card, and it feeds into your rate. Ask your provider whether your rate has changed before you set a new price.

Explaining a price rise without misleading anyone

You can build card costs into your prices. You can't mislead customers about prices, or about why they went up.

The ACCC gives an example. A salon charges $60 for a haircut, with a 1.0% card surcharge. Building the card cost in gives $60.60. The salon goes to $65, because energy and labour costs also rose. It must not tell customers the rise is due to the surcharge change.

The ACCC's guidance is written about consumers. The same honesty is the safer course with a business customer. If your rise is 0.73%, you can say it covers card costs. If it is 5%, say what else moved.

What to check this week

1. Search the documents. Terms of trade, quotes, credit applications and invoice templates, using the search terms above.

2. Check your systems. Accounting software, payment links and terminal settings for anything that adds a surcharge.

3. List open invoices. Correct any surcharge that is no longer permitted for the payment method and date, allowing for a confirmed exemption.

4. Ask your provider in writing. Confirm the applicable start dates, settings and any exemption. Check PayPal separately because its rule starts on 5 October.

5. Decide on price. Absorb the cost, build it in, or offer a discount for bank transfer.

6. Update and reissue your terms. If they are standard form, read the variation clause before you rely on it.

What this doesn't cover

This guide does not determine whether a particular exemption applies. Taxi surcharging remains with state and territory regulators. Businesses with regulated prices should check the rules for their sector; a regulated price is not, by itself, evidence of an exemption.

Other payment methods need their own provider and pricing checks. PayPal and UnionPay are included above, even though the RBA does not formally regulate them. Your payment provider's fees for accepting payments are a separate matter from the surcharge you charge your customer.

Network coverage, commencement dates and exceptions updated and checked against the RBA FAQ on 4 October 2026. Original draft verified 3 October 2026, against the Reserve Bank of Australia's FAQ on the removal of card payment surcharges from 1 October 2026 and its March 2026 conclusions paper, the ACCC's card surcharges and unfair contract terms pages, business.gov.au, and the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman's card surcharging page. Card network rules can change, so confirm yours with your payment provider.

The surcharge line is rarely the only stale clause. Upload your terms of trade. Every clause is scored, and anything that no longer matches the rules comes back with a rewrite beside it.