SURCHARGES ARE GETTING THE CHOP: What it means for your bottom line

Come 1 October 2026, that sneaky little surcharge line on your EFTPOS receipt is getting swiped away for good. No more "+1.5% for card payments" tacked on at checkout.

Sounds simple, right? Well, it's not quite "tap and go," so let's break it down properly:

What's actually changing?

The RBA has decided it's in the public interest to remove surcharging across all the big card networks, including Eftpos, Mastercard and Visa and has made 1 October 2026 the hard comply date.

So, from that date, whatever price you've advertised is the price you charge. No adding a little fee at the check-out because someone is paying by card – The “paying-by-card-surcharge” is officially declined.

Here's the bit that might trip businesses up.

The merchant fee doesn't vanish, it just needs to be invisible to your customer.

Biz will continue to pay merchant service fees to their providers – it is just that they can no longer pass that specific line item to the customer at point of sale. So, as a biz owner you will need to consider how to recover those costs. Say, for example, adjusting prices to account for it (more on that below). That small % may not seem like a lot, but for biz with high volume of card payments (hospo we see you) – it all adds up and can hit the bottom line hard.

What you need to be compliant

• Turn off surcharging on your EFTPOS terminal, POS system, invoicing software and payment gateway before 1 October. Check every channel, not just the shopfront terminal. Online payment links and invoicing tools often have a surcharge setting buried in there too, and this is not the year to leave one running. Note the RBA says, “for many merchants, their payment service provider will remove surcharging functionality from payment terminals around 1 October 2026”.

• Check in with your payment provider about what your merchant service fee is actually doing. Some are cutting rates as part of this, some aren't, and you want to know which camp you're in before you make any pricing decisions.

• Update anything customer-facing that mentions a surcharge, T&Cs, invoice templates, website checkout pages, the lot. Nothing says "we didn't get the memo" like a surcharge line still sitting on an invoice in November.

  
  

Now, the bit that actually affects your pricing

This is where you've got a genuine decision to make, not just a compliance box to tick. Broadly, you've got options and you need to decide what is best for your business.

Your options

• Absorb it. Keep prices as they are and treat the merchant fee as a cost of doing biz, same as electricity or insurance (Simplest option, but it nibbles away at margin). 

• Build it into your pricing. Work out what you're paying in merchant fees and factor that into your prices across the board rather than at the checkout (Keeps your margin intact, but takes a bit of number crunching to get right)

• Shop around for the best rate or negotiate with your current provider where you can. Do some research on the best rates and providers, nothing like a Google or AI search here to uncover the best deals. Or you can ask your provider for a better rate now that the ground is shifting under everyone's feet. (There's a real chance you're paying more than you need to, and it never hurts to ask)

• Remove or reduce the option to pay via card. If you invoice rather than take payment at a merchant terminal, you can steer customers toward payment methods that don't attract a fee at all (think bank transfer, PayID, a QR code, or even cash (remember that ol' thing?)). Bank transfers are free, so every payment that moves that way is one less card fee to absorb. Tread with caution on this one. The goal is getting paid on time, not making it so fiddly that customers delay or you end up chasing invoices for weeks. Give them an easy, free option and let them use it, rather than blocking card payments altogether.

None of these are a "set and forget" decision. It depends on your margins, your card payment volume, and how price-sensitive your customers are.

As an FYI: CommBank is currently the only major bank with a confirmed, published fee cut tied to this reform (1.10% to 0.99% for eligible customers). Other banks such as NAB, Westpac and ANZ have flagged that lower interchange caps may flow through to lower costs and potential adjustments to wholesale merchant pricing structures.

A further FYI: American Express, JCB and UnionPay weren’t part of the RBA’s formal regulation but have also committed to removing surcharging from 1 October 2026.

So there you have it folk's, the removal of surcharges which on first glance looked great for everyone upon closer reflection hit the biz owner, insert tears, and we totally get it. Just remember we are here if you needed to work through any of the above scenarios and the impact to your biz - Seriously! Just make contact with one of our legendary team.

Disclaimer: The information provided is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice