Card Surcharges Are Going. What Now?

From 1 October 2026, the way Australian businesses handle card surcharges is changing. Businesses will no longer be able to add a separate surcharge when customers pay using Eftpos, MasterCard, or Visa. American Express isn’t included in the RBA regulated network, but they’ve voluntarily chosen to remove surcharging from the same date too. Here’s the important part small business owners need to understand…

The card processing fee isn’t disappearing. Your business will still pay fees to accept card payments. You simply won’t be able to add the card fee onto the customer’s payment as a separate surcharge.

So rather than looking at this as a surcharge ban, let’s look at what you can actually do about it.

You Can Still Recover the Cost

Card processing fees are a business expense, much like software, insurance, rent, and all the other costs involved with running your business. And from October, you can still factor these processing costs into your pricing. In fact, the RBA specifically uses the example of a business choosing to include card payment costs in its advertised prices.

This could mean it’s time to review your pricing. Before adding 1%, 2% or another amount across the board, first look at your numbers. Not every customer will pay by card. You don’t know exactly what your card fees will look like once the changes come in either. The RBA is also reducing (minutely 😏) some of the fee caps, with the aim of lowering card payment costs for small businesses. So your current costs may not be the best basis for your future pricing.

You Don’t Have to Change Anything Straight Away

Doing nothing is also an option. Your card payment fees will become a business cost rather than something passed directly onto your customers. We do know there are many businesses who are already doing this and have never passed the fees on and kept it as their cost of doing business. So if you are going to pause and not make any changes (yet), from here you can keep an eye on:

A few months of real numbers could give you much better information for a strategic pricing review than trying to predict what your customers will do now. So there is no need to rush in and increase every price before 1 October.

What About an EFT or Cash Discount?

While you won’t be able to add a card surcharge, businesses can still offer customers a discount for using another payment method such as EFT (bank transfer) or cash. Sounds like an easy workaround, right? Maybe.

Before deciding to offer a discount, think about how this would work in practice. If you invoice through Xero, for example, how will you apply the discount when someone pays by EFT? At the moment, this could mean manually changing the invoice before applying the payment, or processing a credit note afterwards, and no automatic payment matching.

We’re hoping to see better automation and options with this as accounting and payment providers adapt. Until then, ask yourself whether this discount is worth creating another manual process every time someone pays you. Sometimes the workaround costs more in admin (or your bookkeeping costs 😜) than the fee you’re trying to avoid.

Before You Turn Off Card Payments

Another reaction might be, “Fine, I’ll only accept EFT or cash.” Before doing this, think about your customer. Making it harder for people to pay you isn’t always a great business decision. Card payments can make paying an invoice quick and easy. Remove the option, and you could save a few dollars in merchant fees, but what happens if the customer takes longer to pay?

A saving on card fees isn’t much of a win if your cash flow takes a hit. Look at how your customers actually pay you, what it costs your business, and how important convenience is before removing an option completely.

And Then There’s Amex

American Express is a slightly different story. Amex isn’t one of the designated providers covered by these RBA changes, but it has voluntarily decided to remove surcharging from 1 October 2026 as well. For businesses with customers who love using Amex to collect points, this matters.

If someone chooses to pay you by Amex, your business will wear the merchant cost rather than passing the surcharge back to them. It’s also worth thinking about this when you’re the person paying another small business. If you love putting business expenses through Amex for the points, consider the cost at the other end.

Services such as pay.com.au allow businesses to use Amex to make certain business payments, while the supplier can receive the funds without needing to accept Amex directly. It can be useful for businesses wanting to collect points while paying suppliers who prefer EFT. Fees do apply, so it won’t suit every business.

And while we’re talking credit cards, don’t let the points make the decision for you. Consider the fees you’re paying, whether you’re clearing the card, your upcoming liabilities, and whether using credit actually makes sense for your business. Points are a perk, they shouldn’t be the reason your cash flow gets messy.

Talk to Your Bookkeeper Before Changing Your Setup

There’s no single answer here. You might decide to absorb the fees for now. You might review your prices. You might offer a payment discount. You might change payment providers or reconsider which payment methods you accept.

BEFORE changing any settings in Xero, switching payment options, or restructuring how you charge customers, have a chat with your bookkeeper. A small change to how customers pay can create extra steps behind the scenes, so it’s important to look at the full process together before implementing it.

The card fee isn’t disappearing on 1 October.
What’s changing is how you think about it.

Treat it as another cost of running your business, keep an eye on the numbers, and make your next move based on what works for your business and your customers.

If you’re looking for a bookkeeper who’ll help you understand the numbers and work through business decisions like these with you, book a call with us to see if we’re the right fit.