Card payment sucharges banned in Australia from 2026

[jb747]

The surcharge will disappear, but the stores will still add the 'cost' into whatever they charge.

 

[Doctore1003]

Only 10% of businesses currently apply a surcharge, while 90% will have reduced costs due to lower interchange fees, so in sum the pressure on prices will be *downward*.

It’s the card issuers who will suffer.

 

[gfm]

The surcharge will disappear, but the stores will still add the 'cost' into whatever they charge.

That's OK. At least it will be transparent on the price tag and you wont be slugged with a last-minute sneaky charge.

 

[Saab34]

Woolworths and Coles absorb the charges into pricing. It’s nothing new.

 

[JohnK]

Those who support this changes, haven't yet realised that it will mean less points earning....

I don't think thats a bad thing.

I know I'm selfish but between 2016-2019 I could use the points I earned mainly from flying to travel to BKK via SIN or HKG almost any time of the year. We were travelling 4-6 times a year and there are 3 of us.

Since Covid award availability has dried up and I find that I cannot use my points any time I want. It's ridiculous that I cannot find/book any classic award seats to return from BKK to anywhere in Australia from January until mid-May.

Removing surcharges may not entirely fix this issue but it will go some of the way helping.

 

[N0mad]

According to Canstar’s survey 75% of people want surcharges removed vs 15% against so I think just possibly you’re on the losing side of this argument. AFF membership is not really a reflection of the general public, and I think the groundswell of opinion is definitely with removing surcharges, not least because surcharges really don’t reflect the actual cost of transactions. Most card payments infrastructure is long paid off and the market hasn’t reduced surcharges, if anything they have increased the last few years.

Maybe if the market wasn’t quite so greedy!

my concern is the flow on changes or indirect changes that this causes.

I was very supportive of the ATM fees being removed but now the banks removed all their ATMs and they have been replaced by 3rd parties and it's even harder to find a fee free ATM now.

Additionally, banks are in the business of making money they will not just write this off. They will reduce services and charge fees elsewhere, if you think you are benefitting the full surcharge amount you will be mistaken. i'm not saying you will be worse off because everyone will be different but some people may end up that way though.

 

[lovestotravel]

I don't think thats a bad thing.

I know I'm selfish but between 2016-2019 I could use the points I earned mainly from flying to travel to BKK via SIN or HKG almost any time of the year. We were travelling 4-6 times a year and there are 3 of us.

Since Covid award availability has dried up and I find that I cannot use my points any time I want. It's ridiculous that I cannot find/book any classic award seats to return from BKK to anywhere in Australia from January until mid-May.

Removing surcharges may not entirely fix this issue but it will go some of the way helping.

That is a Qantas problem, 2-4 seats pretty much any day on SQ to BKK. But yes Qantas redemption unless you are Platinum or above is pretty much impossible now.

Saving 1% on a few purchases where I'm surcharged is of no interest to me, it would be lucky to be $50 a month.

Even buying seats on SQ is capped at $70, so for $32,000 spent is 0.2%...

I hope that annual credit card fees rise to cover lost costs and that Amex doesn't enhance their program to match VS/MC

 

[burneracc]

I've ended up adding a HSBC debit card to my wallet because it give 2% cashback on tap-and-pay transactions under $100. That way I know for certain that I'm offsetting the surcharge and no worse off than if I'd paid in cash.

I have done the exact same, however I feel immense disdain for places that surcharge me despite paying with debit. The 2% cashback “offsetting the surcharge” on my eftpos enabled debit card still rubs me the wrong way.

 

[JohnK]

That is a Qantas problem, 2-4 seats pretty much any day on SQ to BKK. But yes Qantas redemption unless you are Platinum or above is pretty much impossible now.

SQ was the same as QF 18 months ago when I could not find award seats to come back Thailand to Australia in January. No award availability until May on any carrier.

In the end had to book CNX-SIN-DPS cash airfare followed by DPS-ADL-BNE cash airfare one-way which was around $2500 for the 3 of us.

I hate being in a situation where I pay $25 surcharge on a fully refundable $700 hotel booking and when I cancel booking they refuse to refund the surcharge. That's ludicrous. I stupidly left it too long and then credit card provider didn't want to help either.