Card payment sucharges banned in Australia from 2026

[albyd]

Yes, I recall that happening and they are now around 5% (Cabcharge) and higher as per my Didi observation above.

Still higher than the actual cost of acceptance though, so I don't see why they shouldn't be brought into line at a federal level.

Hasn’t anyone told them about square? Can process everything including the dreaded Amex at 1.9%, I can imagine a large merchant can negotiate better terms than that if they really want to (guess they don’t care with a cost plus system). Mobile eftpos s the norm not the exception anymore.

 

[Aeryn]

The really large retailers like Woollies and Coles pay a lot less than 1.9% which is why they dont pass on any surcharges to customers and just build the tony fees into their price. Our largest retailers would incur much greater costs for banking cash with there being a monopoly on armoured vehicels these days.

Whilst a small retailer may send a poor employee walking to the bank with the days takings, Coles/Woollies use secure transport for supply of cash and deposit of cash takings.

 

[LondonAussie]

Quite likely, and would probably also have a start date set a few years into the future.

As an example, the equivalent EU legislation (an amendment to PSD2 regulations) was passed in 2016 for a card surcharging ban starting January 2018.... yes Australia's at least 10 years behind!
This is also the current UK law (one of many EU laws that the UK kept post-Brexit).

Not to mention surcharges weren’t as ingrained in the UK before they were banned courtesy of the EU. They were common on airlines and taxis, and amusingly when paying for government services, and buying concert tickets etc, but they weren’t that common at shops and cafes like they are in Australia.

So this would be a much bigger change for most Australian businesses who’ve all become addicted to surcharging.

The EU nipped this in the bud 10 years ago before it got out of control. So yes, I feel like Australia let it go on for too long and is now trying to play catch-up.

 

[Mr_Orange]

So this would be a much bigger change for most Australian businesses who’ve all become addicted to surcharging.

They are only addicted since the RBA signalled to businesses, via the excessive surcharging ban, that surcharging was OK. Before that ban came in, far fewer, in fact a fairly tiny minority, of businesses levied surcharges. Since the ban, surcharging has exploded. Vodafone and Linkt being examples of two large businesses who introduced surcharging after the ban.