Card payment sucharges banned in Australia from 2026

[sudoer]

What are charges like for EFTPOS?

Pretty sure it is a flat fee (around 30c?) but the issue is people don't realise they need to insert their card and select savings. If they tap, or insert and press credit, the merchant pays the ~1%.

Not sure if there are merchant facilities that allow disabling VISA/MC entirely and only keeping EFTPOS enabled. Also keep in mind that smaller businesses with average transactions under $30 (especially cafes) will be better off paying a percentage fee through VISA/MC.

 

[SeaWolf]

FB group I’m in there’s a move afoot for businesses to encourage the use of cash (now they won’t be able to pass on the fees) instead of cards.

I'm curious to know what sort of ideas are they floating around to do that? Are they just thinking discounts for cash use or something else?

 

[Be.au]

Pretty sure it is a flat fee (around 30c?) but the issue is people don't realise they need to insert their card and select savings. If they tap, or insert and press credit, the merchant pays the ~1%.

Not sure if there are merchant facilities that allow disabling VISA/MC entirely and only keeping EFTPOS enabled. Also keep in mind that smaller businesses with average transactions under $30 (especially cafes) will be better off paying a percentage fee through VISA/MC.

Merchants can also opt into least cost routing so when you tap your card on the EFTPOS terminal, it's routed via eftpos instead.

However not all mobile wallets (or cards in mobile wallets) support least cost routing, and newer versions of iOS removed the option to manually select eftpos SAV or eftpos CHQ instead of Visa/Mastercard - now it's up to the terminal and merchant to decide. https://support.apple.com/en-au/118269

When you make a transaction in-store, the merchant chooses whether the transaction made by a dual-network debit card will be processed through the eftpos network or the international network.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Least cost routing should be the legislated rule!

 

[sudoer]

Merchants can also opt into least cost routing so when you tap your card on the EFTPOS terminal, it's routed via eftpos instead.

Only if a card has multiple accounts configured on it though, right? Do people still do this in the advent of mobile wallets?

 

[Be.au]

Only if a card has multiple accounts configured on it though, right? Do people still do this in the advent of mobile wallets?

Say for example, If you have a debit Mastercard from CommBank, it has the contactless 'apps' for both eftpos SAV and Mastercard on it.

With LCR enabled, whether you tap your plastic card, or an iPhone, it will be processed via eftpos SAV - if indeed it is a lower cost than Mastercard.

All plastic dual network cards should be enabled for both eftpos and Visa/Mastercard contactless.

t's more mobile wallets (eg, Google Wallet is only ANZ & Suncorp) - Apple Wallet requires a newer version of iOS and may require the card to removed and readded for LCR to be enabled.

As per the Apple Support article above, you can check your cards on your iPhone and Apple Watch to see if they have an 'eftpos' card number, in which case it's all good to go to tap on an EFTPOS terminal, and have it routed via eftpos accordingly.

 

[dajop]

I'm curious to know what sort of ideas are they floating around to do that? Are they just thinking discounts for cash use or something else?

Posters and appealing to goodwill of community.

Behavioral science would suggest their success would be limited. One brave person made a post suggesting (the bleeding obvious) that it won't work as cash is a major PITA to carry around ...

 

[transpactraveller]

However not all mobile wallets (or cards in mobile wallets) support least cost routing, and newer versions of iOS removed the option to manually select eftpos SAV or eftpos CHQ instead of Visa/Mastercard - now it's up to the terminal and merchant to decide. https://support.apple.com/en-au/118269

I have a friend who won't update from iOS 17 because of this. Just asked her and apparently it still works for her to choose! She said she will update in October when the surcharge ban comes in.

 

[dajop]

I have a friend who won't update from iOS 17 because of this. Just asked her and apparently it still works for her to choose! She said she will update in October when the surcharge ban comes in.

I'm on iOS 26.5.2 and on the Wallet I still have the option to choose between "eftpos SAV" and "Visa" (for by NAB debit card) or "Mastercard" (for my Bendigo Bank debit card).

 

[Pete98765432]

I'm on iOS 26.5.2 and on the Wallet I still have the option to choose between "eftpos SAV" and "Visa" (for by NAB debit card) or "Mastercard" (for my Bendigo Bank debit card).

I’m on iOS 26.6 and have the same choice on my ANZ debit card.