Card payment sucharges banned in Australia from 2026

[transpactraveller]

Just adds to reason 1043213 why I hate living in Australia. We are counting down the days until we can live elsewhere

Good luck finding somewhere better. Let us know when you do, would love to know where this secret utopia is.

 

[Happy Dude]

swing over to the retirement thread @lovestotravel. Thoughts on extended OS living very welcome there.

 

[HMcM]

You were already paying that higher price, but they tricked you into thinking it cost less than what you actually paid. They told you it was $99 but charged $101 to your card. Now they'll tell you upfront it's $101, and that's what you'll pay.

Except before you had by law an alternative, now you don't. If it said $99 before and you handed over $99 in cash then that was all you paid. Now the sign says $101 and handing over $99 in cash doesn't cut it anymore.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Once again, many folks seem to be missing the point. Businesses, when they write their business model, need to account for all of their costs and build those, along with profit, into their pricing. Unsurprisingly, there is a cost associated with accepting payment, whether that is cash, cheque (listed for completeness only and not current relevance) or card (debit/credit/EFTPOS). Not baking this into the business model is a failure to write a competent business model. There should never have been a need to surcharge.

The same thing applies to penalty rates, where they apply. I will not use businesses that have weekend or public holiday surcharges. They just aren't necessary. The number of weekends and public holidays are known in advance and therefore so are the additional staffing costs. Build them into the business model and keep prices consistent. If you can't compete, don't open on weekends or public holidays.