Card payment sucharges banned in Australia from 2026

[Berlin]

Yea, they charged me a 20 cent “service fee” on every schooner at a pub in the Sydney CBD yesterday, clearly to make up for the cc surcharge they used to have.

I suspect this to happen left right centre at first- businesses just re-naming the fees. Which, here comes the real issue, of course will never be properly investigated in this country

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yea, they charged me a 20 cent “service fee” on every schooner at a pub in the Sydney CBD yesterday, clearly to make up for the cc surcharge they used to have.

I suspect this to happen left right centre at first- businesses just re-naming the fees. Which, here comes the real issue, of course will never be properly investigated in this country

But the service fee was incorporated into the advertised price? Not added at the time of checkout?

 

[SeaWolf]

I suspect this to happen left right centre at first- businesses just re-naming the fees. Which, here comes the real issue, of course will never be properly investigated in this country

Are you going to report it though? I get that people are frustrated about businesses doing the wrong thing and, seemingly, nothing being done about it, but the regulators can't be everywhere at once and rely on us to report these things when they happen.

Reporting to the ACCC is useful to inform them that there's an issue and that they may need to do broader education and enforcement, but if you want it to be investigated you'll need to approach your state's Fair Trading entity. They have the resources to investigate individual complaints.

 

[Berlin]

Well, it was a pub so not entirely sure what was advertised. Actually no, not- it was the same “$8.50 during Happy Hour” sign on the wall they’ve always had. And then the 20 cent came on top via the card machine, exactly the same as the 2% card surcharge. Per transaction, so for the two of us it still was a tiny “saving” but still…

Are you going to report it though?

If it really makes a difference, then I’m happy to do so- I go there once a week so will ask for a proper invoice next time for evidence.

 

[serfty]

No doubt there will be business trying to recoup the revenue these fees generated.

In the end market/legislative forces will win out and generally these "<insert whatever name>" fees will disappear and be incorporated into advertised prices, becoming a cost of doing business.

A bit like when GST was introduced; many businesses began advertising headline prices as $xx_ + GST. It took some time before the realisation hit that the $xx_ had to include GST and they could be fined for not doing so.

 

[Happy Dude]

Here's my receipt from the Hellenic Club in Canberra from earlier this week. No such fee was added to the food bill, which was ordered at a counter and processed by a different entity, so who's to say it's a card fee by another name, or a fee for using the 'order at table' app?

 

[dairyfloss]

Here's my receipt from the Hellenic Club in Canberra from earlier this week. No such fee was added to the food bill, which was ordered at a counter and processed by a different entity, so who's to say it's a card fee by another name, or a fee for using the 'order at table' app?

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3% is pretty hefty for a surcharge replacement, if that's what it is