Card Payment Surcharges Banned in Australia from 2026

[kpc]

Just seen this one pop up on Reddit

Some businesses sure are desperate to keep the surcharge game alive!


View attachment 523836

That is illegal and should be reported to ACCC or whoever is the reporting body.

 

[CaptJCool]

I’ve sat In cafes and looked at their menu app and done an order which then adds
$3 to $5 extra for “app usage admin”

Walk up to the counter and order none of these fees applicable.

The point of banning them is to stop these nuisance fees being added onto the final price.

So any efforts to “add any fees” however they might be named or what they are purported to cover is contrary to the spirit of the new regulation.

I did see something where the $5.50 coffee had an 8cents surcharge so now it’s priced at $6!

 

[turnip666]

My local cafe did not raise prices yesterday, but did introduce a 10% weekend surcharge today. I always paid cash, so my weekend coffees cover card users surcharges during the week.

 

[SeaWolf]

Surcharge Tracker: Flat White Prices After Card Surcharges End | Small Flat White

Card surcharges end on 1 October 2026, so cafes can no longer charge extra for paying by card. We're re-pricing the same Australian cafes before and after to show how flat white prices change.

smallflatwhite.com

Price went up at 20% of the cafes, median price increase is $0.50.

That's a great site, it's nice to have some concrete stats around this, rather than just anecdotes about what one cafe did or didn't do.

 

[Pushka]

So as we refuse to pay our car rego by letting them direct debit, there's no bpay option, if SA stop credit cards to pay it then it means lining up at the Post Office to pay by cash, or cheque. It's like going back to the Stone Age.

 

[Happy Dude]

Councils and state revenue offices don't (at least not readily), so expect them to remove credit card payment as an option too. Fair enough too, given that the payment processing costs are imposed on other taxpayers.

Vic SRO charges a card payment fee (Vias, MC only) according to my land tax bill.

Now they can't but presumably the usual annual increase will include an amount to cover that. The issue now is finding a rewards credit card that gives points for gov spend.

 

[MELso]

Vic SRO charges a card payment fee (Vias, MC only) according to my land tax bill.

Now they can't but presumably the usual annual increase will include an amount to cover that. The issue now is finding a rewards credit card that gives points for gov spend.

I suspect now that the ATO has pulled the plug that the various State Revenue Offices and local councils will follow suit in due course for much the same reason: to avoid having other taxpayers/ratepayers eat the cost of the interchange fee.

I'd say a far more likely reason why nothing's been announced by the Victorian SRO is that there's an election in two months and having the sort of asinine kerfuffle that blew up this week over the ATO and coffee prices is something the current government wishes to avoid.

 

[Pushka]

I suspect now that the ATO has pulled the plug that the various State Revenue Offices and local councils will follow suit in due course for much the same reason: to avoid having other taxpayers/ratepayers eat the cost of the interchange fee.

I'd say a far more likely reason why nothing's been announced by the Victorian SRO is that there's an election in two months and having the sort of asinine kerfuffle that blew up this week over the ATO and coffee prices is something the current government wishes to avoid.

That’s fine but ours in SA don’t all offer bpay.

 

[drron]

So as we refuse to pay our car rego by letting them direct debit, there's no bpay option, if SA stop credit cards to pay it then it means lining up at the Post Office to pay by cash, or cheque. It's like going back to the Stone Age.

And from 30/09/29 no more cheques.

Australia’s Cheques Transition Plan | Treasury.gov.au

The government is releasing its Cheques Transition Plan (the Plan) which sets out the next steps to ensure an orderly and planned shift away from the use of cheques. It provides:

treasury.gov.au

 

[Happy Dude]

That is illegal and should be reported to ACCC or whoever is the reporting body.

I don't fully understand. Assume it's adequately signed, would it be different to, say, a weekend surcharge?

 

[kpc]

I don't fully understand. Assume it's adequately signed, would it be different to, say, a weekend surcharge?

"Businesses shouldn’t try to avoid the ‘no surcharge’ rules set by the Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos card networks by describing a card payment surcharge as another type of fee or charge. Businesses that do this may be engaging in misleading conduct."

Card surcharges

From 1 October 2026, businesses can no longer add a surcharge for payments made using Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos cards.

www.accc.gov.au

 

[oz_mark]

I don't fully understand. Assume it's adequately signed, would it be different to, say, a weekend surcharge?

Weekend surcharges are covered by a specific regulation, and require specific wording. It was introduced as an exception to the fully inclusive price rules so restaurants didn't have to print menus for Sunday's and public holidays.

 

[DC3]

… pay by cash, or cheque …

Does anyone still write cheques?

 

[Happy Dude]

"Businesses shouldn’t try to avoid the ‘no surcharge’ rules set by the Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos card networks by describing a card payment surcharge as another type of fee or charge. Businesses that do this may be engaging in misleading conduct."

Card surcharges

From 1 October 2026, businesses can no longer add a surcharge for payments made using Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos cards.

www.accc.gov.au

The key word there is "may". The ACCC suggest here they'll have their work cut out for them proving a service fee is legit/genuine. Not having one prior to 1 Oct might be a giveaway though. There'll be plenty that try it on or increase other fees, rather than up prices.

Card surcharges are banned. Now Aussies are fuming over another charge

Card surcharges are out, but what about other fees that might pop up when you're at the checkout?

www.sbs.com.au

 

[wxxnxs]

We've already seen DEFT stop accepting card payments.

DEFT stops accepting card payments is purely because they can't charge excessive processing fee to make revenue on that.

 

[transpactraveller]

Card surcharges are banned. Now Aussies are fuming over another charge

Card surcharges are out, but what about other fees that might pop up when you're at the checkout?

www.sbs.com.au

The cafe owner in that article is an idiot.

He says 90% of his customers pay with card, but then says "I've got to be clever and strategise how I'm gonna pass on that cost"

Well if almost all your customers pay by card, you could just include that cost in your prices, since your customers were already paying it anyway???

Nope, instead he concludes he'll put in a weekend surcharge of 12% to cover that lost revenue.

Anything but transparent pricing for his customers...

 

[wxxnxs]

The cafe owner in that article is an idiot.

He says 90% of his customers pay with card, but then says "I've got to be clever and strategise how I'm gonna pass on that cost"

Well if almost all your customers pay by card, you could just include that cost in your prices, since your customers were already paying it anyway???

Nope, instead he concludes he'll put in a weekend surcharge of 12% to cover that lost revenue.

Anything but transparent pricing for his customers...

Time will tell and eventually the owner will learn the lesson from it. Imagine other cafes in the same street don't follow the same approach, what customers will do.

 

[LondonAussie]

These businesses want to draw people in with a low menu price, once you’ve got the bill with the surprise surcharge it’s too late to go elsewhere.

But that only works on new customers. The bill shock will stop many from becoming repeat customers.

And even if you notice it in the fine print on the menu, most people won’t walk out, but they may order less or decide to skip on a drink or dessert because of it.

Or maybe deception actually wins in 2026. But I’d hope being transparent leads to a more successful business.

 

[transpactraveller]

His business strategy seems to be hoping his customers don't check their receipt or card statement.

I think for all these places who start putting on silly weekend surcharges like 12.5% that are difficult to easily calculate, I'm going to start pointing to their menus or signs and ask "is that price including today's surcharge?" and when they say no, follow up with "oh ok, so what's the price of this including the surcharge?"