From Thursday, businesses can no longer add a surcharge for paying by eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express cards. Here is what changes at the counter, and what does not.

Tap a card at a café, a hardware store or a hairdresser on Wednesday, and there may be a small extra charge on the screen for paying that way. Do the same on Thursday, 1 October 2026, and that line item should be gone.

That is the practical upshot of the Reserve Bank's Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging, whose conclusions were released in March 2026. From 1 October, card surcharges end on eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and American Express. The change covers credit, debit and prepaid cards.

For consumers, it is one of the most visible payments reforms in years. For the roughly 16% of Australian businesses that currently surcharge, it means rethinking how they recover the cost of accepting cards.

The core change is simple: a business can no longer add an extra fee because a customer chooses to pay with one of the covered card types. That applies whether the card is credit, debit or prepaid, and whether it runs on eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express.

In practice, a customer paying by card should see the same price as the one displayed, rather than a percentage or flat fee added for the method of payment. Because the change spans eftpos as well as Mastercard, Visa and American Express, and debit and prepaid as well as credit, it is not confined to one type of card or one network. A customer no longer needs to work out which card attracts a fee: under the new rules, none of the covered cards should.

What does not change

The reform is targeted at surcharges linked to paying by card. Several other kinds of charges and pricing practices remain permitted, according to the RBA's review materials.

  • Weekend surcharges are still allowed.
  • Public holiday surcharges are still allowed.
  • Booking fees and service fees are still allowed.
  • Businesses can offer discounts for particular payment methods.

Taxi surcharging is treated separately. It remains the responsibility of state and territory regulators, so any rules for card payments in taxis are set at that level rather than by the RBA reform.

The distinction matters for how consumers read a bill. A weekend or public holiday surcharge on a café menu, or a booking fee on a ticket, is not affected by the change. What should disappear is an extra charge that exists only because of the card being used.

The discount point is also worth noting. While businesses cannot add a fee for paying by card, they can offer a lower price for a particular method. That creates a different incentive structure: rather than penalising card use, a business may choose to reward another payment option.

Why the RBA made the change

Surcharging existed because accepting cards costs businesses money. Each card transaction carries fees, including interchange fees, which are paid between the financial institutions involved, alongside other charges the business's payment provider applies. Surcharges were a way for some merchants to pass those costs to customers who chose to pay by card.

The RBA's reform pairs the end of surcharging with measures aimed at lowering and clarifying those underlying costs. Maximum interchange fees have been lowered for consumer credit and debit card payments, and a new cap applies to foreign, or overseas-issued, card transactions. The RBA has said the reductions in interchange "should help to lower card payment costs for businesses, especially small businesses".

Transparency is the other plank. Large acquirers, the firms that process card payments for merchants, must publish the fees they charge. Eftpos, Mastercard and Visa must disclose fee information, and merchant statements are to include standardised fee information. The amended RBA standards took effect in April 2026, ahead of the surcharging change on 1 October.

The review was extensive. It received over 260 written submissions and involved about 150 industry meetings.

Could shelf prices move?

Ending surcharges does not make card acceptance free for businesses. The costs that surcharges were covering still exist, even if lower interchange caps reduce them for some.

The RBA has noted that businesses which currently surcharge, about 16% of Australian businesses, may choose to raise sticker prices. If that happens, the cost of card acceptance would be spread across all customers through the displayed price, rather than falling only on those who pay by card.

Whether individual businesses take that step will vary. Some may absorb the cost, some may adjust prices, and some may introduce discounts for other payment methods. For consumers, the practical questions are what the displayed price is, whether any permitted surcharges such as a weekend or public holiday charge apply, and whether a discount is available for a particular way of paying.

A reform landing in a high-cost moment

The timing is notable. The change arrives the day after the RBA's cash rate increase to 4.60% took effect, and at a point when household budgets are under strain. Governor Michele Bullock acknowledged at her 29 September media conference that "Every household has seen how the price of everything has gone up in recent years" and that "Pay packets don't go as far as they used to".

The surcharging reform is a payments policy decision, separate from monetary policy. Its purpose is to make payment costs clearer and fairer rather than to influence inflation. But for shoppers who have become used to a string of small extras at the checkout, removing one of them is a tangible change.

The bottom line

From Thursday, 1 October 2026, card surcharges end on eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and American Express, across credit, debit and prepaid cards. Weekend and public holiday surcharges, booking and service fees, and discounts for particular payment methods remain allowed, and taxi surcharging stays with state and territory regulators.

The reform comes alongside lower interchange caps and new fee transparency requirements intended to reduce card costs for businesses, especially smaller ones. Some businesses that previously surcharged may adjust their sticker prices instead. The RBA's non-technical summary and FAQs set out the details for anyone wanting to check how the rules apply.