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In Australia, the ban on card surcharges under eftpos, Mastercard and Visa rules took effect on 1 October 2026. American Express also removed surcharging from that date. But a weekend or public-holiday surcharge can still apply if it is not triggered by your choice of payment method. PayPal’s announced no-surcharge rule is due to start on 5 October 2026, so it is not yet in effect on 3 October.
What Australia’s card-surcharge change bans
A business cannot add a fee because you chose to pay with a covered card. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) says the change applies to eftpos, Mastercard and Visa payments made with relevant credit, debit and prepaid cards. American Express has also decided to end surcharging from 1 October 2026. PayPal’s announced rule takes effect on 5 October 2026, according to the RBA, so its start date is still ahead as of 3 October. Network rules and exceptions can change.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) puts the scope simply: “The new rules only apply to card payment surcharges.” Read the ACCC’s card-surcharge guidance.
Why you could still see a fee this weekend
A fee is not automatically a card surcharge just because it appears at checkout. The key question is whether it is charged because you pay by card, or whether it applies to the transaction regardless of how you pay. The RBA says the changes do not apply to weekend or public-holiday surcharges, booking fees or service fees. Hospitality businesses may still charge weekend or public-holiday fees when they are not based on payment method. See the RBA’s review of retail payments regulation.
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- Weekend or public-holiday surcharge: May still apply if it is charged regardless of payment method.
- Booking or service fee: Not abolished by the card-surcharge rules; whether its presentation complies with consumer law is a separate question.
- Card-triggered fee: A fee imposed because you used a covered card is the kind of surcharge the relevant network rules prohibit.
A business cannot get around the rules merely by changing the fee’s label. The ACCC warns that describing a card surcharge as another kind of fee may be misleading. It also says the minimum total price must include fees that can be calculated when the price is displayed. The ACCC explains card surcharges and price display.
How to check a fee and where to report it
- Check what triggers it. Ask whether the same fee applies if you use another payment method. A fee that only appears when you choose a card may be a card surcharge; one that applies to the transaction regardless of payment method may be a weekend or other fee.
- Raise a suspected card surcharge with the business. If it still appears to be card-triggered, tell the merchant. The RBA says you can identify the card network on your EFTPOS receipt and notify that network. The ACCC also directs consumers to the relevant network or payment service provider; for eftpos, contact the bank that issued your card.
- Report a potentially misleading price display to a consumer agency. You can report the concern to the ACCC or your state or territory consumer protection agency. The ACCC can use reports to inform compliance and enforcement work, but it does not resolve individual pricing complaints or enforce card-network no-surcharge rules.
Responsibility depends on the issue: card networks or payment service providers enforce their no-surcharge rules, while the ACCC and state and territory consumer agencies enforce Australian Consumer Law obligations, including rules against misleading price claims. The ACCC sets out the relevant reporting channels.
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Why checkout prices may not fall
Removing a separate surcharge does not guarantee a lower total price. Businesses can reflect payment-acceptance costs in their general prices instead. The RBA’s 2026 review summary reports that 16 per cent of Australian businesses surcharge; that is a figure from the review, not a new count made after the rules took effect. The RBA says those businesses will decide whether to include payment costs in sticker prices after surcharging ends.
The government estimated that consumers would no longer pay around $1.6 billion in card surcharges and that the reforms would save businesses $910 million annually. Those are estimates in the Treasury Ministers’ 1 October 2026 release, not measured savings since implementation. Read the government’s announcement.
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Businesses remain free to set and change prices, but they must not mislead customers about the price or the reasons for an increase. They may offer a discount for a particular payment method if it is clearly disclosed before a customer books, orders or pays, and the full price without the discount is displayed as the principal price. The ACCC explains its rules for discounts and displayed prices.
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