Overview
- From Thursday, 1 October, major card networks will ban businesses from adding a separate fee solely for paying with covered cards, removing visible surcharges at in-store, online and in-app checkouts.
- The rule covers EFTPOS, Visa and Mastercard cards including credit, debit and prepaid, with American Express and UnionPay effective on 1 October and PayPal applying the same change from 5 October.
- The Reserve Bank of Australia has capped and will lower interchange fees that merchants indirectly pay to card issuers and has pushed for greater fee transparency so that processing costs are clearer in the system.
- Industry groups and small-business owners say many merchants will instead raise shelf prices, set minimum card spends or change which payments they accept, which could pass costs to everyday shoppers and squeeze small margins.
- Consumers who see a suspected prohibited card surcharge should first query the business and then can complain to the card network or payment provider or report misleading pricing to the ACCC or state consumer protection agencies.