The looming ban on card surcharge payments, taking effect on October 1, is prompting calls for businesses to act before feeling a financial impact.
This follows research from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which found that 16 per cent of companies were still charging for debit card purchases as of March 2026. These businesses would face a revenue decline from October 1.
But the ban also carries non-compliance risks, with law firm Legal Vision saying surcharges can appear at multiple points in a company’s operations.
Legal Vision’s practice leader, Lauren McKee, said that businesses need to do a full-scale review before the ban takes place. She added that businesses “should start by identifying everywhere a card surcharge appears, not just at the point of sale,” including “payment terminals, online checkouts, booking platforms, invoices, menus, quotes, receipts and accounting systems.”
Businesses that have relied on surcharges to recover payment costs will need to decide whether to “absorb those costs, adjust base prices or renegotiate payment fees with their third-party payment processors,” McKee said.
McKee said the consumer watchdog, the ACCC, will enforce consumer law on businesses that disguise surcharges as another fee.
“Increasing base prices is generally lawful,” she said. “Provided they do not mislead customers and they display prices correctly.
“Communicate the change plainly… avoid blaming customers, using confusing fee labels, or suggesting every price change is caused by the surcharge ban. Simple pricing usually builds more trust than technical explanations.”
