For many businesses, the way they accept customer payments hasn’t changed in years.
A provider was chosen. Terminals were installed. Online checkout was integrated. And unless something went wrong, it stayed largely untouched.
But a lot has changed since then. Online sales have grown, and customers expect fast, secure and seamless checkout experiences.
What worked a few years ago may still work, but it’s worth reviewing whether it is still the best solution for you.
Acceptance now spans multiple channels
Most businesses today accept payments both in-store and online.
In-store payments (card-present transactions) occur when a customer physically taps or inserts their card or device at the point of sale. Online payments (card-not-present transactions) occur when customers enter their card details on a website or in an app, or authorise the business to automatically process payments using card details saved on file.
While the experience may feel similar for customers, different payment channels often have different implications for the business.
In-store (i.e. card present) payments generally carry lower fraud risk, as indicated by AusPayNet’s FY25 Payment Fraud Snapshot. Online transactions, while important for growth, may entail greater exposure to chargebacks and different cost structures.
If your online presence has grown significantly in recent years, your overall transaction mix may have shifted with it. That shift can affect both cost and risk – even if your provider hasn’t changed.
Understanding how your transaction mix has evolved is a practical starting point to confirming if your payment setup is working its best for you.
Small cost differences can compound over time
Payment fees often appear as a percentage, applied to every transaction. Because they operate in the background, small variations can go unnoticed.
Across thousands of transactions each week, those differences could accumulate.
The mix of debit and credit payments plays a role here. In Australia, debit makes up 75 per cent of retail payments made with cards, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) 2026 Retail Payments statistics. How these debit card payments are processed – including if they can be routed via eftpos, Australia’s local debit card network – can influence individual payment fees and overall acceptance costs.
Merchant Choice Routing or Least-cost Routing can be an effective way for businesses to reduce payment processing fees (or merchant service fees) on debit card transactions. Data from the RBA’s April 2024 Bulletin, The Effect of Least-cost Routing on Merchant Payment Costs estimates that the cost of accepting debit card transactions is nearly 20 pr cent lower for businesses that have Least-cost Routing switched on compared to those without.
Asking your payment service provider how debit card payments are processed and whether Least-cost Routing is switched on for your transactions can provide useful clarity.
When payments pause, trading pauses
Most of the time, payments run smoothly.
When they don’t, the impact is immediate – queues build, purchases are abandoned, and ultimately sales can be lost. For businesses processing high volumes, even short interruptions can affect daily revenue and incur additional operational costs until recovery.
Most payment service providers have safeguards built into their systems. Even so, understanding how your setup manages disruption – who to contact, how issues are escalated, and whether both international and domestic networks form part of your payment setup can provide confidence if something goes wrong.
Acceptance deserves periodic review
None of this suggests businesses need to overhaul their arrangements.
But it does suggest that acceptance deserves periodic review. Trading conditions evolve, and so should the way payments are configured.
If your sales mix, transaction volumes or online share have shifted in recent years, it’s worth reviewing your payments setup.
Understanding how card payments are processed, what fees are charged and how, and how disruptions would be handled provides greater visibility into cost and continuity.
A few practical questions can help determine if you should review your payments setup:
- Has your in-store and online mix changed materially?
- Do you understand how debit and credit payments are handled?
- Have you switched on Least-cost Routing?
- What happens when there’s an outage?
Revisiting how payments are accepted ensures your setup continues to work in your interests here.
