In the 2025-26 financial year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will prioritise enforcing compliance relating to credit card surcharges and merchant fees.
Paying by card is convenient for customers, but it can cost your business in the form of merchant fees charged by your payment processor (such as a bank). If your business chooses to pass these fees on to your customers, you must do so fairly and clearly by disclosing the charges.
Here’s how you can make sure your business is doing the right thing to avoid penalties related to these surcharges in the future.
You can’t charge a flat card fee
It’s common for businesses to charge a processing fee for customers who pay by credit card or other types of card, but you need to know exactly what you can charge to avoid hefty penalties later.
Regardless of the type of card your customer is paying with, you can’t charge a flat fee for all card transactions. This is because a fixed fee might end up being more than the actual merchant fee you incur for some transactions, which is not allowed.
Know your ‘cost of acceptance’
You can only charge your customers what the merchant charges you. This is known as the cost of acceptance. If you pass this cost on to your customers through a fee, you can’t charge any amount over the cost of acceptance. For example, if the cost of acceptance with your Mastercard merchant is 1% of the transaction cost, you can then charge your customer a maximum of 1% of their transaction to pay with that card.
If requested, you must be able to prove what you have based this cost on.
Clearly display any card payment surcharges
Your customers need to know exactly what charges will be involved before they make a payment, booking or other type of payment with your business.
This means, if your customers are paying a surcharge, you're clearly displaying the minimum fee your customers will be charged, based on your cost of acceptance. This could be online, on signage near your point of sale, in customer contracts or anywhere your customers are provided with your pricing and payment details.
If your business only accepts card payments
If your business doesn’t accept cash payments, meaning customers only have the option to use a card payment method that will incur a surcharge:
- The displayed price for your products must include the minimum surcharge payable.
- If you decide to display prices with and without the minimum surcharge payable, you must not display the lower price more prominently than the higher price.
- If you charge different surcharges for different card types, you must clearly display the higher surcharges for other card types.
Visit the ACCC website to learn more about price display requirements.
Stay informed about fees and other charges
To help small businesses understand and comply with the law around fees for card payments, the ACCC has produced a range of information guides. These include:
- Card surcharges information guide: Only charge what it costs you
- Card surcharges overview
- Pricing display requirements
To learn more about managing payments within your business, you might like to:
- Sign up for our SBDC small business news
- Learn how to help prevent fraudulent credit card chargebacks in your business
If you have a small business issue you’d like to discuss, you might like to access our SBDC free business advisory service.
