Card surcharge ban calculator for Australian small businesses

The surcharge ban in plain English

From 1 October 2026, eftpos, Mastercard and Visa introduced ‘no surcharge’ rules for their credit, debit and prepaid cards, after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) removed its prohibition on those rules. American Express, UnionPay and PayPal also decided to remove surcharging (PayPal from 5 October 2026).
The ban covers card payment surcharges only. It does not cover weekend or public holiday surcharges, or booking or service fees that apply regardless of how the customer pays. Don’t relabel a card surcharge as another fee – the ACCC warns that may be misleading.
You can still build card costs into your prices, and you can offer a discount for other payment methods (such as cash or PayID), as long as the full price is shown clearly.
If you raise prices, don’t blame the ban for more than it costs you. If the rise also covers other costs (such as wages or energy), saying it is due to the surcharge changes may mislead customers.
Your payment provider is the best contact for help with your terminal and plan. Interchange fee caps were also lowered from 1 October 2026, and large providers must begin publishing fee information from 30 October 2026, so it may be a good time to compare plans.

Official sources:
RBA: FAQs – Removal of card payment surcharges from 1 October 2026
ACCC: Card surcharges

1. Your business

Monthly card sales (A$) Card takings per month, not counting any surcharge you added. Total monthly sales incl. cash etc. (A$, optional) Leave blank if almost everything is paid by card. Used for the price-rise figure, since new prices apply to all customers. Current gross margin (%) Sales minus cost of goods, as a % of sales, before card fees. Average transaction size (A$, optional) Needed only if you pay a fixed fee per transaction.

Card mix (% of card sales)

Debit / eftpos I surcharged these Visa / Mastercard credit I surcharged these American Express I surcharged these Other cards I surcharged these

2. Your current card fees

Processor fee (% of each card payment) Your blended or flat rate. Check your merchant statement. Fixed fee per transaction (A$, optional) Monthly fees, e.g. terminal rental (A$, optional) Surcharge you used to charge (%) Enter 0 if you never surcharged.

Different rates for each card type? (optional)

Leave a box blank to use the processor fee above for that card type.

Debit / eftpos (%) Visa / MC credit (%) Amex (%) Other (%)

3. Results

Card fees you now absorb

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Extra cost compared with surcharging

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Price rise to keep the same gross margin %

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Price example

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Item price (A$)

How these figures are worked out

Card fees you now absorb: % fee on each card type + fixed fee × number of transactions (card sales ÷ average transaction) + monthly fees. With no surcharge, all of this now comes out of your takings.
Extra cost compared with surcharging: today’s fees minus what card fees cost you after surcharges were collected (surcharge income less the fee charged on the surcharge itself).
Same gross margin %: the price rise that keeps (sales − cost of goods − net card costs) ÷ sales the same as before the ban, assuming you sell the same quantity and your card fees rise with the higher prices.
Same dollar profit: the smaller rise that only covers the extra cost.
Rounded prices are rounded up to the nearest 5 cents.
Not included: GST treatment, hardware purchases, chargebacks, international card rates, least-cost routing, or customers changing what they buy.

4. Compare up to 3 other processors

Enter rates from a quote or pricing page, or pick a preset. Presets are flat headline rates copied from each provider’s official Australian pricing page and may have changed – always confirm with the provider. Hardware costs, promotional offers and custom rates are not included.

Option	Monthly fees	Yearly fees	Yearly difference vs now

On a bank machine with a bundled or negotiated rate?

A flat-rate guess can miss what you really pay. Our A$49 statement check uses your actual merchant statement totals and shows what you pay by card type, and what to ask your bank to change.

Check my statement