Surcharge ban guides
Guides on how the reforms affect pricing, online payments and your cost of acceptance. Being written now.
Amex and the Surcharge Ban: What's Exempt
Amex isn't part of the RBA's surcharge ban, but Amex itself now bans merchants from surcharging its cards anyway. What's actually exempt, and why.
Least Cost Routing: Your Best Lever After the Surcharge Ban
You can't surcharge from 1 October, but you can still cut what a card costs you. Here's how least cost routing works and why it matters more now.
Business card interchange isn't being cut — and if you sell to trade, your costs could go up
Commercial cards stay at 0.80% while consumer credit drops to 0.30%. The banks are about to push business cards hard, and B2B suppliers wear it.
Checklist: prepare your business for 1 October 2026
Eleven things to do before, on and after 1 October. What's your job, what the bank handles, and the one number to work out before you ring anyone.
What you can still charge for after 1 October
Weekend surcharges, public holiday surcharges, booking fees and service fees all survive. Only the card surcharge dies — plus where cash discounts fit.
Cheapest EFTPOS after the surcharge ban
The surcharge stops on 1 October and the cost lands on you. Four things you can actually do about it, in the order worth doing them.
How to reprice when you can no longer surcharge
From 1 October the surcharge becomes your cost. Whether to absorb it or raise prices, and the trap that stops most businesses shopping around.
Surcharge ban for hospitality: cafes and restaurants
Hospitality wears this the hardest, because they all surcharge. What a cafe, a bakery and a restaurant should each do about it before 1 October.
Will the surcharge ban actually make things cheaper?
My honest answer is no. Cheaper for a year or two, then dearer — and excessive surcharging was already illegal. Nobody enforced it. An opinion piece.
Interchange cap cuts from October 2026 explained
The interchange caps fall on 1 October 2026. What each cap changes to, why the cut may not reach your bill, and what it is actually worth.
RBA surcharge ban 2026: what merchants need to know
From 1 October 2026 you cannot surcharge card payments. What is covered, what is not, how the rule actually reaches your business, and what to do before the date.
Surcharge ban and online payments: what changes
From 1 October 2026 you cannot surcharge card payments online either. What changes at checkout, why online costs more, and what to fix before the date.
When does the surcharge ban start? Key 2026 dates
1 October 2026 for surcharging and domestic interchange. 1 April 2027 for foreign-card caps. Here is every date, what changes on it, and what is not changing.
What the Surcharge Ban Means for Small Business
From 1 October 2026 you can't surcharge card payments. What changes, what it costs you, and why I think it ends up good for Australian business.