Built by merchants, for merchants

Why we built MerchantCompare

We’ve been on both sides of the counter. We’ve run retail stores, e-commerce businesses, and worked in payment solutions. We know what it feels like to open a merchant statement and wonder if you’re getting a fair deal.

Australian merchant fees are some of the most opaque numbers in small business. Pricing pages compete on adjectives instead of cents per transaction, blended rates hide the real cost of card mix, and switching providers can feel like a leap of faith. We spent hours trying to compare providers like-for-like and could never find an independent tool that actually did the work for us. So we built it.

The catalyst was the RBA’s October 2026 ban on card surcharging. With surcharges going away, every Australian merchant suddenly needs to understand their real fee rate, because they can no longer pass that cost on to customers. The difference between a good deal and a bad one now lands squarely on the business owner.

Independent. Transparent. Australian.

• Independent comparisons

  No provider pays to rank higher. Your estimated cost is calculated from published rates, and the cheapest option for your business is always shown first.

• Full transparency

  We earn commissions when you click through to a provider and sign up. This is how we keep the site free. It never affects rankings or recommendations.

• Built for Australia

  Every rate, fee, and feature is specific to the Australian market. We track eftpos, least-cost routing, and surcharging rules because they matter here.

Who’s behind MerchantCompare

MerchantCompare is built by a small team with experience across merchant services, payment solutions, e-commerce operations, and technology. We combine hands-on experience running businesses that accept card payments with deep knowledge of how interchange, scheme fees, and acquirer margins actually work.

The business is operated by DVF Labs, an Australian sole trader building independent tools for small and mid-sized businesses. The business name “Merchant Compare” is registered with ASIC. We have no parent company and no investors.

• Merchant experience
• Payment solutions
• E-commerce operations

How we make money

MerchantCompare is free to use. We earn revenue through affiliate commissions. When you click through to a provider’s website and sign up, we may receive a commission from that provider. Some providers pay us a flat referral fee, others a percentage of your first-year fees. Commission rates vary between providers.

These commercial arrangements do not influence our rankings, estimated costs, or recommendations. The comparison table always shows the cheapest option for your specific business inputs, regardless of whether we have an affiliate relationship with that provider. Providers cannot pay to appear higher in our results, to have their fees presented differently, or to have negative information removed. If we ever begin running paid placements, we will mark them clearly as “sponsored” and separate them from organic results.

Some providers in our comparison are not affiliate partners. We include them anyway, because a complete comparison is more useful than a biased one.

What we are not

MerchantCompare is not a financial adviser. The information we publish is general factual information about each provider, not financial product advice tailored to your business. We do not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence, and we do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, or needs. Consider your own circumstances and, where appropriate, talk to your accountant before making a decision.

See also our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.