Credit Card Surcharge Calculator (Australia)

Card surcharges on eftpos, Visa, and Mastercard are banned across Australia from 1 October 2026. Foreign card interchange caps follow on 1 April 2027. Until October, surcharging within the current rules is still allowed.

The ban covers eftpos, Visa, and Mastercard, including debit, prepaid, and credit cards. American Express and other three-party schemes are not covered. From October you cannot add a surcharge on the covered networks.

Yes. American Express is not part of the ban, so businesses can keep surcharging Amex transactions. You will need to stop surcharging eftpos, Visa, and Mastercard from 1 October 2026.

It depends on how much you currently pass to customers. Your absorbed cost is roughly your monthly card volume times the share you surcharge times your surcharge rate. Use the calculator above to see your annual figure.

Interchange caps are also dropping: consumer credit from 0.8% to 0.3% and debit from 0.2% to 0.16%. The RBA estimates this cuts merchant fees by about $910 million a year, so providers should be able to lower rates. You may need to ask, or switch, to see the benefit.

Least-cost routing sends contactless debit payments through the cheaper network, usually eftpos rather than Visa or Mastercard. It can noticeably reduce your debit fees. Ask your provider whether it is switched on for your terminal.

If you currently surcharge, absorbing those fees makes your provider rate matter a lot more from October. Comparing now lets you lock in a cheaper rate before the change. The comparison table shows the cheapest option for your volume.

Surcharging covered cards after 1 October 2026 will breach the rules, and the ACCC can take enforcement action. Update your point-of-sale settings and checkout pricing before the date. Surcharging on American Express remains allowed.

A surcharge is your transaction amount multiplied by your provider rate. On a $100 sale, a 1.5% surcharge is $1.50, a 2% surcharge is $2, a 2.9% surcharge is $2.90, and a 3.5% surcharge is $3.50. If your provider also charges a fixed fee per transaction, add that on top. The calculator above works this out for your real volume and rate, and from 1 October 2026 it shows the cost your business absorbs once you can no longer pass the surcharge on.

The processing fee is what your payment provider charges you to accept a card, usually a percentage of each sale plus sometimes a fixed fee per transaction. A surcharge is when you pass that cost on to the customer at the checkout. They are the same underlying cost seen from two sides. From 1 October 2026 you can no longer surcharge eftpos, Visa or Mastercard, so the processing fee becomes a cost your business absorbs, which is why a lower provider rate matters more. The calculator above shows both your processing cost and what you will absorb.