The Surcharge Finally Gets the Boot

At long last, the Reserve Bank of Australia has announced that from 1 October 2026, businesses will no longer be allowed to add surcharges to most card payments.

My reaction?

About time!

Regular readers will know this has been a long-running irritation of mine. Back in 2016 I wrote Credit Card Surcharge Humbug, and eight years later I was still at it with Minor Surcharge, Major Irritation. It seems I have an unusually long memory when it comes to being charged an extra $1.37.

But finally, common sense has prevailed.

The World's Most Annoying Magic Trick

We've all experienced it.

The menu says $24.00.

You tap your card.

"That'll be $24.42."

Where did the extra forty-two cents come from?

"Oh, that's the card surcharge."

It always struck me as bizarre that accepting payment was treated as some kind of optional extra rather than simply another cost of doing business.

Why This Change Makes Sense

Every business has overheads.

Rent.

Electricity.

Insurance.

Staff wages.

Accounting.

Cleaning.

None of these appear as separate items on your receipt. They are simply built into the price.

So why should card processing be any different?

In 2026, accepting electronic payments isn't a luxury—it's a normal part of running a business. The RBA has rightly concluded that separate surcharges have outlived their usefulness.

The Price Should Be the Price

The beauty of the new rules is their simplicity.

If the menu says $24, I should pay $24.

No mental arithmetic.

No tiny sign beside the EFTPOS terminal.

No nasty surprise just as I'm reaching for my wallet.

Will businesses still have to pay merchant fees?

Of course they will.

But they'll simply do what they already do with every other business expense—include it in their pricing. That's how virtually every other cost of doing business is handled.

A Small but Welcome Victory

This isn't the most important economic reform Australia has ever seen.

But it removes one of those small, unnecessary irritations that consumers have been putting up with for years.

After a decade of complaining about card surcharges, I'm delighted to see them finally shown the door.

From 1 October 2026, the price on the tag should once again be the price you actually pay.

What a wonderfully sensible idea.