I was charged a card surcharge. Is that still allowed?
What changed on 1 October 2026 for card surcharges, which fees a business can still add, and how to get a banned surcharge refunded.
Usually not, since 1 October 2026. From that date eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and American Express banned surcharges on their cards, so a fee added because you paid by card breaches the business's agreement with its card network. Weekend, public holiday and booking fees charged to everyone are still allowed. Ask the business for the surcharge back; if it refuses, the card network enforces the rule and the ACCC handles misleading pricing.
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Can a business still add a surcharge when you pay by card?
Not for the cards almost everyone carries. Since 1 October 2026 a business that accepts eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express cannot add a fee because you chose to pay with one of them, in store or online.
The change comes from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). Its Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging, concluded on 31 March 2026, removed the RBA's prohibition on card networks having "no-surcharge" rules. eftpos, Mastercard and Visa each then wrote a no-surcharge rule into their scheme rules from 1 October 2026 for credit, debit and prepaid cards. American Express, PayPal and UnionPay, which the RBA does not regulate, chose to do the same.
Surcharging on eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and American Express cards ended on 1 October 2026.
The ban is not a statute. It sits in each network's rules and in the business's contract with its payment provider, and the networks, not a regulator, enforce it. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) enforced the old excessive-surcharge rule under Part IVC of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010; that rule ended on 1 October 2026. What the ACCC still polices is misleading pricing under the Australian Consumer Law, including a card fee relabelled as something else.
Which fee you were charged decides your answer:
- A percentage or flat fee that appeared because you tapped a card. Banned since 1 October 2026 on the four networks. Ask for it back.
- A weekend, public holiday, booking or service fee charged to every customer. Still allowed. The ACCC requires it to be disclosed and, where it can be calculated in advance, included in the single total price.
- A "service fee" that only applies when you pay by card. The ACCC says a business that describes a card surcharge as another type of fee may be engaging in misleading conduct. Treat it as a surcharge.
- A surcharge on a payment made before 1 October 2026. The old rule applied: no more than the business's cost of accepting that card type. The RBA put typical acceptance costs in 2023 at about 0.4% for debit, 0.8% for credit and 1.3% for charge cards, so anything well above that was excessive.
- A taxi fare surcharge. State and territory taxi regulators set these; the network ban does not touch them.
- A discount for paying cash or PayID. Allowed, as long as the full price is the one displayed and the discount is disclosed before you pay.
The RBA estimated consumers were paying $1.6 billion a year in card surcharges before the ban.
The ban is a network rule, not a law. The RBA said the government could legislate one if surcharging continued, and it planned a mid-2026 consultation on the payment types the review left out: mobile wallets, three-party cards such as American Express, buy now pay later and e-commerce platforms. The second stage of the reforms, with interchange caps on foreign cards and new fee transparency rules, starts on 1 April 2027. If a fee appears on a buy now pay later or wallet payment, the network ban may not reach it; check that provider's terms.
What should you do first?
Step 1: Check the receipt
Look for a separate line showing a surcharge, the card network used (it is printed on the EFTPOS receipt) and the date. A fee that applies however you pay is not a surcharge. Keep the receipt and a photo of any sign or checkout screen that mentioned the fee.
Step 2: Ask in writing and set a deadline
Email the business or use its contact form. The amount is small, so keep it short and the deadline near. Fourteen days is reasonable.
Subject: Refund of card surcharge, [date], receipt [number]
On [date] I paid $[total] by [eftpos/Mastercard/Visa/American Express] at [store or website] and was charged a card surcharge of $[amount].
Since 1 October 2026 the eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and American Express network rules prohibit surcharges on card payments, and the Reserve Bank of Australia's surcharging framework that allowed them has ended.
Please refund $[amount] to my card within 14 days. If I do not receive it I will report the surcharge to [card network] and to the ACCC, and raise it with my bank.
Step 3: Tell the card network
If the 14 days pass, report the business to the network on your receipt. The ACCC's card surcharges page links to the reporting channels for Visa, Mastercard and American Express; for eftpos, contact the bank that issued your card. The networks' joint site, cardsurcharge.com.au, confirms you can ask the business to refund the surcharge.
Step 4: Report misleading pricing to the ACCC
If the fee was hidden until payment, or a card fee was renamed to dodge the rule, report it through the ACCC's report form. The ACCC does not resolve individual refunds; it uses reports to decide who to investigate.
What if the business refuses?
For a surcharge of a few dollars the aim is the refund, plus a report that stops it happening to the next customer. Take these in order:
- Escalate inside the business. Ask for the complaints manager or head office. Chains usually publish a complaints email; quote the network rule and your 14-day deadline.
- The card network. The network's merchant agreement is what the business breached, and the RBA and the ACCC both say the networks are responsible for enforcing it. Report with the receipt. Expect action against the business rather than a direct refund to you. No cost.
- Your bank. Ask your card issuer to dispute the surcharge amount as a charge you did not agree to. Whether it will run a chargeback for the surcharge alone is the bank's decision under the card scheme rules, so raise it promptly and attach the receipt and your refund request.
- Your state or territory consumer protection agency. NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria and their equivalents enforce the Australian Consumer Law alongside the ACCC and can take up misleading pricing with a business on your behalf. No cost.
- The ACCC. Report a disguised surcharge or a misleading price display. It investigates patterns, not single refunds, so include every receipt you have.
- Small claims. The tribunal in your state can hear a money claim, but filing fees apply, so it only makes sense where a large invoice was surcharged.
If a business tells you prices went up "because of the surcharge ban", the ACCC's own example says that is misleading when other costs also drove the increase. Report that too.
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What doesn't work
- Paying and walking away. The refund is the business's to give and it will not arrive on its own; ask in writing.
- Reporting to the ACCC and waiting for a refund. The ACCC does not resolve individual pricing complaints and does not enforce the networks' no-surcharge rules.
- Treating a public holiday or booking fee as a surcharge. Those fees are allowed if everyone pays them and they are disclosed in the total price.
- Quoting the old cost-of-acceptance rule for a payment after 1 October 2026. That rule ended; the network rule is the one to cite.
- Not noting the network. The receipt shows whether it was eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express, which decides who you report to.
Common questions
I was surcharged before 1 October 2026. Can I still get it back?
Only if it was more than the business's cost of accepting your card. Until 30 September 2026 a surcharge could not exceed the cost of acceptance; the RBA put typical costs at about 0.4% for debit and 0.8% for credit. Ask the business for the difference and report an excessive one to the ACCC, which enforced that rule.
Does the ban cover American Express?
Yes. American Express is not regulated by the RBA but chose to remove surcharging from 1 October 2026, as did PayPal and UnionPay. The ACCC lists American Express alongside Visa, Mastercard and eftpos as cards that cannot be surcharged, so ask for an Amex surcharge back the same way.
Can a cafe still add a weekend or public holiday surcharge?
Yes. The ban only covers fees added because you paid by card. A weekend, public holiday, booking or service fee that every customer pays is allowed, but the business must disclose it and show the total price including it wherever it can be calculated in advance.
The business says prices went up because of the ban. Is that allowed?
Raising prices is allowed; the RBA expects card costs to be built into prices now. Blaming the surcharge ban for an increase that also reflects other costs is misleading under the Australian Consumer Law, and the ACCC uses exactly that example. Report it if you think that happened.
Who actually enforces the ban?
The card networks. eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and American Express wrote the no-surcharge rule into their scheme rules and merchant contracts, and payment providers apply it. The RBA does not regulate businesses and the ACCC does not enforce network rules; the ACCC and state agencies enforce honest pricing.
Does the ban apply to online payments and invoices?
Yes. The network rules cover in-store, online and digital transactions, and the RBA says a card payment made on or after 1 October 2026 cannot be surcharged even if the invoice was issued earlier. A business can still offer a discount for paying by bank transfer or PayID.
- Reserve Bank of Australia, Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging: Conclusions Paper (media release, 31 March 2026)
- Reserve Bank of Australia, Frequently Asked Questions: Removal of Card Payment Surcharges From 1 October 2026
- Reserve Bank of Australia, Conclusions Paper, Chapter 2: Surcharging
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Card surcharges
- Reserve Bank of Australia, Backgrounder on Payment Surcharges in Australia
- Australian Payments Network, Card surcharge FAQs for consumers
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