Help & support
A surcharge is an extra amount added to a bill. It covers the costs of accepting card payments.
You can surcharge for these payment methods:
For each payment method, you’ll need to set an amount to surcharge.
Once you've enabled surcharging, your terminal will automatically add a surcharge based on the customer’s payment method.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) sets rules that limit how much you can surcharge for card payments.
You can only charge what it costs your business to accept the payment, known as the Cost of Acceptance.
You can use the Cost of Acceptance in your merchant statements to calculate your surcharge amount.
The Cost of Acceptance includes costs such as:
It's calculated either monthly (in your monthly merchant statement) or annually (in your June merchant statement).
Good to know
Surcharging isn’t set up by default on your EFTPOS terminal. Follow these instructions to enable surcharging on your device.
Your Cost of Acceptance is calculated per merchant number.
If you own a franchise or have multiple stores, you can average the surcharge rate across your stores per card type, so long as all stores are under the same legal entity.
Monthly Cost of Acceptance information will be available on your first merchant statement.
For the period where Cost of Acceptance isn't available, you can choose not to surcharge or to surcharge at a rate that is deemed reasonable for the month. A reasonable surcharge is a rate no higher than what it costs you to process a transaction.
You should only have to review the level of surcharge once a year using your annual Cost of Acceptance information. If this isn’t available (because you’re a new merchant, your business is seasonal, or your transactions change from month to month), you can change your surcharge limit on a monthly basis using your monthly statements.
Your Cost of Acceptance is shown as N/A when there isn’t enough information to calculate your Cost of Acceptance. This may occur if you’re a new merchant or your facility has been inactive for some time.
Yes, but you must set the surcharge at the level of the lowest Cost of Acceptance across all card types. Surcharging rules don't allow you to surcharge an average of the percentages shown under the (%) of net sales column.
The regulations don't prevent you from imposing a payment surcharge as a flat or fixed fee, but it may be easier for you to apply a surcharge as a percentage because in most cases payment costs are charged in percentage terms.
When surcharging with a flat or fixed fee, make sure the amount of the surcharge doesn't exceed your Cost of Acceptance for any given transaction. You should also be careful when imposing a flat fee surcharge where the cost of a transaction is relatively small, as the surcharge is likely to be excessive.
You’ll need to be able to prove your Cost of Acceptance is accurate, by verifying costs with official documents like contracts, settlements or invoices.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) may take action against any merchant whose card surcharge exceeds its Cost of Acceptance.
Surcharging isn't compulsory. If you decide to surcharge in the future, you'll need to make sure you follow the rules by not surcharging more than it costs you to process card transactions.
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As this advice has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs, you should, before acting on the information, consider its appropriateness to your circumstances. Please view our Merchant Agreement, Financial Services Guide and Operator and User Guides above.
