Surcharging: what merchants actually need to weigh up

A small decision with more moving parts than it looks

Whether or how to surcharge card payments looks like a simple switch to flip, but it sits at the intersection of a few different things: what your provider actually allows, what the current regulatory guidance says about how surcharges must be calculated and disclosed, and how your customers are likely to react.

Why "just match what everyone else does" isn't quite enough

Surcharging rules exist specifically to stop merchants charging more than the actual cost of accepting the payment, and the detail of what counts as compliant has been reviewed and adjusted over time. What was accurate advice a couple of years ago isn't guaranteed to be accurate now. Before setting or changing a surcharge, it's worth checking current guidance directly — the ACCC and RBA both publish plain-English material on this — rather than relying on what a competitor down the road is doing.

The part that's easy to skip

Beyond compliance, there's a genuine business question: does surcharging on your current provider actually save you more than the customer friction it creates? That depends on your fee structure, your typical transaction size, and your customers — and it's not the same answer for every business, which is exactly why "provider-agnostic" matters when getting advice on it.

If you're not confident your current surcharge — or lack of one — is actually the right call for your business, that's a specific, practical thing to bring to a business review. Book a free review and we'll look at it alongside the rest of your costs and supplier arrangements.