As part of reforms introduced by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Visa and Mastercard have announced that from 1 October 2026, merchants will generally no longer be permitted to apply a surcharge to Visa or Mastercard card payments, except where expressly permitted by applicable law or regulation.
What this means
If your business currently adds a surcharge when customers pay by Visa or Mastercard, you should ensure this practice stops before 1 October 2026. This includes charges described as a credit card surcharge, card processing fee, technology fee, payment acceptance fee, or EFTPOS surcharge (where applicable).
Simply renaming a surcharge doesn't change its nature — if an extra amount is charged because a customer chooses to pay by card, it may be treated as a prohibited surcharge under the new framework.
Will you need to increase prices?
That's a commercial decision for each business. Many businesses currently recover part of their payment costs through card surcharges; from 1 October 2026 some may instead build those costs into their overall pricing, so the advertised price applies however the customer pays. This is entirely a pricing decision for your business.
What about cash?
Cash isn't processed through the card networks, so it isn't subject to the new card surcharge rules. However, if you increase your general prices to reflect the cost of accepting electronic payments, those prices would ordinarily apply to all customers, including those paying by cash.
What about PayID?
PayID payments are made via Australia's New Payments Platform (NPP), not the Visa or Mastercard card networks, so the new card surcharge restrictions don't apply to them. You may continue to encourage lower-cost methods like PayID, provided you comply with applicable consumer laws and represent your pricing accurately. Any discounts or incentives should be genuine and not used to get around the card surcharge rules.
What to do before 1 October 2026
Review any surcharge settings currently applied to card payments — in Pebl, this is each location's Settings → Payment Settings.
Update your pricing and checkout processes where necessary.
Review your invoices, payment links and point-of-sale settings.
Make sure your staff understand the new requirements.
Pebl will support you through this transition and will amend the Pebl Pay app accordingly.
Payment choice with Pebl
Pebl lets you accept payments through a range of channels — Visa and Mastercard, PayID, payment links and QR codes — so you can offer customers convenience while choosing the methods that best suit your operations and costs.
If you have any questions or need help updating your Pebl account, contact our support team — see Contacting Pebl support.