Card surcharges ended on 1 October, but a new line item has turned up on some bills since: a 'service fee' that appears only when the customer pays by card. The consumer regulator says the name on the receipt does not change the rules.
What's happening?
Since 1 October, eftpos, Visa, Mastercard and American Express payments can no longer carry a surcharge. American Express and UnionPay also removed them, and PayPal followed on 5 October, after the RBA's review of retail payments regulation.
The ACCC's consumer guidance says businesses can still charge genuine service, booking or delivery fees unrelated to how someone pays. But describing a card surcharge as another type of fee may be "engaging in misleading conduct". The test is what triggers the fee: the ACCC says a service or handling fee that only applies to some payment methods is probably a card surcharge by another name.
The card networks and payment service providers enforce the no-surcharge rules, not the ACCC, which handles misleading claims about prices under consumer law.
Who it affects
For diners, weekend and public holiday surcharges are still allowed, as the card rules never covered them. Menus have to state the percentage and the days it applies. A fee that is unavoidable and can be worked out in advance generally has to be included in the displayed total price.
For businesses, the card costs have not gone away. The RBA estimates about 16 per cent of businesses applied a surcharge before the ban, and that consumers paid around $1.6 billion in surcharges in 2024-25. Cafe and restaurant groups dispute that figure. Banks and payment providers still charge merchants to accept cards, so the RBA sets out three options: absorb the cost, shop around, or build it into prices. Price rises are allowed, but the ACCC says a rise must not be blamed on the surcharge changes when other costs are also behind it.
There is a transparency trade-off: the surcharge once showed diners what their card was costing the business, and that cost can now sit inside the advertised price. The final figure is clearer, but less of it is itemised. On day one, ordering apps began charging a platform fee instead.
What it means for you
If a fee only appears when you pay by card, ask what triggers it. The ACCC's advice is to raise a concern with the business first, then with the card network or the business's payment provider. If the reason given for a price rise does not match the numbers, misleading pricing can be reported to the ACCC.
The RBA estimates that folding existing surcharges into advertised prices could add about 0.1 per cent to the consumer price index, mostly as a one-off measurement effect.
Happy dining! G