Card surcharges have been banned in Australia since 1 October 2026. Answer four questions and get a straight read — Likely Banned, Paid Before the Ban, Not Covered, or Unclear — plus the exact refund path if your fee is covered. Never a promised refund. Just the rules, applied to your answers.
The ban applies to payments made on or after 1 October 2026 — the invoice date does not matter. Enter the day the payment was made.
Use the exact wording on the receipt — the ban turns on what the fee actually was.
From 1 October 2026, card surcharging has been banned in Australia: the three designated card networks introduced no-surcharge rules, and Amex, UnionPay and PayPal also removed surcharging. The ban applies even to invoices issued before 1 October if the payment was made on or after that date. Business-to-business transactions are covered unless a merchant exemption applies. The Reserve Bank's review conclusions FAQ confirms the detail; the ACCC's card-surcharges page confirms the consumer side.
| Fee on your receipt | Status since 1 Oct 2026 | Refund route |
|---|---|---|
| Card surcharge / credit card surcharge | Banned | Ask the business in writing, then the card network, then the ACCC |
| Card fee / card processing fee | Banned (if it is a fee for paying by card) | Same route as above |
| EFTPOS fee / tap-and-go fee | Banned (if it is a fee for paying by card) | Same route as above |
| Weekend or public holiday surcharge | Still allowed | No route under the surcharge ban |
| Booking fee / service fee / convenience fee | Still allowed | No route under the surcharge ban |
| Cash handling fee | Still allowed | No route under the surcharge ban |
Visa AU's own surcharging page confirms the consumer route: ask the business first, then report to the card network if it refuses or ignores you. In practice the order is:
Search for banned-surcharge advice and you will find pages that talk as if the refund is automatic. It is not: a business may claim a merchant exemption, or argue the fee was something else — and only the business, the card network and the ACCC decide what happens next. What can be assessed honestly is which rule applies to your answers: whether the ban covers your payment date, whether your fee type is a card surcharge, and which route the published rules give you. That is what this checker does. No promised refunds — just the rules, applied to your answers.
Yes. From 1 October 2026, the three designated card networks introduced no-surcharge rules, and Amex, UnionPay and PayPal also removed surcharging. From that date, businesses covered by the ban must not add a card surcharge to your bill.
Yes. The ban applies to payments made on or after 1 October 2026 — the invoice date does not matter. If the fee was charged because you paid by card and the payment happened on or after the ban date, the surcharge is covered by the ban (unless a merchant exemption applies).
Ask the business in writing first — an email or in-app message you can screenshot, not a phone call. If it refuses or ignores you, report the business to the card network (Visa AU and Mastercard AU publish consumer surcharging pages with a reporting route), and report to the ACCC as well.
No. The ban covers card surcharges only — fees added because you paid by card. Weekend and public holiday surcharges, booking fees, service fees, convenience fees and cash-handling fees are still allowed, as long as they were disclosed before you agreed to pay.
The ban covers payments on or after 1 October 2026 on the designated networks (plus Amex, UnionPay and PayPal, which also removed surcharging), including business-to-business transactions — unless a merchant exemption applies. The RBA's conclusions-paper FAQ lists the current exemptions. Fees charged before 1 October 2026 were allowed at the time and are not covered by the ban.
Sources (verified 22 October 2026): RBA: review of retail payments regulation — conclusions paper FAQs; ACCC: card surcharges.
