Preparing for the surcharge ban: Checklist for Australian Businesses

From 1st October 2026, businesses will no longer be able to apply card surcharges to credit, debit and prepaid card payments across a number of payment networks, including Visa, Mastercard, eftpos and American Express as part of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) upcoming reforms to card payments.

For Tyro merchants, Tyro’s surcharging functionality will be switched off entirely from 11:30pm AEST on 30 September 2026.

If your business currently uses surcharging, preparing for the change may involve more than your payment terminal. Surcharge information may also appear on your signage, website, invoices and across other business processes.

With 1st October around the corner, here are some practical checks you can work through now.

1. Update customer-facing surcharge materials

Think about each point where a customer might see information about how they’ll pay. This could include:

• signage at your counter or checkout
• menus or price lists
• your website or online ordering information
• invoices and quotes
• customer emails or templates
• other printed or digital customer-facing materials.

Any references to Visa, Mastercard, eftpos, American Express, UnionPay and Alipay card surcharges will need to be removed before 1st October.  

Doing a quick audit now can help you identify less obvious places where surcharge messaging may still be sitting.

2. Prepare your team for customer questions

Your employees may be the first people customers ask about the change, particularly if customers are used to seeing a surcharge when they pay by card.

Make sure relevant team members know:

• when card surcharging is ending
• what is changing at your business
• which customer-facing materials are being updated
• who to speak to internally if they have questions.

Keeping the explanation simple and consistent can help make the transition easier for both staff and customers.

3. Check how surcharging fits into your payment setup

Depending on how your business takes payments, surcharging may form part of more than one process.

Review where it is currently applied, including your EFTPOS terminal, integrated payments setup, point-of-sale system and any manual processes your business uses.

If you use other systems alongside your payment terminal, it may also be worth checking with the relevant provider whether there are any actions you need to take before 1st October.

The aim is simple: know which parts of your payment process are affected before the change takes effect.

4. Choose the right time to make your updates

If you need to update signs, systems, templates or other processes, consider when you’ll make those changes.

Where possible, avoid leaving everything until your busiest trading period. Preparing ahead gives you more time to identify anything that needs attention before 1st October.

You might find it useful to assign responsibility for different areas of the business – for example, one person checking your website and customer communications while another reviews your in-store materials and payment processes.

Your pre-1st October checklist

Before 1st October 2026, check that you have:

• removed surcharge references from customer-facing materials
• reviewed where surcharging currently appears in your payment processes
• checked whether any connected or third-party systems require changes
• briefed staff on what is changing
• planned when any required updates will be made
• made sure the right people in your business know who to contact if they need support.

Taking care of these practical details ahead of time can help your business move into 1st October with fewer last-minute changes.

What isn’t affected by the card surcharge changes?

The changes relate specifically to fees charged because a customer chooses to pay by card.

According to the RBA, they do not apply to other types of charges such as weekend surcharges, public holiday surcharges, booking fees or service fees ¹.

This distinction may be useful when reviewing your signage, menus and other customer-facing information, particularly if your business applies other types of fees.

For more information about the changes, see the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging – Conclusions Paper.

We’re here to help

If you have questions about what the upcoming changes mean for your business and Tyro account, our dedicated teams are available to support you.

Call us at 1300 00 TYRO (8976) or get in touch today.

Information is current as of 23rd September 2026.