Merchant Knowledge Centre
Plain-English guides to the October 2026 payment reforms — and what they mean for your costs.
The surcharge ban is almost here: what actually changes on 1 October
From 1 October 2026 you can no longer surcharge eftpos, Mastercard or Visa payments. Here is a plain recap of what ends, what you can still charge, and the numbers behind the change.
CommBank cuts its flat merchant rate to 0.99%: what it means for you
From 1 October 2026, Commonwealth Bank is lowering its flat merchant service fee from 1.1% to 0.99%, timed with the surcharge ban. Here is what the change means and how to check where you stand.
Before 1 October: what to change at the till, on receipts and in your signage
The news tells you surcharging ends on 1 October — but not what you physically need to change. Here is a plain checklist of the till, receipt and signage updates to review before the date.
Costs are rising everywhere: the one payment line you can actually control
Insolvencies are at record levels and costs are climbing on every front. Most of those pressures are outside your control — but the cost of accepting cards is one line you can actually review.
Flat-rate vs interchange-plus: how the two pricing models compare
Almost every provider prices card acceptance one of two ways — a single flat rate, or interchange-plus. The October 2026 interchange cut changes how they stack up. Here is how each works, in plain English.
eftpos vs credit cards: why the way a customer pays changes your cost
Not all card taps cost the same. Debit routed through eftpos is usually the cheapest to accept; credit and premium cards cost more. Here is why — and how routing helps.
PCI compliance for small business: a plain-English guide
If you accept cards, PCI DSS applies to you. The good news: using a compliant provider does most of the heavy lifting. Here is what it means and what you actually need to do.
Chargebacks explained: what they are and how to reduce them
A chargeback reverses a card payment when a customer disputes it — and it can cost you the sale plus a fee. Here is how the process works and practical steps to reduce them.
How much does it cost to accept card payments in Australia?
There is no single "card fee" — what you pay depends on your pricing model, your card mix and your volume. Here is how to work out your own cost of accepting cards, and where to check current provider pricing.
Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android: taking card payments without a terminal
Tap to Pay turns a phone into a contactless card reader — no separate terminal, no hardware to buy. Here is how it works in Australia, which providers offer it, what it costs, and where it fits.
Least-cost routing (merchant choice routing): how to cut debit card costs
Least-cost routing (also called merchant choice routing) sends contactless debit taps down the cheaper network. After the October 2026 surcharge ban it becomes one of the few levers left to lower what you pay — here is how it works and how to switch it on.
The countdown to October 1: your merchant payments checklist
Two months out. Whether the surcharge ban is a compliance chore or a few thousand dollars of annual savings depends entirely on what you do between now and 30 September. Here is the complete checklist, in order, with the time each step takes.
POS-bundled payments: are Lightspeed and Shopify POS worth the extra software cost?
For many retail and hospitality businesses, payments no longer arrive as a standalone terminal — they come welded to the point-of-sale software that runs the whole shop. Bundles like Lightspeed and Shopify POS deliver real operational value, but they change the cost question entirely: you're no longer buying a rate, you're buying an ecosystem. Here's how to price one honestly.
How to negotiate better merchant fees with your bank before the surcharge ban
The RBA has said plainly that small businesses should be the biggest beneficiaries of October's interchange reductions [1]. Whether that happens at your business depends on a conversation most merchants never have. Here's how to have it — with the leverage, the script, and the traps.
Why travel agents may start refusing your credit card — and what it means for your points and perks
The surcharge ban has a strange side effect the headlines are only half-covering. Much of the coverage has focused on shrinking credit-card perks — fewer points, less lounge access, complimentary travel insurance under threat. But underneath that consumer story is a merchant one: for travel agents working on razor-thin commissions, a credit-card payment can now cost more than the sale earns them. Some are considering refusing credit cards altogether. Here's how the two halves connect — and why it matters whichever side of the counter you're on.
When "just absorb it" doesn't work: card fees for high-ticket, thin-margin businesses
Most surcharge-ban advice assumes you can absorb the cost or quietly build it into your prices. For a cafe adding 30 cents to a coffee, that's true. But for businesses selling big-ticket items on thin margins — travel, jewellery, furniture, large trade invoices, events — the maths can break down completely. On a high-value credit-card sale, the acceptance fee can be larger than the profit on the sale itself. This guide is about what to do when absorbing the fee isn't a rounding error, but the difference between a sale and a loss.
Do you really know what you pay? How to read your merchant statement before October
Ask ten merchants their card acceptance rate and eight will quote the headline number from their signup letter — which is almost never what they actually pay. Merchant statements bury the truth in fee codes, blended tiers and GST lines. Before October's reforms, you need three numbers off that statement. Here's how to find them in fifteen minutes.
Interchange-linked vs flat-rate merchant fees: which is actually cheaper?
Every merchant pricing plan in Australia is a variation on two ideas: pay one blended rate for everything (flat), or pay the true wholesale cost of each transaction plus a margin (interchange-linked, "cost plus"). Neither is universally cheaper. This guide shows you how to work out which wins for your business — with worked numbers at $50,000/month.
The flat-rate trap: why Square and Zeller merchants might miss out on RBA savings
Flat-rate providers earned their popularity honestly: one rate, no lock-in, no rental, hardware you own. But the RBA's October interchange cut exposes the structural cost of that simplicity — when your provider's wholesale costs fall, your flat rate doesn't. This article explains the mechanics without the hype, so you can decide whether simplicity is still worth its new price.
A beloved Melbourne cafe is closing on 1 August. Here's the part every merchant should pay attention to.
Two Franks, the Coburg cafe and general store run by sisters Angie Markou and Chryssie Swarbrick, announced to its 18,000-strong Instagram community last week that it will trade for the last time on Saturday 1 August. SmartCompany has since spoken with both founders about why. The reason wasn't one thing. It was everything, arriving at once — and one item on that list has a date on it, applies to nearly every merchant in the country, and is the only one you can actually do something about before it lands.
Why fewer than 1 in 10 Australian businesses switch payment providers (and why October changes that)
The RBA found that fewer than one in ten businesses switched their payment provider in 2024–25 [2]. Yet the spread between an average deal and a sharp one routinely runs to thousands of dollars a year at ordinary small-business volumes. This article is about the gap between those two facts — and why the October reforms are the rare event that closes it.
Shift4 and Tyro merchants: how to calculate your real costs after the surcharge ban
You know the surcharge model ends on 1 October. The harder question is: what will you actually pay from that day? Neither Shift4 nor Tyro has published a standard post-October rate card for surcharge-model merchants as at June 2026 [3] — so here is a defensible way to forecast your cost yourself, in four steps, using numbers you already have.
On a 'Zero Cost' EFTPOS plan? Prepare for an October bill shock
Around 20,000 Australian merchants run terminals where the monthly merchant fee is roughly $0 — because their customers pay it through a surcharge on every tap [3]. On 1 October 2026 that model is banned under the card scheme rules. If your terminal is Shift4 (formerly SmartPay) Zero Cost or Tyro's "No Cost EFTPOS", this article is your deadline notice.
How to choose a card payment provider in Australia (2026 buyer's guide)
The headline rate is the worst way to pick a card machine. Here's the Compayr method: start with your real numbers, weigh the five costs that actually move your bill, and know exactly what to ask before you sign.
How to switch payment providers without losing a day of trade
Switching provider sounds risky — downtime, a gap in payouts, a contract you can't escape. Done in the right order, it's a quiet afternoon's work. Here's the Compayr switch checklist.
Choosing a POS system: software fees vs payment processing
A POS system sends you two bills — software and payment processing — and they don't always come from the same place. Here's how to compare the true monthly cost without getting locked into the wrong bundle.
Online payment gateways: a buyer's guide to fees and features
Online pricing hides in the per-transaction fee, the international loading and the payout timing. Here's how to compare gateways on what you'll actually pay — and the features worth paying for.
The 62.5% cut to wholesale card costs — and why your bill may not budge
While the surcharge ban grabs the headlines, the quieter half of the RBA's October reform is the one that decides whether card acceptance actually gets cheaper for your business: a cut to the wholesale "interchange" cap on domestic credit cards from 0.8% down to 0.3% [1]. That's a 62.5% reduction — in the cap. What lands in your bank account depends entirely on how your provider prices you. For many merchants, the honest answer is: nothing, unless you act.
RBA bans card surcharges from October 1: What this means for your business
From 1 October 2026, adding a surcharge to eftpos, Mastercard and Visa payments will be banned in Australia under the card schemes’ rules, following the RBA’s reforms. If your business surcharges today, the cost of accepting cards moves onto your side of the ledger — and the time to plan for that is now, not when your first October statement lands.