Merchant Knowledge Centre
Plain-English guides to the October 2026 payment reforms and what they mean for your card costs, from surcharging to switching providers.
AI told cafés to surcharge. Surcharging has been banned since 1 October.
Two AI tools told a café to add a surcharge, banned since 1 October. Copilot got 1 of 12 answers right. Google gave the same café two answers, minutes apart.
Which providers cut merchant fees after the 1 October interchange cut?
Westpac cut its card rate from 1.20% to 0.79% on 1 October 2026. 13 of the 20 card rates we track have not moved.
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 banned card surcharges from October 1: What this means for your business
Since 1 October 2026, adding a surcharge to eftpos, Mastercard and Visa payments has been banned in Australia under the card schemes' rules. If your business surcharged, the cost of accepting cards moved onto your side of the ledger, and you will see it on your first post-October statement.