The ACCC is encouraging businesses to review their card payment surcharges to ensure they are in line with their cost of accepting card payments.
Businesses should also ensure they adequately disclose upfront any card payment surcharges that apply, so that their customers can make informed decisions before ordering, booking and paying for a product or service.
Misleading surcharging practices and other add-on costs is a compliance and enforcement priority for the ACCC in the 2025-26 financial year.
"Businesses need to ensure their customers know about any card payment surcharges upfront, and that they are only charging what it costs them to accept those card payments," ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said.
The Australian Consumer Law prohibits businesses from misleading people about the prices they charge.
The Competition and Consumer Act also prohibits businesses from charging a card payment surcharge that is excessive. A card payment surcharge is considered excessive if it is higher than the business's 'cost of acceptance'.
For example, if a business's 'cost of acceptance' for Visa credit card payments, including the merchant service fee and all other permissible costs, is 1 per cent, and they choose to charge a card payment surcharge, they can only apply a surcharge of up to 1 per cent to their customers that pay using a Visa credit card.
The ACCC has commenced an education and compliance campaign to inform businesses, particularly small businesses, of their obligations and help them to comply with the relevant laws.
As part of this campaign, the ACCC is helping businesses to comply with the law through advertisements and updated guidance material. It will also be engaging closely with relevant industry representatives to help them support their small business members in complying with the laws.
The ACCC will also be actively monitoring business compliance, and may take appropriate compliance or enforcement action, in line with our Compliance and Enforcement Policy.
"We understand that small businesses need to be across a lot of information to comply with all of the laws that apply to their business, however, charging excessive surcharges and not being upfront with customers about pricing can result in small businesses losing customers," Mr Keogh said.
"It is important for small businesses to ensure they understand their obligations and check their costs of acceptance to know what amounts they can legally charge their customers as a payment surcharge, as well as reviewing how they inform customers of their prices, including any applicable surcharges."
More information to help businesses comply with the law is available on the ACCC website.
Businesses may also wish to seek advice from their bank or payment facilitator, an accountant or business advisor to assist them with working out what their 'cost of acceptance' is.
Background
A standard set by the Reserve Bank of Australia sets out the costs that businesses can include when working out their 'cost of acceptance' for each payment type they accept. More information about this can be found on the Reserve Bank of Australia's website.
Businesses' banks or payment facilitators provide businesses with statements or similar payment processing information, which includes their main costs of accepting different payment types, typically shown as a percentage figure amount.
There are other costs that businesses may be able to include when calculating their 'cost of acceptance'. Businesses need to be able to verify and calculate these costs with reference to contracts, statements or invoices from their providers.
The costs for accepting card payments can vary between businesses. This means that the card payment surcharges charged to customers can also vary between businesses.
The ACCC's education and compliance engagement campaign is about the existing surcharging laws.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is currently finalising a Review of Retail Payments Regulation - Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging.
