Card surcharge rules for tradies: what is changing

Card surcharging is one of those areas where the rules are moving, so it pays to understand both how things work now and where they are heading. The short version: you can surcharge today, but only up to your real cost, and reform is pushing towards less surcharging over time. This is general guidance, not legal advice, and because dates and scope are being consulted on, confirm the current position before you change your terms.

How surcharging works today

If you pass on a card surcharge, the core rule is cost of acceptance: your surcharge cannot be more than what it actually costs your business to accept that card. That cost includes the percentage and fixed fees your payment provider charges, and your provider is required to tell you what those are.

A few practical points follow from that:

• A blanket "1.5% on all cards" can breach the rules if your real cost on some cards is lower.
• The surcharge should reflect the specific card type, because different cards cost you different amounts.
• A surcharge has to be disclosed before payment, not added as a surprise at the end. The ACCC enforces excessive surcharging.

What is changing

There has been sustained reform activity, driven by the Reserve Bank's review of card payment costs and broader government policy, aimed at reducing or removing surcharging on common card payments. The intent is to make pricing simpler and stop customers being stung with add-on fees at checkout.

What is less certain is the exact scope and the start date. These have been the subject of consultation, so if you see a specific date quoted, treat it as provisional and check the current official position before you rely on it. What is not in doubt is the direction: the trend is clearly towards less surcharging, not more.

Why "price it in" beats "surcharge it on"

Because the rules are tightening, the most future-proof move is to stop treating card fees as a bolt-on and instead build them into your job price. The advantages are straightforward:

• A surcharge ban does not force a re-price. If your prices already cover your payment costs, a rule change is a non-event for you.
• Cleaner quotes. One clear, GST-inclusive total reads better and converts better than a price with a fee tacked on at the end.
• No disclosure risk. You cannot fall foul of "you did not tell me about the fee" if there is no separate fee.

If you do choose to keep surcharging in the meantime, keep it at or below your genuine cost of acceptance, state it clearly on the quote before the customer commits, and be ready to switch it off if the rules land.

A simple way to handle it on every quote

The practical fix is to set your pricing once so payment costs are already inside your rates, then let your quoting tool carry that through to every job automatically. You quote a clean total, the customer sees one number, and you are insulated from whatever the final surcharge rules turn out to be. That is far less painful than re-writing your terms and re-training customers the day a ban takes effect. For the current rules and any confirmed start dates, check the ACCC and Reserve Bank guidance before you change how you charge.