Card surcharge ban 2026: how tradies should re-price their quotes

Australia has banned card surcharges on everyday card payments. The Reserve Bank announced the change on 31 March 2026, and from 1 October 2026 businesses can't add a surcharge to Visa, Mastercard or eftpos payments, whether debit, prepaid or credit. American Express dropped surcharging from the same date, so the ACCC's card surcharge page lists all four. Lower interchange caps came with it, which should cut what small businesses pay to accept cards in the first place. If you used to add a card fee at payment, this is a small but real hit to profit, and the fix is to re-price.

This guide is general information, not financial or legal advice. Check the RBA and the ACCC for the detail, and talk to your accountant before you rely on it.

What actually changed?

Many businesses used to pass on the cost of accepting a card as a separate surcharge, usually about 1 to 1.7 percent. Before 1 October 2026 the rule was that a surcharge couldn't be more than your real cost of accepting that card. Now, for the covered cards, you can't add the fee on top of the quoted price at all. The card cost doesn't disappear; it becomes a cost you carry unless it is already inside your price.

What you can and can't charge now

• No card surcharge on Visa, Mastercard, eftpos or American Express, debit, prepaid or credit.
• No relabelling. Calling the card fee an "admin fee" or "processing fee" to dodge the ban is exactly what the ACCC warns against.
• Other fees are still allowed if they have nothing to do with how the customer pays (a call-out fee, a tip fee). Show them in the total price on the quote, not as a surprise at the end. The ACCC's price displays guidance covers how.

Why tradies should care

A surcharge looks tiny per job, but it is pure profit. On a year of card-paid work it is the difference between quoting at your real rate and quietly giving away one to two percent. The tradies who get caught out are the ones who keep quoting the same way and only notice the gap at BAS time. The ones who do well re-price once, so the number the customer approves is the number they actually take home.

How to re-price

1. Ask your payment provider for your blended card fee (it varies by card mix). Call it roughly 1.5 percent if you are not sure.
2. Build that into your rates or your profit percentage so the quoted price already covers it. Don't add it as a separate line; that is the thing being banned.
3. Keep the price clear. Customers don't mind paying a fair price; they mind surprise fees. One clear total that includes GST reads as more trustworthy than a headline number plus a fee at the end.

Worked example

A $10,000 deck at a 1.5 percent blended card fee is about $150 of card cost. Instead of surcharging it, lift the quote so the price the customer approves already includes it. Your quote moves to about $10,150 and your take-home is protected no matter how they pay. For the full method, see how to price a job. For how GST works on that total, see GST on quotes.

Where Karven fits

Karven adds your private profit percentage on top of every cost, so a small lift to cover card fees flows into every new quote without a surcharge line. When a customer pays a deposit by card through Karven, the fees are taken from the payment, so it pays to have them priced in. See the plans.