In Australia, an EFTPOS surcharge is a fee businesses add to card transactions to recover their processing costs. It's legal under RBA rules, but the surcharge cannot exceed your actual Cost of Acceptance. EFTPOS transactions typically cost around 0.3% to process — lower than Visa/Mastercard debit (0.5%) or credit cards (0.9%+). Disclosure to customers is mandatory.
Australian businesses lose thousands of dollars annually to card processing fees they don't fully understand. Whether you run a café in Melbourne, a retail shop in Brisbane, or a weekend market stall in Sydney, knowing exactly how EFTPOS surcharges work — and how to apply them correctly — protects your margins and keeps you on the right side of the law.
This guide covers everything you need to know about EFTPOS surcharge rules in Australia in 2026, including the legal framework, fee structures, compliance obligations, and practical strategies to manage your costs. APS helps Australian businesses navigate all of this confidently.
What Is an EFTPOS Surcharge and How Does It Work in Australia?
An EFTPOS surcharge is a percentage fee that a business adds to a card payment to recover the cost of processing that transaction. Instead of absorbing card processing fees as a business expense, the merchant passes that cost — fully or partially — on to the customer at checkout.
Here's how it works in practice:
- A customer pays $100 for a meal using their Visa debit card
- The business applies a 0.5% surcharge
- The customer pays $100.50 — the extra $0.50 covers the merchant's processing fee
There are two common setups businesses use:
Manual surcharging: The operator applies a fixed percentage at the terminal, calculated against the transaction total. This requires staff to manually add the surcharge or adjust the terminal settings.
Automatic surcharging: The payment system detects the card type and applies the correct surcharge automatically. This is the more reliable approach — and the one that prevents both under-charging (which costs you money) and over-charging (which creates compliance risk).
Why it matters for cash flow: Card processing fees are a real business cost. On $500,000 in annual card revenue at a blended rate of 1%, that's $5,000 a year going to your payment provider. Surcharging recovers that cost directly. Managed correctly, it's a straightforward way to protect your margins without raising your prices.
Are EFTPOS Surcharges Legal in Australia?
Yes — surcharging is completely legal in Australia, provided you follow the rules set by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and enforced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The Legal Framework
The RBA introduced surcharge regulation under the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998, with updated standards taking effect from 2016. The core principle is simple: you can surcharge, but you cannot profit from it.
The key rule is the Cost of Acceptance standard. Your surcharge for any card type must not exceed what that card type actually costs you to accept. Overcharging is considered "excessive surcharging" and is a breach of consumer law under the ACCC's jurisdiction.
The ACCC's guidance on card surcharges makes clear that businesses must:
- Only surcharge up to their actual Cost of Acceptance
- Disclose surcharges to customers before payment is made
- Not apply a single blanket surcharge that results in excessive recovery on cheaper card types
The RBA's surcharge standards define Cost of Acceptance as the total cost of accepting a particular card type — including interchange fees, scheme fees, and merchant service fees — typically expressed as a percentage of transaction value.
The ACCC actively enforces these rules. Businesses found to be excessively surcharging face infringement notices and significant financial penalties. Staying compliant isn't optional — it's a legal obligation.
Understanding EFTPOS Fees — What You're Actually Paying
Your EFTPOS fees are made up of three distinct layers, and understanding each one is essential to setting a compliant surcharge and managing your costs effectively.
The Three Layers of Card Processing Costs
1. Interchange Fees This is the fee paid to the card-issuing bank every time a transaction is processed. It's set by the card schemes (Visa, Mastercard, eftpos Australia) and varies by card type.
2. Scheme Fees These are fees charged by the card network itself — Visa, Mastercard, or eftpos Australia — for using their payment infrastructure.
3. Merchant Service Fee (MSF) This is the all-in fee your payment provider charges you, which typically wraps interchange and scheme fees together with their own margin.
Typical Cost of Acceptance by Card Type in Australia (2026)
| Card Type | Typical Cost of Acceptance |
|---|---|
| eftpos Australia (debit) | ~0.3% |
| Visa / Mastercard Debit | ~0.5% |
| Visa / Mastercard Credit | ~0.9%–1.5% |
| American Express | ~1.3%–1.8% |
eftpos Australia transactions typically cost around 0.3% per transaction — significantly lower than Visa or Mastercard debit at 0.5%, and less than half the cost of credit card transactions.
This data, supported by AusPayNet's interchange fee schedules, is why applying a blanket surcharge across all card types is a compliance risk. A 1.5% surcharge on an eftpos transaction — when your actual cost is 0.3% — is excessive by a wide margin.
Your merchant statement is your source of truth. Look for the line-item breakdown by card type to identify your actual Cost of Acceptance for each network. If your provider doesn't give you that transparency, that's a problem worth addressing.
Which Card Types Can Be Surcharged in Australia?
Most major card types can carry a surcharge in Australia, but the rules differ by network — and some payment methods cannot be surcharged at all.
What Can Be Surcharged
| Card / Network | Surchargeable? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| eftpos Australia | Yes | ~0.3% typical cost |
| Visa Debit | Yes | ~0.5% typical cost |
| Mastercard Debit | Yes | ~0.5% typical cost |
| Visa Credit | Yes | ~0.9%–1.5% typical cost |
| Mastercard Credit | Yes | ~0.9%–1.5% typical cost |
| American Express | Yes | ~1.3%–1.8% typical cost |
| Afterpay / BNPL | No | Contractually prohibited by provider |
| Cash | No | No processing cost |
The Dual-Network Debit Card (DNDC) Complication
This is where many Australian businesses get tripped up. Around 85% of Australian debit cards are dual-network debit cards (DNDCs) — meaning a single physical card carries both the eftpos Australia network and either Visa or Mastercard.
When a customer taps their card, the terminal routes the transaction through one of those networks. If it routes through eftpos Australia, the cost is ~0.3%. If it routes through Visa or Mastercard, the cost is ~0.5%.
Your surcharge must reflect the actual network used for that transaction — not a blanket rate across all debit cards. This is where automatic surcharging systems and Least-Cost Routing (LCR) become genuinely important, not just convenient.
As confirmed by AusPayNet, DNDCs represent the dominant form of debit payment in Australia, which means this isn't an edge case — it's the everyday reality for almost every business accepting tap-and-go payments.
How to Stay Compliant With Australian Surcharge Regulations
Compliance comes down to four obligations: disclose, stay within Cost of Acceptance, review regularly, and keep records. Here's exactly how to meet each one.
Step-by-Step Compliance Checklist
Step 1: Calculate your Cost of Acceptance per card type Pull your last three months of merchant statements. Identify your actual processing cost — as a percentage — for eftpos, Visa debit, Mastercard debit, Visa credit, Mastercard credit, and Amex separately.
Step 2: Set surcharges at or below Cost of Acceptance Your surcharge for each card type must not exceed the percentage you calculated in Step 1. Many businesses set surcharges slightly below their actual cost to provide a buffer and avoid any compliance risk.
Step 3: Display surcharges clearly before payment The ACCC requires that customers are informed of any surcharge before they commit to paying. This means:
- Clear signage at the counter or entry point
- On-screen notification before the customer taps or inserts their card
- On receipts as a separate line item
Step 4: Review your surcharges at least annually Your Cost of Acceptance changes when your payment provider updates their pricing, or when the RBA adjusts interchange benchmarks. A surcharge that was compliant in January 2025 may be excessive by July 2026 if your underlying costs have dropped.
Step 5: Keep documentation Retain your merchant statements and any surcharge calculation records. The ACCC can request evidence that your surcharge reflects your actual costs. Having a clear paper trail takes the stress out of any inquiry.
How to Optimise Your EFTPOS Costs — Including Least-Cost Routing
The most effective way to reduce EFTPOS transaction costs is to combine accurate surcharging with Least-Cost Routing (LCR). Research indicates LCR reduces transaction costs by around 20% for eligible transactions.
What Is Least-Cost Routing?
When a dual-network debit card is presented, your terminal chooses which network to send the transaction through. Without LCR, many terminals default to Visa or Mastercard — costing you ~0.5% when the eftpos route would cost ~0.3%.
LCR automatically routes each transaction through the cheapest available network. On high volumes, the savings are substantial.
Practical Cost Optimisation Steps
- Audit your merchant statement monthly — identify which card types make up your transaction mix
- Calculate your effective rate — divide total fees by total transaction value. If it's above 1%, you have room to negotiate or switch providers
- Enable LCR on your terminal — ask your payment provider to confirm LCR is active. Not all providers enable it by default
- Use per-card-type surcharging — applying a 0.3% surcharge on eftpos transactions and 0.9% on credit cards is both compliant and accurate
- Negotiate your merchant service fee — if your volume has grown, use that as leverage to renegotiate rates
- Consider zero-cost EFTPOS — automatic surcharging that passes 100% of processing costs to the customer, eliminating card fees entirely for the business
Zero-cost EFTPOS for small business is increasingly popular among retailers and hospitality venues. Customers are now familiar with surcharges — especially after several years of them being standard practice across Australian industries.
What Retailers, Hospitality Venues, and Market Sellers Need to Know
EFTPOS surcharging looks different depending on your business type. Here's what matters most for the three most common settings.
Retail
Retail businesses typically handle high transaction volumes with relatively predictable card mixes. The key risk is a blanket surcharge applied to all card types without checking whether it's excessive on low-cost eftpos transactions.
A practical approach for retail: Set card-type-specific surcharges in your POS system, enable LCR on your terminal, and review your Cost of Acceptance quarterly. Display surcharge signage at entry and at the counter.
Hospitality
A café owner in Melbourne applies a consistent 1.5% surcharge across all card types, not realising their actual Cost of Acceptance for eftpos transactions is only 0.3%. That's a five-fold excess on eftpos payments — a clear breach of ACCC rules.
This is exactly the type of issue that APS's transparent fee reporting surfaces immediately. With a full breakdown of costs by card type, the café owner can correct their surcharge settings before any customer complains or the ACCC takes interest.
Hospitality businesses also need to account for weekend and public holiday surcharges — these are separate to card surcharges and must be clearly disclosed as a percentage of the total bill.
Market Stalls and Mobile Sellers
A weekend market seller using a mobile terminal wants zero-cost EFTPOS but isn't sure how to set it up without confusing customers at each sale. Manual calculation at a busy stall isn't practical.
APS's automatic surcharging feature handles this entirely at the dashboard level — no manual calculation required at each sale. The terminal applies the correct surcharge based on the card type presented, the customer sees it on screen before tapping, and the seller receives 100% of the sale value.
For mobile and market sellers, the ability to manage payment settings remotely — without having to call a support line or visit a branch — is a genuine operational advantage.
How APS Helps Australian Businesses Manage EFTPOS Surcharges Confidently
APS is built specifically for Australian businesses navigating the complexity of compliant payment processing. Whether you're setting up surcharges for the first time, auditing your current setup, or looking for zero-cost EFTPOS, APS provides the tools and transparency to do it correctly.
What APS Delivers for Australian Merchants
- Transparent fee reporting by card type — see exactly what each network costs you, so your surcharges always reflect your actual Cost of Acceptance
- Automatic surcharging — the system applies the correct surcharge per transaction based on card type, removing the manual error risk entirely
- Least-Cost Routing enabled — APS routes eligible debit card transactions through the cheapest available network by default
- RBA and ACCC compliant setup — surcharge configurations are built to meet Australian regulatory requirements, with clear customer disclosure at point of sale
- Zero-cost EFTPOS option — for businesses that want to eliminate card processing fees entirely, APS's automatic surcharging passes costs through accurately without over-charging
- Support for retail, hospitality, and mobile merchants — whether you're running an integrated POS, a countertop terminal, or a mobile device at a market stall, APS has the right setup
APS serves Australian merchants across retail, hospitality, and market sectors, providing the kind of payment infrastructure that was previously only accessible to large businesses — with the personalised support that small and medium businesses actually need.
Ready to Take Control of Your EFTPOS Costs?
Understanding your EFTPOS surcharge obligations in Australia is the first step. The second is having a payment provider that makes compliance straightforward, not something you have to figure out on your own.
Visit aps.business today to find out how APS can help your business manage card surcharges correctly, reduce your processing costs, and operate with confidence under Australian payment regulations.
