Key Takeaways

  • From 1 October 2026, businesses that currently recover card costs through a surcharge may need to absorb those costs, adjust overall prices, negotiate provider terms or change their payment mix.
  • The correct starting point is your own merchant statement, not a generic headline card rate.
  • A simple monthly estimate is card sales multiplied by your effective all-in card acceptance rate.
  • Interchange reductions do not automatically equal the final merchant service fee charged by your provider.
  • Payment decisions should also account for settlement, reconciliation, failed payments and customer preference.

Why model the cost now?

From 1 October 2026, eftpos, Mastercard and Visa have announced no-surcharge rules for card payments, while American Express has announced the same change from that date. Businesses will still incur card acceptance costs after surcharging changes. The practical question is how those costs will be managed once they can no longer be recovered as a separate card surcharge in the same way.

For the regulatory background and implementation details, start with our RBA card surcharge changes guide for Australian small businesses.

Step 1: calculate your effective card acceptance rate

Take a recent month of merchant statements and add the card-related fees you actually paid. Depending on your provider, this may include percentage fees, transaction charges, gateway costs, terminal charges and other acquiring fees. Divide the total card acceptance cost by the value of card sales processed in the same period.

Effective card acceptance rate = total monthly card acceptance cost ÷ monthly card sales.

For example, if a business processes $50,000 in card sales and pays $750 in total card acceptance costs, its effective rate for that month is 1.5%.

Step 2: estimate the amount currently recovered through surcharging

If the business currently passes the full 1.5% cost to customers, the amount being recovered is approximately $750 per month. If only part of the cost is recovered, use the actual amount collected through surcharges rather than assuming the full merchant cost is passed on.

This figure is the potential monthly margin exposure if nothing else changes after 1 October. It is not necessarily the amount the business will ultimately lose because provider pricing, overall prices and payment mix can also change.

Step 3: compare practical scenarios

Model at least four scenarios using the same transaction volume:

  • Absorb the cost: card acceptance costs remain an operating expense and prices stay unchanged.
  • Adjust advertised prices: review headline pricing where current surcharges recover a material payment cost.
  • Negotiate provider pricing: ask how lower interchange caps will flow through to your merchant pricing and compare alternative providers.
  • Change the payment mix: assess whether some customer journeys are better suited to bank-payment options such as PayTo or PayID.

Illustrative monthly impact

Assume $50,000 in monthly card sales at an effective 1.5% acceptance cost. The monthly card cost is $750. If that entire amount is currently recovered through a surcharge, absorbing it after 1 October would reduce monthly margin by approximately $750 before considering any interchange-related provider price reductions or changes to the payment mix.

At $100,000 of monthly card sales using the same illustrative 1.5% rate, the equivalent amount is $1,500 per month. This is why transaction volume matters even when the percentage rate looks small.

Do not treat the interchange cap as your final card rate

The RBA is reducing domestic interchange caps from 1 October 2026, including the domestic consumer credit card cap to 0.3% of transaction value and domestic debit and prepaid caps to 8 cents per transaction or 0.16% where calculated ad valorem. Those are wholesale settings within the card payment system, not a guarantee that a merchant's final acceptance price will equal those amounts.

Your actual price can still reflect scheme fees, provider margin, gateways, terminals and other services. Ask your provider to explain how the changes will flow through to your own pricing.

Add payment mix to the calculation

Cost per transaction is only one input. A useful payment comparison also considers customer completion, payment certainty, settlement timing, reconciliation effort, refunds, failed payments and support overhead. A payment method with a lower visible fee may not produce the lowest total operating cost in every workflow.

If you are considering bank payments alongside cards, see PayTo vs cards after the 1 October 2026 surcharge changes.

A simple worksheet for your business

  • Monthly card sales: $________
  • Total monthly card acceptance costs: $________
  • Effective card acceptance rate: ________%
  • Monthly card surcharges currently recovered: $________
  • Estimated cost to absorb if pricing is unchanged: $________
  • Estimated provider saving after repricing: $________
  • Estimated amount shifted to alternative payment methods: $________
  • Net estimated monthly impact: $________

Sources and next step

This worksheet is intended for scenario planning only. The Reserve Bank of Australia states that businesses will still incur costs when accepting cards after surcharging is removed and recommends reviewing payment plans, statements and providers. Businesses can also offer discounts for particular payment methods, subject to applicable pricing and consumer-law requirements.

Read the RBA FAQ on removal of payment surcharges from 1 October 2026 and the ShaBaas Pay small-business surcharge readiness guide.

Important: This guide provides general information only and is not legal, tax, accounting or financial advice. Use your own provider statements and confirm implementation details with your payment service provider.