Who made this: We're the Surcharge Sweep team, part of the Grokadots team. This page and our checker are free, and the Price Reset Kit is our own paid product. You don't need the kit to use this page.
Disclaimer: General information only, not legal advice. Rules can change, so check the ACCC and RBA pages linked below and confirm with your payment provider.
What the ACCC and RBA say
“Businesses can no longer charge a surcharge for payments made using Visa, Mastercard, American Express or eftpos credit, debit or prepaid cards from 1 October 2026.”
“If a card payment is made on or after 1 October 2026, surcharging may no longer be available even if the invoice was issued earlier.”
“Card payments between businesses are not exempt from the removal of surcharging unless a card network’s rules provide an exemption or an exemption is provided by law or regulation.”
“Businesses shouldn’t try to avoid the ‘no surcharge’ rules set by the Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos card networks by describing a card payment surcharge as another type of fee or charge. Businesses that do this may be engaging in misleading conduct.”
Before and after
Example wording (our own, not from a real business).
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| A 1.5% surcharge applies to all credit card payments. | Delete the line. If you list payment options, name the cards you accept, with no fee. |
| Card payments incur a 2.2% processing fee. | Delete the line. Renaming a card surcharge as a processing fee doesn't change what it is. |
| Amex payments attract a 3% surcharge. | Delete the line. American Express also removed surcharging from 1 October 2026. |
| Subtotal $500.00 + 1.9% card surcharge $9.50 = Total $509.50 | Total $500.00 (or your new price, shown as the full amount payable) |
Template checklist
For invoices sent before 1 October, the RBA says: “Businesses should check with their payment service provider, as some providers have indicated they may disable surcharging functionality from that date.”
Source: RBA: Removal of card payment surcharges FAQs, retrieved 28 October 2026.
Check your own invoice wording
Paste your invoice text, or add a PDF or DOCX, into our free checker. It runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded. It flags leftover card surcharge wording for you to review.
If you'd like help rebuilding your prices without a surcharge, we also sell the Price Reset Kit. It's optional, and everything on this page works without it.
Related
See our card surcharge FAQ and the price change notice wording.
Sources
Quotes checked against the ACCC and RBA pages on 28 October 2026.