{
  "name": "Surcharge Sweep rules",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "rulesCheckedOn": "2026-10-26",
  "jurisdiction": "Australia",
  "disclaimer": "General information only, network rules change, confirm with your payment provider.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "ACCC: Card surcharges",
      "url": "https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/pricing/card-surcharges",
      "summary": "From 1 October 2026 businesses can no longer add a surcharge for payments made with Visa, Mastercard, American Express or eftpos cards. Weekend and public holiday surcharges, and other fees not based on how the customer pays, are not covered. Card costs should be reflected in overall prices; describing a card surcharge as another fee may be misleading."
    },
    {
      "title": "Card networks' no-surcharge information (Mastercard, Visa, eftpos)",
      "url": "https://www.cardsurcharge.com.au",
      "summary": "Network information about the no-surcharge rules, linked from the ACCC page."
    },
    {
      "title": "ACCC: Price displays",
      "url": "https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/pricing/price-displays",
      "summary": "Display the minimum total price as a single figure. Restaurant/cafe weekend and public holiday surcharges are exempt from the total price but the menu must say \"A surcharge of [percentage] applies on [day or days]\" at least as prominently as the most prominent price. Payment-method discounts: show the full price, never less prominent than the discounted price."
    }
  ],
  "terms": {
    "card": [
      "cards?",
      "credit",
      "debit",
      "eftpos",
      "visa",
      "master ?cards?",
      "amex",
      "american express",
      "merchant",
      "transactions?",
      "processing",
      "diners",
      "tap(?:[ -]and[ -]| ?& ?| ?n ?)(?:pay|go)",
      "paywave",
      "paypass",
      "contactless",
      "apple ?pay",
      "google ?pay"
    ],
    "cardExclusions": [
      "direct debit",
      "credit notes?",
      "store credit",
      "account credit",
      "tax credits?",
      "credit terms",
      "gift cards?",
      "business cards?",
      "loyalty cards?",
      "membership cards?",
      "cards? (?:game|table|reading)s?",
      "greeting cards?",
      "processing times?"
    ],
    "feeStrong": [
      "surcharg\\w*",
      "fees?"
    ],
    "feeWeak": [
      "\\d+(?:\\.\\d+)?\\s?%",
      "\\d+(?:\\.\\d+)?\\s?per ?cent",
      "\\+\\s?\\$\\s?\\d"
    ],
    "exemption": [
      "weekends?",
      "saturdays?",
      "sundays?",
      "public holidays?",
      "holidays?",
      "after[- ]hours?",
      "out of hours",
      "call[- ]?outs?",
      "bookings?",
      "service[- ](?:fees?|charges?|surcharg\\w*)",
      "applies to all payments",
      "christmas day",
      "boxing day",
      "new year'?s day",
      "easter",
      "anzac day",
      "late night"
    ],
    "neutral": [
      "applies to all payments",
      "all payments",
      "all payment (?:methods|types)",
      "regardless of (?:how you pay|(?:the )?payment method)",
      "however you (?:choose to )?pay",
      "cash (?:and|or|&) cards?",
      "cards? (?:and|or|&) cash",
      "including cash",
      "not (?:a )?(?:card|payment)[- ](?:related|surcharge)"
    ],
    "otherExplainedFee": [
      "delivery",
      "cancell?ation",
      "late payment",
      "postage",
      "shipping",
      "corkage",
      "cakeage",
      "byo",
      "deposit",
      "no[- ]show",
      "freight"
    ],
    "notASurchargeFee": [
      "consultation",
      "professional",
      "membership",
      "entry",
      "joining",
      "tuition",
      "course",
      "registration",
      "application",
      "annual",
      "hourly",
      "per hour",
      "fee schedule",
      "our fees",
      "school",
      "rego"
    ],
    "relabelNames": [
      "service",
      "admin",
      "administration",
      "processing",
      "convenience",
      "handling",
      "technology",
      "platform",
      "transaction",
      "merchant",
      "payment",
      "online",
      "facility",
      "bank(?:ing)?"
    ],
    "ambiguousFeeNames": [
      "admin",
      "administration",
      "convenience",
      "handling",
      "technology",
      "platform",
      "payment",
      "online",
      "facility",
      "bank(?:ing)?"
    ],
    "discount": [
      "discount",
      "\\d+\\s?% off",
      "save \\d",
      "cheaper",
      "rebate"
    ],
    "discountMethods": [
      "cash",
      "payid",
      "pay id",
      "bank transfer",
      "eft\\b",
      "osko",
      "direct deposit"
    ],
    "negation": {
      "before": "(?:\\b(?:no|not|never|zero|nil|without|free of|free from)\\b(?:\\s+(?!\\d)[\\w'&-]+){0,3}\\s+)(?:surcharg\\w*|fees?)\\b",
      "beforeLoose": "\\b(?:don'?t|doesn'?t|do not|does not|won'?t|will not|never|no longer|cannot|can'?t)\\s+(?:[\\w'-]+\\s+){0,2}?(?:charge|apply|add|impose|pass on|have|include|levy|use)\\w*\\b[^.;]*?\\b(?:surcharg\\w*|fees?)\\b",
      "free": "\\b(?:surcharg\\w*|fees?)[- ]free\\b",
      "after": "\\b(?:surcharg\\w*|fees?)\\b[^.;]*?\\b(?:(?:has|have) been removed|removed|abolished|scrapped|dropped|no longer appl(?:y|ies)|not appl(?:y|ies)|do(?:es)? not apply|(?:is|are|will be) not (?:charged|applied|added)|waived|gone)\\b",
      "zero": "\\b0(?:\\.0+)?\\s?%\\s?(?:card\\s)?surcharg"
    }
  },
  "verdicts": {
    "Remove": {
      "label": "Remove",
      "severity": 4,
      "reason": "Fee is tied to paying by card. Visa, Mastercard, Amex and eftpos surcharges can't be added from 1 October 2026.",
      "fix": "Delete this line. Roll your card costs into your overall prices instead. A cash or PayID discount is fine only if the full price is shown and is at least as prominent as the discounted price. Don't blame a price rise on the surcharge change if other costs also rose."
    },
    "Check": {
      "label": "Check",
      "severity": 3,
      "reason": "Mentions a fee or surcharge without saying what it is for.",
      "fix": "Find out what this covers. If it recovers card costs, delete it and roll those costs into your overall prices. If it is not tied to how people pay (e.g. a weekend or delivery fee), say so plainly and include any fee you can calculate in the single total price."
    },
    "Allowed": {
      "label": "Allowed",
      "severity": 2,
      "reason": "Fee appears to apply regardless of payment method (e.g. weekend, public holiday, after-hours, call-out, booking or service fee).",
      "fix": "You can keep it if it applies however the customer pays. Don't use it to recover card costs. Cafes and restaurants with a weekend or public holiday surcharge should state 'A surcharge of [percentage] applies on [day or days]' at least as prominently as the most prominent menu price; other unavoidable fees belong in the total price."
    },
    "OK": {
      "label": "OK",
      "severity": 1,
      "reason": "States that no card surcharge is charged.",
      "fix": "No change needed. Make sure your EFTPOS terminal, POS and invoicing software are also set to not surcharge."
    }
  },
  "specialReasons": {
    "discount": "Payment-method discount (e.g. cash or PayID). Allowed only if the full price is shown and is at least as prominent as the discounted price.",
    "discountFix": "Keep the full price on display and make it at least as prominent as the discounted price. Disclose the discount before people book, order or pay.",
    "ambiguous": "Fee with a vague name (admin, convenience, handling, etc.) could be a card surcharge under another name.",
    "relabelWarning": "Relabelling warning: don't rename a card surcharge as a service, admin, processing or other fee. The ACCC says doing so may be misleading.",
    "priceRiseWarning": "If you raise prices, don't blame the surcharge change if other costs also rose."
  },
  "manualChecklist": [
    {
      "item": "EFTPOS terminal / POS settings",
      "detail": "Turn off any automatic card surcharge on every terminal and POS (Square, Tyro, Zeller, Stripe Terminal, bank terminals). This tool cannot read device settings."
    },
    {
      "item": "Accounting / invoicing software",
      "detail": "Check Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, ServiceM8 etc. for card-fee or 'pass on fees' settings and invoice templates or payment-link options that add a surcharge."
    },
    {
      "item": "Online checkout and booking systems",
      "detail": "Check Shopify, WooCommerce, booking and ticketing platforms for card or 'processing' fees added at checkout."
    },
    {
      "item": "Google Business Profile",
      "detail": "Review the description, posts, Q&A and menu. Paste the text into the box above to scan it."
    },
    {
      "item": "Signage, menus and counter cards",
      "detail": "Photograph signs, menus, window decals and stickers on terminals and add the photos above, or remove 'card surcharge' stickers."
    },
    {
      "item": "Website, social media and email footers",
      "detail": "Copy and paste pages, FAQs, terms and conditions, auto-replies and SMS templates into the box above."
    },
    {
      "item": "Staff scripts",
      "detail": "Tell staff not to say a card surcharge applies, and not to say that prices went up because of the surcharge change if other costs also rose."
    }
  ],
  "tipUrl": "https://ko-fi.com/SurchargeSweep",
  "tipUrlNote": "Optional https:// link for 'Support this free tool', shown below results. Empty string = link not rendered at all.",
  "priceResetKit": {
    "name": "Price Reset Kit",
    "rulesCheckedOn": "2026-10-27",
    "priceLabel": "A$29",
    "priceNote": "{price} one-off per business, includes 12 months of rules updates. 14-day refund.",
    "purchaseAvailable": true,
    "buyUrl": "https://buy.stripe.com/7sY5kCax88jXdoB1eO6kg00",
    "purchaseNote": "Buy on kit.html is a plain same-tab link to buyUrl, shown only when purchaseAvailable is true and buyUrl is an https://buy.stripe.com/ address; otherwise it stays a disabled \"Coming soon\" button. {price} in priceNote is replaced with priceLabel. No payment code runs on this site.",
    "disclaimer": "General information only, not legal advice. Network rules change: confirm with your payment provider and check the ACCC guidance.",
    "defaultFeePercent": 1.0,
    "feeWarnAbovePercent": 3.0,
    "previewMaxItems": 5,
    "rounding": [
      {
        "id": "none",
        "label": "No rounding",
        "step": 0
      },
      {
        "id": "10c",
        "label": "Nearest 10c",
        "step": 0.1
      },
      {
        "id": "50c",
        "label": "Nearest 50c",
        "step": 0.5
      }
    ],
    "weekendTemplate": "A surcharge of {percent}% applies on {days}.",
    "weekendEveryDayPattern": "\\b(every ?day|all days|daily|7 days|seven days|mon(day)?\\s*(-|–|to)\\s*sun(day)?)\\b",
    "costReasons": [
      {
        "id": "card",
        "label": "Cost of accepting card payments (merchant fees), now that we can't add a card surcharge"
      },
      {
        "id": "supplies",
        "label": "Ingredient, stock or supplier costs"
      },
      {
        "id": "wages",
        "label": "Wages and staff costs"
      },
      {
        "id": "rent",
        "label": "Rent"
      },
      {
        "id": "energy",
        "label": "Energy costs"
      },
      {
        "id": "insurance",
        "label": "Insurance"
      },
      {
        "id": "other",
        "label": "Other cost (describe it truthfully)"
      }
    ],
    "guardrails": [
      {
        "type": "quote",
        "text": "Businesses can adjust prices to recover the cost of accepting card payments but must not give false or misleading information about prices or the reasons for any price increases.",
        "source": "https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/card-surcharges"
      },
      {
        "type": "quote",
        "text": "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.",
        "source": "https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/card-surcharges"
      },
      {
        "type": "quote",
        "text": "These costs should be reflected in a business’s overall pricing for the products or services it sells, rather than charged as a separate surcharge.",
        "source": "https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/card-surcharges"
      },
      {
        "type": "quote",
        "text": "In this situation, the hair salon must not tell consumers that the price increase is due to the changes to card payment surcharging. This will be misleading because the price increase also reflects other business costs, not just the cost of accepting card payments.",
        "source": "https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/card-surcharges",
        "context": "ACCC example: a $60 haircut with a 1.0% card surcharge would be $60.60 with card costs built in; the salon instead charges $65 because energy and labour costs also increased."
      },
      {
        "type": "quote",
        "text": "The price of any item that is displayed to consumers must be the full price they will pay if they do not receive the payment method discount. Businesses should not: display only the discounted price; make the discounted price more prominent than the full price.",
        "source": "https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/card-surcharges"
      },
      {
        "type": "quote",
        "text": "A surcharge of [percentage] applies on [day or days]. These words must be at least as prominent as the most prominent price on the menu.",
        "source": "https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays",
        "context": "Restaurants and cafes that charge a weekend or public holiday surcharge must include these words on the menu."
      },
      {
        "type": "quote",
        "text": "Since a 5% surcharge applies every day of the week, it is now part of the minimum total cost of the restaurant's items.",
        "source": "https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays",
        "context": "A surcharge that applies every day must be included in the displayed price as a single figure."
      },
      {
        "type": "summary",
        "text": "Saying a price is marked down from an earlier price that was not actually charged for a reasonable period can be misleading. This kit never adds ‘was’ prices.",
        "source": "https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays"
      }
    ],
    "sources": [
      {
        "title": "ACCC (consumers): Card surcharges",
        "url": "https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/pricing/card-surcharges"
      },
      {
        "title": "ACCC (business): Card surcharges",
        "url": "https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/card-surcharges"
      },
      {
        "title": "ACCC (business): Price displays",
        "url": "https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays"
      }
    ]
  }
}