Overview

Following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging Conclusions Paper released on 31 March 2026, a major regulatory shift is occurring in the Australian payments landscape. The RBA has determined that card surcharging is no longer an effective mechanism for promoting efficiency or competition, and has removed restrictions on "no-surcharge" rules for designated payment networks.

Consequently, card networks are updating their respective rules to enforce a zero-surcharge framework across the Australian market, effective 1 October 2026.

As a valued partner of Wpay, you must take action to ensure your systems, merchant agreements, and downstream merchants comply with these mandated scheme updates.

Network-Specific Rule Changes

Effective 1 October 2026, the card networks will enforce the following mandates:

• eftpos, Mastercard, and Visa: Merchant surcharging is prohibited across these networks:
  • eftpos (AP+): The maximum permitted surcharge is set to zero. Merchants and self-acquirers must not apply any surcharge to eftpos transactions.
  • Mastercard: Reintroducing a no-surcharge network rule. Surcharges re-branded or disguised as "service," "technology," or "processing" fees are viewed as surcharges. 
  • Visa: Updating rules to prohibit surcharging. A merchant, agentic payment enabler or agentic payment provider must not add any amount over the advertised or normal price to a transaction.
• UnionPay International (UPI): Aligning with the RBA guidelines, UPI will move to a no-surcharge approach for UnionPay transactions in the Australian market.
• American Express (Amex): Supporting the RBA’s reforms, Amex will work with merchants and partners to remove surcharging.