How to calculate your cost of acceptance

Cost of acceptance is the share of your card turnover that goes to card fees, and it underpins both fee comparisons and any surcharge you set. This is general information, not financial advice, to help you calculate it for your own business.

Step by step

1. Pick a representative statement periodChoose a recent period that reflects your normal trading, such as a typical month or quarter. Avoid unusually quiet or busy stretches, since they can distort the result. Using a full period keeps fixed fees and sales properly aligned.
2. Total all card fees for the periodAdd up every card-related fee on the statement for that period, including per-transaction and percentage components plus any fixed charges like terminal rental, minimum monthly fees and PCI fees. Your merchant service fee combines interchange, scheme fees and your provider’s margin, so make sure all of it is captured. The more complete this total, the more accurate your result.
3. Total card turnover for the same periodFind the total value of card sales processed over exactly the same period. This must line up with the fee period so the two figures are comparable. Use card turnover only, not cash or other payment methods.
4. Divide fees by turnover for your blended rateDivide total card fees by total card turnover and multiply by 100 to get your cost of acceptance as a percentage. This blended rate is one average figure across all your card types. It’s the headline number you’ll use for everything that follows.
5. Optionally break it down by card type or channelIf your statement allows, repeat the calculation separately for debit, credit, in-person and online. This reveals which card types or channels cost you the most. A breakdown can show, for example, that online sales carry a noticeably higher rate than in-person ones.
6. Compare against indicative benchmarksMeasure your result against indicative market rates of roughly 1.37% in-person and 1.78% online, with small-business effective rates commonly falling between 1.1% and 2.5%. These figures are indicative only and vary by business. If you sit well above them, it may be worth reviewing your provider or pricing.
7. Note why it mattersYour cost of acceptance is the comparison baseline you carry when shopping providers, and it sets the ceiling for any compliant surcharge on cards you can still surcharge, such as Amex or PayPal. From 1 October 2026 you won’t be able to surcharge eftpos, Mastercard or Visa at all. Knowing your true cost keeps any remaining surcharge defensible.

Source: RBA Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging — Conclusions Paper (March 2026).