Do I have to change my prices when surcharging ends?

No obligation, but the cost shifts to you

There is no rule requiring you to change your prices when surcharging ends on 1 October 2026. The change is that you can no longer add a surcharge on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa — debit, prepaid and credit — so the cost of accepting those cards now sits with the business rather than being passed to the customer at the till. That leaves two broad options: absorb the card cost as a cost of doing business, or build it into your headline prices so it’s reflected across all sales. Many businesses take a blended view, since the cost of acceptance is typically a small percentage of each sale.

What’s still allowed — and the rename trap

You can still offer a discount for paying by cash or bank transfer, which is a legitimate way to steer customers toward lower-cost payment methods. Surcharges unrelated to cards, like a weekend or public-holiday surcharge, also remain allowed. What you cannot do is keep charging the same card fee under a different label: a fee that only applies to card payments is a surcharge whatever it’s called, and presenting it as an “admin” or “processing” fee can be treated as a disguised surcharge and misleading drip pricing. If you adjust headline prices, apply them consistently rather than singling out card payments.

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