Australia’s card surcharge change: what stays on your restaurant bill

A small extra charge at the card terminal is about to disappear from many Australian restaurant bills. But that does not mean every surcharge on a café menu is going away.

From 1 October 2026, Visa, Mastercard, eftpos and American Express are introducing no-surcharge rules, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). For diners, the useful distinction is between an extra fee for how you pay and an extra charge for when you eat.

What changes at the terminal

A card surcharge is an extra amount charged because you use a particular card to pay. The forthcoming network rules remove that separate charge for the covered payments. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) says the designated networks — eftpos, Mastercard and Visa — have each decided to introduce the rules from 1 October. American Express has also decided to remove surcharging.

This is not yet the rule on the date of this article's fact check, 24 September. Until 30 September, businesses must continue to follow the existing rules: covered card surcharges cannot exceed the business's cost of accepting that payment type.

The mechanism matters if a problem arises. The ACCC explains that the new no-surcharge requirements sit in card-network rules and merchant contracts; the networks or payment service providers, rather than the ACCC, enforce those requirements.

Why the Sunday surcharge can stay

Weekend and public-holiday surcharges are a different category. Both the RBA and the ACCC say the October change does not remove them. Nor does it remove booking fees simply because the final bill is paid by card.

Restaurants and cafés that apply a weekend or public-holiday surcharge must disclose it. The ACCC says the menu must state the percentage and the day or days it applies, in words at least as prominent as the most prominent price on the menu. Diners should be told before deciding to order. Where a menu does not list prices, the information must be displayed prominently in another way.

So a menu's Sunday surcharge is not, by itself, evidence that a venue has ignored the new card rules. First check what the fee is actually for.

A worked example, not a restaurant price claim

Imagine a meal with a menu subtotal of A$40 and a disclosed 10% Sunday surcharge. The total is A$44, before any other separately applicable charges or optional purchases. Removing a card-payment surcharge does not turn that Sunday total back into A$40.

These are invented round numbers to explain the calculation, not prices collected from a venue or a comparison of Australian restaurants. No particular surcharge rate is being described as typical.

There is also a limit to how a venue can present everyday extras. The ACCC says an unavoidable surcharge that applies every day must be included in the displayed minimum total price. It gives the example of a restaurant charging at least 5% extra every day: that minimum 5% belongs in the displayed item price, not in a permanent surprise at checkout.

Three checks before ordering

• Read the day-specific fine print. Check whether your visit falls on a weekend or public holiday covered by the menu's surcharge notice.
• Confirm the payment options. The RBA says businesses can generally choose which payment methods they accept. The change does not mean every restaurant must accept your card.
• Compare the full meal cost. Include the dishes, drinks and extras you actually want, plus any disclosed applicable fees. A lower-looking dish price is not necessarily the lower final bill.

If a card-specific fee appears after 1 October, ask the venue to explain it and keep the receipt. Check the current network or payment-provider guidance for the relevant payment type rather than assuming every line labelled “surcharge” has the same basis.

Finally, the reform is not a promise that menu prices will fall. The RBA notes that businesses still incur card-acceptance costs and can reflect those costs in their overall pricing. The practical gain to look for is a clearer distinction between the meal's price and a fee added solely for paying by card.

Information checked on 24 September 2026 against ACCC and RBA guidance. The 1 October change is forthcoming at the time of writing.