Understanding Payment Surcharges in Australia and How Trimsy Handles Them

Payment surcharges — the additional fee charged when a client pays by certain card types — are a legal and operational consideration for every Australian service business.

Here is what the rules are, what each payment gateway costs, and how Trimsy presents surcharges transparently.

What Australian Law Says

Under Australian Consumer Law and the Reserve Bank of Australia's payment surcharge rules, businesses may pass on the reasonable cost of accepting a payment method to the customer. However, businesses cannot surcharge more than their actual cost of acceptance.

This means:

• You can add a surcharge for Visa or Mastercard that reflects your actual processing cost (typically 1.5–1.8%)
• You cannot surcharge above your actual cost — excess surcharging is illegal and enforced by the ACCC
• You must disclose the surcharge before the payment is finalised

Cash and savings or cheque account EFTPOS transactions cannot be surcharged.

Common Processing Costs in Australia

Visa and Mastercard credit transactions typically cost merchants 1.5–1.8%. AMEX can be 1.8–2.5%. EFTPOS via savings or cheque accounts is usually charged at a flat per-transaction rate. Digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay are generally treated the same as the underlying card type.

How Trimsy Handles Surcharges

When you configure a payment gateway in Trimsy, you can set whether to display the transaction fee to the client at checkout. For online bookings with a deposit via Stripe, any applicable processing fee is shown transparently on the payment screen before the client confirms.

For in-person payments via Square or Tyro, the surcharge display is managed at the terminal level per your terminal configuration.

Our Recommendation

The cleanest client experience is to absorb card fees into your pricing rather than adding a surcharge at checkout. A $2 surcharge at the end of a $90 service is remembered. A price that is $2 higher is not.

If your margins require passing on processing fees, be transparent about it from the start — put the surcharge policy on your booking page and booking confirmation, not just on the payment screen at checkout. Clients who are surprised by a fee at the last step do not have a good experience regardless of the amount.