Goodbye to card surcharges

I’ve always thought it was a little unfair that retailers could charge me extra simply because I chose to pay by card. Accepting payments is, after all, a fundamental part of doing business. Whether a customer pays electronically or with cash, there are costs involved. Cash still needs to be counted, stored securely, reconciled and deposited, so I’ve never accepted the argument that it is somehow a cost-free alternative. That’s why I’m pleased to see card surcharges finally disappear in Australia. From today, businesses can no longer add a separate surcharge when customers pay with the affected credit, debit or prepaid cards.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the cost of accepting cards magically disappears. Businesses will still pay payment processing fees and can factor them into their overall pricing, as they already do with wages, rent, electricity, insurance and countless other operating costs. The Reserve Bank has also moved to reduce interchange fee caps, helping lower the cost of accepting card payments, particularly for smaller businesses. For me, though, the biggest improvement is transparency. I simply want the price displayed on the menu, shelf or screen to be the price I pay at the checkout.