26/08/2026
CARD SURCHARGES ARE CHANGING.
WE'D LIKE YOUR VIEW.
From 1 October 2026, the rules around card payment surcharges in Australia are changing.
Businesses accepting major debit and credit cards will no longer be able to separately pass the cost of accepting those cards on to the customer as a surcharge.
The merchant fees themselves, however, don't simply disappear.
And that's raised an interesting question for us at Big Branding.
Most of our customers are businesses, and EFT is already our most commonly used payment method.
We also currently offer Visa, Mastercard, Amex and other card payment options for customers who prefer the convenience.
Different payment methods cost us different amounts to provide.
Our approach has always been very simple:
We show that cost separately and let the customer choose.
If you'd rather pay by EFT, you don't contribute towards somebody else's credit card merchant fees.
If you'd rather use a card for convenience, rewards, cash flow or any other reason, you can — and the associated merchant cost is clearly disclosed.
We've always considered that the fairest approach.
Rather than quietly building card processing costs into the price of every garment, print or embroidery job, we've kept them separate.
From October, that option changes.
So we're considering another approach:
Removing card payment facilities altogether and making EFT our standard payment method.
For customers wanting immediate payment convenience, we would also make PayID much more prominent. PayID payments are generally received within a minute, using the customer's normal online banking.
But before we make that decision, we'd genuinely like to hear from our customers.
As a business customer, which would you prefer?
A. Keep credit/debit card payments available, with the cost of providing them ultimately incorporated into our overall pricing.
B. Keep our pricing free of card-processing costs and move to EFT/PayID only.
C. Something else — tell us what you'd like to see.
We're interested in the answer because whatever we decide affects the way we price and the way you do business with us.
How does this change affect you and what would you prefer?