Booking Fees vs Card Surcharges: Australia's 1 October Ban and Your Surf School

What changed on 1 October 2026

After its review of merchant card payment costs, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) concluded that surcharging on the designated card networks should end. The networks then brought in their own 'no-surcharge' rules from 1 October 2026.

In practice, according to the RBA's FAQs and the card networks' own guidance at cardsurcharge.com.au (both checked on 20 October 2026):

• eftpos, Mastercard and Visa no longer allow surcharges on credit, debit or prepaid cards, including cards issued overseas.
• American Express, PayPal and UnionPay have also removed surcharging, even though the RBA does not formally regulate them.
• The rules cover in-store, online and digital transactions, including cards stored in mobile wallets. A website checkout is covered exactly like a tap on a terminal.
• Business-to-business payments are covered too, so the corporate team-building group paying by company card can't be surcharged either.

Many payment providers removed the surcharging option from their terminals and checkouts around the same date. If your school used an automatic surcharge setting, it may already have disappeared. If you added a percentage yourself, in your booking system or as a line on your price list, nobody will remove it for you.

The RBA has also said it is lowering interchange caps and making card fees more transparent from late 2026 into 2027, so the cost of accepting cards should become easier to compare between providers.

What you can still charge

The ban is narrow. It targets one thing: an extra amount charged because the customer pays by card. The RBA, business.gov.au and the card networks all say it does not cover fees that apply regardless of how the customer pays. Their examples include:

• weekend and public holiday surcharges applied to every customer
• booking fees charged to all customers, independent of the payment method
• other lawful charges that are not linked to the choice to pay by card

The RBA's FAQs also note that businesses can still choose which payment methods they accept, and can use discounts to influence how people pay.

The test that matters for a surf school is simple. Would the customer pay this amount whatever payment method they chose? If the answer is yes, it is not a card surcharge. If the amount appears, disappears or changes size depending on the card, the network or whether they pay by card at all, it is.

Booking fee or card surcharge: how to tell them apart

Names don't decide this. Calling a card surcharge a 'booking fee' does not make it one, and regulators look at how a charge behaves, not its label. Four questions sort it out.

1. Does it change with the payment method?

A card surcharge exists because of the card. A genuine booking fee is the same whether the customer pays by Visa, Amex, a debit card, Apple Pay or bank transfer.

2. What is it calculated on?

A surcharge is typically set to recover the cost of accepting cards. A booking fee is a charge for the booking service itself and is worked out on the booking, not on the card.

3. Is it charged on non-card bookings?

If customers who pay by bank transfer or on invoice also pay it, that is strong evidence it isn't tied to the card.

4. Is it shown up front and honestly named?

The customer should see the fee, and the total, before paying. Labels such as 'card fee' or 'payment processing fee' describe a surcharge, so avoid them for anything that isn't one.

If a charge in your own checkout fails any of these questions, take it out, or fold it into your lesson price, and talk to your adviser before putting anything back.

What a surf school in Australia should check this week

Most schools sell through three or four channels, and a surcharge can be hiding in any of them. Work through this list.

1. Your booking system. Look for any setting that adds a percentage for card payments, or a 'card fee' line at checkout. Turn it off and do a test booking (name it something obvious such as 'Test booking, delete') to confirm the total.
2. Your terminal and point-of-sale. Check that surcharging is off on the beach terminal and the shop counter, and on any tablet or phone app you take to the car park.
3. Your website and price lists. Remove wording such as 'card payments incur a 1.5% surcharge' from lesson pages, FAQs, booking terms, email templates and printed boards at the shop.
4. Third-party channels. If tour agents, hostels or accommodation partners sell your lessons, ask them how they handle surcharging on their side.
5. Invoices for groups and schools. Corporate groups and school bookings paid by invoice and card are covered too.
6. Your refund rules. If you cancel a lesson for conditions and refund it, make sure the refund isn't quietly reduced by a former card surcharge line that no longer applies.

When you're done, book one lesson as a customer would, on a phone, and read every line of the checkout.

Pricing your lessons now the surcharge has gone

Accepting cards still costs money. It just has to come out of your price rather than sit on top of it. You have three realistic options.

• Absorb it. For many schools the card cost on a lesson is small next to wages, insurance and equipment. If your margin can take it, this is the simplest choice and keeps your advertised price unchanged.
• Build it into the price. Review your lesson prices with card costs included. A small rise in the headline price is easier to explain than a new line at checkout, and the RBA notes customers prefer all-inclusive prices anyway.
• Lower the cost. The RBA suggests reviewing whether you are on the right plan and shopping around between payment providers. Card fees are also due to become easier to compare from late 2026.

Whatever you choose, don't replace the surcharge with a new fee that only card payers see. That is the same surcharge with a different name. For more on setting prices across the year, see our guide to seasonal pricing for surf schools.

How SurfSlot handles this in Australia

SurfSlot has no subscription, no setup fee and no lock-in, and we only earn when a customer books. The way we earn is the SurfSlot booking fee, a fee for using the SurfSlot booking platform. It is designed to pass the tests above:

• it is the same whatever card or payment method the customer uses
• it is worked out on the booking value, not on the cost of accepting a card
• it also applies to bookings paid by invoice or bank transfer
• it is shown to the customer, and included in the total, before they pay

In Australia, the SurfSlot booking fee the customer sees at checkout is 3.25% of the booking. On an A$90 group lesson, that is A$2.93, so the customer's total is A$92.93. The fee split for Australian schools differs from other markets, so we walk you through the exact figures for your own prices before you sign up. Our payments overview explains how money moves from checkout to your Stripe account, and our no-subscription pricing model sets out how the fee works. For the wider picture of running an Australian surf school on SurfSlot, see surf school booking software in Australia.

If you're comparing booking systems, ask every provider the same question: does anything in your checkout change with the payment method? If they can't answer clearly, that's your answer.

The short version

From 1 October 2026, Australian surf schools can't add a card surcharge, online or in person, on eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or the other major networks. Booking fees and other charges that apply regardless of how a customer pays are still allowed, as long as they really are independent of the payment method and shown before the customer pays. Check your booking system, terminal, website and partner channels, then price your lessons so the card cost is in the price, not on top of it.

This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. For your own situation, read the RBA's FAQs and the ACCC's card surcharge guidance, or speak to your accountant or a lawyer.

Want to see exactly what an Australian customer sees at checkout? Book a SurfSlot demo →