Card Surcharges in HirePOS Ending from 1 October 2026

From 1 October 2026, HirePOS will no longer support the automatic calculation or application of card surcharges for Australian businesses.

Existing card surcharge functionality within HirePOS will be decommissioned from this date.

This change is being made in response to changes to Australia's card payments framework led by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the introduction of no-surcharge rules across the major Australian card networks.

This is not a change to HirePOS pricing or a decision to prevent businesses from recovering their operating costs.

The Australian payments industry is moving away from card surcharging.

Following its Review of Retail Payments Regulation, the RBA has enabled card networks to prohibit merchants from applying surcharges to card payments from 1 October 2026.

Major card networks, including eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and American Express, have announced no-surcharge rules commencing from this date.

HirePOS is therefore decommissioning its card surcharge functionality in line with these industry-wide changes.

From 1 October 2026, HirePOS functionality that automatically calculates and applies a surcharge because a customer chooses to pay by card will no longer operate for Australian businesses.

If you currently rely on HirePOS to automatically add a percentage surcharge during a card transaction, you should expect that surcharge to stop being applied.

You will not need to disable the HirePOS automatic surcharge calculation yourself. The functionality is being decommissioned as part of the change.

Keeping an automatic card surcharge feature available would allow businesses to continue applying a charge specifically because a customer chose to pay by card.

That is precisely the type of surcharge the new card-network rules are intended to remove.

HirePOS is therefore removing the functionality rather than leaving businesses with a payment feature that is no longer appropriate under the new Australian card payment framework.

This approach is consistent with the broader changes being made throughout the Australian payments industry.

Yes.

Removing card surcharges does not mean that payment processing becomes free. Businesses will continue to incur costs when accepting card payments.

What changes is the way businesses recover those costs.

Rather than adding a separate fee when a customer chooses to pay by card, businesses can consider incorporating payment costs into their general pricing and overall cost structure.

For example, a business may choose to review:

• Hire rates

• Sale prices

• Delivery or service pricing

• General margins and overhead recovery

• Payment providers and processing costs

The RBA's changes are intended to move businesses towards clearer, upfront pricing rather than adding a separate charge at the point of card payment.

HirePOS will no longer provide functionality specifically designed to calculate or automatically apply a card surcharge.

Creating a separate item or fee does not necessarily make a card surcharge compliant simply because it is no longer being calculated automatically.

If a charge is being added because the customer has chosen to pay by card, it may still be considered a card surcharge regardless of what the charge is called or how it is entered.

Businesses are responsible for ensuring that any fees they choose to charge comply with the applicable rules.

Businesses remain responsible for setting their own prices.

Payment processing costs are one of many operating costs that may be considered when establishing general prices, alongside wages, rent, insurance, fuel and other business expenses.

The key distinction is that a general price applies regardless of whether the customer subsequently chooses to pay by card.

For example, increasing a hire rate from $100 to $101 for all customers is fundamentally different from charging $100 and then adding $1 specifically when the customer chooses to pay by card.

The changes are specifically concerned with card payment surcharges.

The RBA distinguishes card surcharges from other legitimate charges that may form part of a business's pricing model, such as certain booking, service, weekend or public holiday fees.

However, simply renaming a card surcharge does not change what it is.

If a fee is conditional on the customer paying by card, businesses should not assume that calling it a "service fee", "administration fee" or another name makes it acceptable.

If you are unsure whether a particular charge is permitted, you should refer to the RBA's guidance or seek appropriate professional advice.

If your business currently relies on card surcharges, we recommend reviewing your pricing before 1 October 2026.

Consider the card processing costs your business currently recovers through surcharging and determine whether those costs should instead be incorporated into your overall pricing.

You may also wish to review the fees charged by your payment provider and compare alternative providers.

There is no requirement to recreate the existing HirePOS card surcharge using another type of charge. The intention of the industry changes is for the card surcharge itself to disappear.

From 1 October 2026:

• HirePOS will decommission its automatic card surcharge functionality for Australian businesses.

• Card surcharges will no longer be automatically calculated or applied through that functionality.

• The change is being made in response to the RBA's new payments framework and corresponding no-surcharge rules introduced by the major card networks.

• Card processing fees themselves are not disappearing.

• Businesses can consider those costs when setting their general prices.

• Creating or renaming another fee does not necessarily avoid the rules if that fee is still being charged specifically because a customer pays by card.

• Businesses remain responsible for determining appropriate and compliant pricing for their products and services.

For more information about the changes, refer to the Reserve Bank of Australia's Review of Retail Payments Regulation and its guidance on the removal of card payment surcharges from 1 October 2026.

Please note: HirePOS can explain how its software is changing, but we cannot provide legal or financial advice about how an individual business should structure its pricing. If you are unsure how the new requirements apply to your business, please refer to the RBA's guidance or seek appropriate professional advice.