Australia Is Banning Card Surcharges: What It Means for Your Pet Business

On 31 March 2026, the Reserve Bank of Australia confirmed that card payment surcharges will be banned from 1 October 2026.

If you run a pet business in Australia and accept card payments (which is virtually everyone), this affects you. But the good news is: it does not materially change anything for Petboost businesses. The adjustment is small, the timeline is generous, and we will guide you through it.

We will be formally notifying all Petboost businesses on 1 July 2026, giving you three full months to review and adjust before the ban takes effect on 1 October.

Here is what is actually happening, what it means for your business, and what you need to do.

What the RBA Announced

The Payments System Board published its Conclusions Paper confirming that surcharging on debit, prepaid, and credit cards will end across the eftpos, Mastercard, and Visa networks.

The ban covers all card types on these networks. American Express, Buy Now Pay Later services, and mobile wallets are currently excluded (the RBA will consult on these separately in mid-2026).

The PSB determined that surcharging was "no longer achieving its intended purpose of steering consumers towards more efficient payment choices." Consumer research showed 76% of Australians want surcharging stopped.

The Key Distinction: Card Surcharge vs Booking Fee

This is the most important thing to understand, and it is good news for Petboost businesses.

The ban targets payment processing surcharges -- fees that exist because a customer is paying by card. It does not target platform fees, service fees, or booking fees that apply regardless of how the customer pays.

What is a surcharge?

The RBA defines a payment surcharge as:

"A fee paid by customers, in addition to the price of a good or service, allowing merchants to pass on the cost of the customer's chosen payment method."

The ACCC is explicit: "A business can't escape the ban by calling a card payment surcharge something else." A fee that only applies when a customer pays by card is a surcharge, regardless of what you label it.

Two very different fees

The Petboost booking fee applies to all bookings processed through the platform. It is not conditional on the payment method. It covers scheduling, online booking, automated reminders, CRM, and payment orchestration. It is a genuine platform service fee, and it remains fully compliant under the new rules.

What Does NOT Change

Petboost's pricing model is unchanged. We are not changing our fee structure, our plan pricing, or how the booking fee works.

What changes is how businesses choose to absorb or pass on costs -- specifically, the Stripe card processing component.

Here is what stays exactly the same:

• Petboost booking fee: 1.2% (Max) / 1.4% (Pro) -- unchanged
• Stripe processing fee: 1.7% + $0.30 -- unchanged (Stripe still charges this; the question is who absorbs it)
• Plan pricing and thresholds -- unchanged
• Feature access -- unchanged
• The ability to pass on the Petboost booking fee -- unchanged

What Changes for Your Business

From 1 October 2026, you will not be able to add a separate "card fee" or "card processing fee" as a line item on customer invoices.

Don't:

• Add Stripe's 1.7% + $0.30 as a separate "card fee" on invoices
• Charge different fees depending on whether a customer pays by card or cash
• Relabel a card processing fee as a "service fee" and apply it only to card payments

Do:

• Pass on the Petboost booking fee (1.2%/1.4%) -- it is a platform fee, not a card surcharge
• Adjust your base pricing to absorb card processing costs (e.g. increase a $80 groom to $82)
• Use a single booking fee that covers both platform and payment handling costs
• Offer cash discounts -- discounts for specific payment methods remain explicitly permitted

Three Compliant Options

Most pet businesses will land on one of these approaches:

Option A: Build it into your prices

The simplest approach. Adjust your service prices by roughly 2% to absorb the card processing cost. An $80 groom becomes $82. An $120 full groom becomes $122. No separate fee line items at all.

This is actually what the RBA is encouraging. The customer sees one price, pays one price. Clean and simple.

Option B: Single blended booking fee

Instead of splitting the Petboost fee and card fee into separate line items, use a single "booking fee" that covers everything. Set it at a level that covers both the Petboost platform fee and card processing costs (for example, around 2.9%).

As long as this fee applies to all bookings regardless of payment method, it is compliant. It is not a card surcharge -- it is a booking fee.

Option C: Keep the Petboost booking fee, absorb Stripe

Keep passing on the Petboost booking fee (1.2%/1.4%) as a line item. Absorb Stripe's card processing cost into your base pricing. This means a small price increase on your services but keeps your fee structure simple.

What We Are Doing

We are building tools to make this transition as easy as possible:

• 1 July 2026: We will formally notify all Petboost businesses with clear guidance on what is changing and what to do
• Before 1 October 2026: We will provide in-app tools to help you adjust your pricing and fee structure with one click
• Ongoing: All fee labelling inside Petboost will be fully compliant with the new rules

You do not need to do anything right now. When we notify you on 1 July, we will provide step-by-step guidance and tools to make the adjustment easy.

The Regulatory Detail

For those who want the full picture, here is how the ban actually works:

The RBA is varying its existing Standards (made under the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998) to lift its current prohibition on no-surcharge rules. This allows Visa, Mastercard, and eftpos to reinstate their own no-surcharge rules, which prevent merchants from surcharging.

The enforcement backstop is section 55B of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, which makes any surcharge exceeding the "permitted surcharge" in RBA Standards an offence. Once the permitted surcharge is zero, any card surcharge at all becomes excessive.

The ACCC enforces this, with penalties of up to $126,000 per infringement for listed companies and $12,600 for small businesses. The Government has allocated $2.1 million in additional ACCC funding specifically for surcharge enforcement.

No exceptions were granted. The PSB explicitly rejected carve-outs for small merchants, commercial cards, and foreign transactions: "simplicity and ease of enforcement for consumers, merchants, payments service providers and the ACCC outweigh the potential benefits of exceptions."

Timeline

The Bottom Line

This is a significant regulatory change for Australian businesses, but for Petboost businesses specifically, the impact is manageable:

1. Petboost's pricing does not change. Our booking fee is a platform fee, not a card surcharge.
2. You can still pass on the Petboost booking fee. It applies to all bookings regardless of payment method.
3. Card processing fees need to be absorbed into your pricing or a blended booking fee.
4. You have until 1 October 2026. We will notify you on 1 July with clear guidance and tools.
5. Every pet business platform is affected equally. This is not unique to Petboost.

If you have questions before the formal notification, reach out to our support team. We are here to help.

Further Reading

• RBA Conclusions Paper (March 2026)
• RBA Media Release MR-26-10
• ACCC Card Surcharges Guidance
• Petboost Pricing