BookInnTimeOn 31 March 2026 the Reserve Bank of Australia published the conclusions of its review of card payments. The upshot for small businesses: from 1 October 2026, the card networks — eftpos, Mastercard and Visa, with Amex and PayPal following — no longer allow Australian businesses to add a surcharge for paying by card.
What that means on BookInnTime
BookInnTime lets a business set a slightly higher price for paying online by card, to cover the card fee. A higher price for paying by card is a surcharge, whatever it's called. So for Australian businesses, that setting switches off at midnight Sydney time on 1 October, on its own. Your online price becomes your normal price. You don't need to do anything.
Bookings already paid before then keep the price the customer paid. Nothing is refunded or re-charged.
Everywhere else
Outside Australia, the online price can still be higher than the in-person one, but it's now capped at 3% — roughly what card processing costs — so it covers the fee without turning into a profit on how someone pays.
So how do I cover card fees?
The same way most shops will from October: build them into your prices. A 2% card fee on a A$50 cut is A$1. Many businesses round their prices up slightly and stop thinking about it. You can also take a deposit online and the rest in person, or keep payments in person entirely — both are on the Payments tab in your dashboard.