Credit Card Surcharges Are Changing: What Tradies Need to Know
If you currently pass card payment fees on to customers, there’s a change coming that’s worth having on your radar.
From 1 October 2026, businesses will no longer be able to add card payment surcharges for payments made using designated eftpos, Mastercard and Visa cards. Basically, those extra card fees that get tacked onto invoices or payment terminals are being shown the door.
For tradies, this may apply to payments processed through job management software like ServiceM8 or similar platforms, as well as in-person payments taken through Tyro, Stripe, Square or other payment terminals.
So, if you currently add a card fee to customer invoices to cover payment processing costs, you’ll need to review that setup before the change kicks in.
What does this mean for your trade business?
Right now, some businesses add a small surcharge when customers pay by card. It might be added automatically through your invoicing or job management software, or it might be applied through your payment terminal when someone taps their card.
From 1 October 2026, businesses won’t be able to add those separate surcharges for affected card payments.
Annoyingly, this doesn’t mean the payment processing fees disappear into the same magical place as the 10mm socket.
You may still pay merchant fees or processing costs. The difference is that you’ll need to handle those costs as part of running the business, rather than adding them separately to the customer’s invoice as a card surcharge.
Why tradies should care.
For a lot of tradies, card payments are just part of getting paid quickly. Customers want easy payment options, and online invoices or tap-and-go payments can help keep cash flowing.
But if your current setup automatically adds a card fee, you’ll need to know where that’s happening and how to turn it off before the new rules apply.
This is especially important if:
You take payments through ServiceM8 or another job management system
Customers pay invoices online by card
You take payments on-site using Tyro, Stripe, Square or a similar terminal
You’ve built your pricing assuming card fees are passed on
You want your invoices to stay simple, clear and compliant
The big takeaway: tradies can’t keep adding separate card processing fees to customer invoices to cover those costs once the change comes in.
What should you do now?
Before October 2026, it’s worth reviewing:
Whether your invoices currently add a card surcharge
Whether your job management software has surcharge settings switched on
Whether your payment terminal adds fees at the point of payment
How much you’re actually paying in card processing fees
Whether your pricing needs a small adjustment to cover these costs more generally
This doesn’t need to be a panic job. It’s more of a “future you will be grateful if you check this now” kind of job.
How Offsiters can help.
If we help manage your admin, we can check where card fees are currently showing up in your invoicing and payment systems, and help update your settings when the time comes.
We can also help update invoice wording, payment instructions, website pricing pages and customer comms so everything is nice and clear.
Because let’s be honest — you’ve probably got better things to do than click through software settings trying to find the tiny surcharge toggle hiding in the back corner.
That’s our kind of job. You stick to the tools. We’ll handle the admin.