Is There a Surcharge Hiding in Your Gift Voucher Checkout? It Has to Go by 1 October

Following its review of retail payments, the Reserve Bank of Australia has decided it is in the public interest to remove card surcharging. From 1 October 2026:

• Businesses can no longer add a surcharge for paying by eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express.
• The change covers credit, debit and prepaid cards.
• It applies to businesses of every size, including not for profits, and to business to business payments.
• Anything paid on or after 1 October cannot carry a card surcharge, even if the order or invoice was created earlier.

The good news for businesses is that the RBA is also lowering the interchange fees that sit behind card payments, which should help reduce the cost of accepting cards.

Not sure if your gift voucher website charges a surcharge? Shop it like a guest would:

• Go to your HyperGift website and add any voucher or experience to the cart.
• Head to the checkout and look at the order summary.
• Look for an extra line that refers to a surcharge, card fee or a percentage, such as “Credit card surcharge 2.5%”.

No extra line? You are almost done. Just give your terms and conditions a quick read to make sure there is no leftover surcharge wording. If you do see a line, follow the three steps below.

1. Ask us to remove it from your cart and checkout
Email support@omnihyper.com and our team will remove the surcharge from your shopping cart and checkout process. This applies whatever the fee is called. If a line at your checkout exists to recover card payment costs, let us know and we will take it out.

2. Update the wording on your gift voucher website
Log in to HyperGift and remove any mention of card surcharges from your content. You have full control to edit this yourself. Check:

• Terms and conditions. This is the most likely place to find surcharge wording.
• Individual voucher, package and experience descriptions.
• Your main pages and any FAQs or notes to purchasers.

If you would like a hand, our support team is happy to help.

3. Ask your finance team to check your payment gateway

This is the step that is easy to miss. HyperGift payments go straight to your own payment gateway (such as Stripe), and OmniHyper does not have access to change those settings. Your hotel’s finance team will need to log in and confirm that no card surcharge is being applied at the gateway level from 1 October.

In short: we remove it from the checkout, you update the words, and your finance team switches it off in the payment gateway. All three need to happen.

The RBA has confirmed that other fees, such as booking fees and service fees, are not part of the change. However, the ACCC has warned that businesses should not try to get around the new rules by renaming a card surcharge as a different type of fee, and that doing so may be misleading conduct. If a fee only exists to cover the cost of card payments, the safest approach is to treat it as a surcharge and remove it.

Gift vouchers are often an impulse purchase, and unexpected extras at checkout are one of the most common reasons shoppers abandon a cart. When the price on the voucher is the price at the checkout, the path to purchase is simpler, faster and more trustworthy. Combined with lower card costs from the RBA reforms, this is a change that can work in your favour.

☐ Email support@omnihyper.com if you find one, so we can remove it

☐ Review your terms and conditions for surcharge wording

☐ Check voucher, package and experience descriptions and main pages

☐ Ask your finance team to confirm there is no surcharge in your payment gateway

Questions about your HyperGift solution? Reach out to our team at support@omnihyper.com and we will help you get ready before 1 October.

This article is general information only and is not legal or financial advice. For advice on your specific pricing and fees, please speak with your payment provider or a legal adviser, and refer to the RBA and ACCC guidance.

Erica brings 20+ years of experience at OmniHyper, having been part of every chapter since joining in 2006. As Studio Manager, she oversees project delivery and keeps people, processes and priorities moving in the right direction. She’s known for her calm, organised approach, and getting things done.