If you run a small business, in particular a cafe, a trade business or a retail store, chances are you’ve had the surcharge conversation with a customer at least once.

That small fee at the bottom of the receipt – the one that covers your cost of accepting card payments – is going away from 1 October 2026. For most businesses, that’s not a crisis, but it does require a plan.

The RBA is also cutting the interchange fees businesses pay to process card payments, so the cost of accepting cards should come down too. Whether that fully offsets what you were recovering through surcharges depends on your business, your provider, and how well you understand your own numbers. That’s the real work ahead.

If you’re a small business that accepts card payments, it’s important to start thinking about your options now so you and your cash flow are ready.

Here are five practical steps to get ahead of the surcharge change.

Know what you’re paying – and what you’re getting back

Start with the basics. Look beyond merchant service fees and review the full picture, including terminal rental, transaction charges and any buy now, pay later costs.

But cost is only one side of the equation. Every payment provider charges fees, including Xero. The right question isn’t just “who’s cheapest”, it’s “what am I actually getting for what I pay?”

A well-integrated payment platform saves time on reconciliation, gives you real-time cash flow visibility and reduces manual work for you and your team. Those things have real value – they just don’t show up as a line item the same way a fee does.

With the RBA also requiring payment providers to publish standardised fee information from October, comparing providers will be easier than ever. Use that. Make sure whatever you’re paying, you can see clearly what you’re getting in return.

Get the full picture of your payment mix

Xero research found 86 per cent of Australian consumers want to pay by credit or debit card. Card payments aren’t going away – they support faster sales, better customer experience and stronger cash flow.

So the question isn’t whether to accept them, it’s what they cost you and how that sits against what you were recovering through surcharges.

You should work out what proportion of your revenue comes through cards, what those fees cost monthly, and what the gap looks like if interchange savings don’t fully offset your lost surcharge recovery.

With the right software and forecasting tools, this can be a simple 30-minute exercise. I would recommend doing it before October so you can plan for the upcoming change and not be caught by surprise.

Model before you move on pricing

Some businesses will absorb the cost and not change a thing. Some will build it into their pricing. Neither is automatically right – it depends on your margins, your customer sensitivity, and what your competitors do.

Good decisions are rarely made from guesswork. Before you change it, model it. What does a modest price increase do to your volume? What does absorbing the fees do to your margin? These aren’t difficult calculations, but they’re worth doing before you decide, not after.

A good forecasting tool can help you run those scenarios quickly and have a more informed conversation with your advisor about which path makes sense for your business specifically.

4. Build the habit of looking ahead

The businesses that will find this easiest are the ones that already have a clear view of their cash flow – what’s coming in, what’s going out and where the pressure points are. Not reviewing it once a year at tax time. Monthly, or at least quarterly.

That kind of visibility doesn’t just help with this change. It helps with every cost shift, every slow month, every decision about whether to hire or hold. If you don’t have it yet, this is a good reason to build it.

Plus, with Payday Super on the horizon, it will be even more important to have that visibility to navigate tighter cash flow pressure.

5. Work with an advisor to navigate the challenges

You don’t need to try to figure this all out on your own. One of the most valuable things you can do as a small business owner is find an accountant or bookkeeper. A good advisor has seen this across multiple businesses and knows where the pressure usually shows up first. They can help you stress-test your pricing, sense-check your provider costs, and make sure you’re not absorbing more than you need to.

The broader lesson here is simple: when the cost of getting paid becomes less visible to customers, it becomes more important for business owners to see it clearly themselves.

The silver lining is that this can be a positive prompt and a chance to build stronger habits around cash flow visibility and planning to ensure your business is set up for success.

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