Australian merchant fees 2026

Merchant payment provider comparison framework

A neutral framework for comparing acquirer and payment-provider quotes while avoiding overclaims about interchange pass-through or guaranteed savings.

Quick answer

Compare total provider cost, transparency, contract terms and implementation effort rather than relying on headline percentage rates alone.

Neutral comparison only

FeeReady does not endorse or rank real providers unless source data is labelled and verifiable. The calculator’s demo provider data is illustrative. For real decisions, compare written quotes and your own transaction mix.

Start with your merchant statement

Before asking for new quotes, calculate your current effective merchant rate. This gives you a baseline for comparing any post-October provider offer.

Read the merchant statement glossary.

Provider-specific planning guides

Square

Review in-person rates, hardware, add-ons, settlement, disputes and written post-October assumptions.

Stripe

Separate online, invoice, subscription, international-card and platform/payment-link assumptions.

Tyro

Check EFTPOS, POS integration, terminal arrangements, support, settlement and negotiated pricing.

Zeller

Compare EFTPOS, account, hardware and operational workflow assumptions separately from card acceptance costs.

Bank merchant services

Compare ANZ, CommBank, NAB, Westpac and other bank quotes by total annual cost and contract terms.

Quote fields to compare

Questions to ask any provider

  1. How will any interchange reductions be reflected in my merchant pricing?
  2. When will updated pricing take effect?
  3. How will new statement information be shown?
  4. Which fees are network/interchange related and which are provider margin or service fees?
  5. What written notice will I receive before POS or online surcharge settings must change?

Important disclaimer for comparisons

Interchange caps are not the same thing as the total merchant service fee. The final amount a business pays may include provider margin, scheme fees, terminal rental, gateway costs and other charges. Do not assume every regulatory cost reduction is automatically or fully passed through to every merchant.

Use FeeReady for modelling

Enter each quote as a negotiated-rate scenario and compare total annual impact, including switching costs and exit fees. Keep screenshots or PDFs of provider quotes with the scenario exported from FeeReady.

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