Online payment gateway fees in Australia: what card-not-present payments really cost

Online card payments usually cost more than in-person payments, because the card is not present: fraud risk is higher, scheme and interchange categories can be dearer, and you pay for a payment gateway on top of acquiring. Your all-in online cost is the gateway fee (monthly and per transaction), the card processing rate, any fixed cents per payment, and add-ons such as fraud screening, 3-D Secure, tokenised card storage and currency conversion, plus chargeback costs. Some providers sell all of this as one "online rate"; others price the gateway and the acquirer separately. The 1 October 2026 changes apply online too: no surcharging on eftpos, Mastercard or Visa cards, and lower interchange caps on domestic cards.

This guide is part of the best-fit selection guide. Rates are illustrative, not any provider's prices.

The pieces of an online payment

Piece	What it does	How it is often priced
Checkout or hosted payment page	Collects card details securely	Included, or part of the gateway
Payment gateway	Sends the payment to the acquirer, stores tokens, manages refunds and recurring billing	Monthly fee and/or per transaction
Acquirer	Processes the payment and settles funds to you	Percentage and/or cents per payment
Fraud screening	Scores payments for fraud risk	Per screened payment or included
3-D Secure	Asks the cardholder's bank to authenticate the payment, which can shift fraud liability	Per authentication or included
Tokenisation and card on file	Stores a token instead of the card number for repeat or recurring payments	Often included; network token fees may apply
Currency conversion	Lets overseas customers pay in their currency or pays you in AUD	Margin on the exchange rate
Chargebacks	Disputes raised by cardholders	Fee per chargeback plus the lost sale

Worked example: a small online store

Illustrative store: $20,000 a month in online card sales, 400 orders, average $50.

Option A: all-in online flat rate of 1.75% + 30 cents, no monthly fee.

$20,000 × 1.75% = $350.00
400 × $0.30 = $120.00
Total: $470.00 a month, effective rate 2.35%

Option B: separate gateway and cost-plus acquiring. Gateway $30 a month + 10 cents per payment; acquiring averages 0.9% online.

Gateway: $30 + 400 × $0.10 = $70.00
Acquiring: $20,000 × 0.9% = $180.00
Total: $250.00 a month, effective rate 1.25%

Option B saves $220 a month in this example, but takes more set-up and two contracts. At $3,000 a month with 60 orders, Option A costs $52.50 + $18 = $70.50, and Option B costs $30 + $6 + $27 = $63, a saving of only $7.50 that may not justify the extra work. Check your own figures with the card fee calculator.

Add the cost of fraud and disputes

Online sellers bear most of the risk when a stolen card is used, unless the payment was authenticated in a way that shifts liability under network rules. Illustrative: if 0.3% of orders (about 1 in 333) end in a fraud chargeback, at an average order of $50 and a $25 chargeback fee:

400 orders × 0.3% = 1.2 chargebacks a month
Lost sales and goods: 1.2 × $50 = $60
Chargeback fees: 1.2 × $25 = $30
Cost: about $90 a month

That is a large share of the processing bill. Fraud tools and 3-D Secure cost money but can reduce it. See chargebacks for merchants.

E-commerce platforms with built-in payments

Many online store platforms offer their own payments, sometimes with a higher platform transaction fee if you use a different gateway. Compare:

The platform's payment rate versus an external gateway plus acquirer.
Any extra platform fee for using an external gateway.
Settlement timing and fund holds.
How refunds and chargebacks are handled and charged.

Mobile wallets, buy now pay later, e-commerce platforms and least-cost routing for online and in-app payments were left to the RBA's separate Review of Payments System Regulation. It began with an Issues Paper on 25 June 2026 (submissions closed 7 August 2026); the RBA said it intends to publish a list of regulatory priorities by the end of 2026 and to begin further consultation by mid-2027. Check the RBA site for progress.

Security obligations

If card details pass through your systems, your PCI DSS scope grows. A hosted payment page or embedded fields from your provider usually keeps card data off your servers and makes compliance simpler. See PCI DSS for small business.

Recurring and invoice payments

Recurring billing uses stored tokens; check token fees, the card updater service (which updates expired cards) and failed-payment retry rules.
Invoice payment links are card-not-present payments and priced as online. Since 1 October 2026 you cannot add a card surcharge to the link; check that the invoicing software's surcharge setting is off. See surcharges removed.
PayTo and bank transfers are account-to-account alternatives with their own pricing; the RBA does not currently regulate surcharges on non-card methods, and ACCC pricing rules apply.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my online rate higher than in person?

Card-not-present payments carry higher fraud risk and may fall into dearer interchange and scheme fee categories. You also pay for the gateway.

Do the new interchange caps apply online?

Yes, the domestic caps apply to card-not-present payments on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa. Whether your online rate falls depends on your pricing model.

Should I accept foreign cards online?

That is a business decision. Foreign cards often cost more; from 1 April 2027 a 1.0% interchange cap applies to them, but cross-border scheme fees and fraud risk remain.

Sources

Reserve Bank of Australia — interchange caps and the Review of Payments System Regulation (Issues Paper, June 2026) on wallets, BNPL and other issues
PCI Security Standards Council — PCI DSS and self-assessment questionnaires
Australian Cyber Security Centre — online security for small businesses
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission — online pricing and payment methods