With the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) ban on card surcharges now in effect you might start seeing local businesses offering discounts if you pay in cash.
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you → start → cash
Cash payments in Australia are much less common than they were a decade ago, but the RBA's latest data showed a slight uptick in cash use in 2025.
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data → show → 2025
How could the ban on card surcharges impact how cash is used in Australia?
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cash → impact → Australia
How often do people use cash?
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people → use → cash
This graph from the RBA's 2025 Consumer Payments Survey tracks the percentage of Australians who use cash in a typical week.
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who → track → week
As you can see, 2025's figure of 50 per cent is much lower than the 97 per cent in 2007.
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figure → see → 2007
Will we move back to cash?
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we → move → cash
John Hawkins, a senior economic lecturer at the University of Canberra, doesn't expect cash use to skyrocket.
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use → expect → Canberra
"From January the government has required most grocery stores and petrol stations to accept cash, which may see some modest increase in its use," Dr Hawkins says.
"
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Hawkins → require → use
On the other hand, about 20 per cent of consumers say they used cash to avoid card surcharges.
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they → say → surcharges
"As these no longer apply we could see some drop in cash use."
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we → apply → use
Angel Zhong, a finance professor at RMIT, says she would be surprised if the surcharge ban reverses the long-term trend of card payments.
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ban → say → payments
"I expect a modest uptick [in cash use] mostly at the margins: the café, the barber or the tradie offering a few per cent off for cash," Professor Zhong says.
"Australians moved to cards and mobile wallets mainly because of convenience, speed and record keeping, not because of price.
"
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Australians → expect → price
A small discount at a handful of businesses is unlikely to change entrenched habits for most people."
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discount → change → people
Data from the RBA's 2025 survey showed people aged 65 and older were the most likely to use cash.
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people → show → cash
Cash might also still be preferred by people in regional areas with limited bank access or poor internet signal, people managing tight budgets, and people who have privacy concerns.
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who → prefer → concerns
Professor Zhong says the goal should be to continue offering people the choice of using cash or paying by card.
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goal → say → card
Why would cafés offer cash discounts?
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cafés → offer → discounts
Professor Zhong sees cash discounts as a sign of how much pressure small businesses are under.
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businesses → see → pressure
"The RBA paired the ban with a cut to interchange fees, which was meant to soften the blow by lowering what businesses pay to accept cards," she says.
"
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she → pair → cards
Small businesses typically pay their payment service provider a bundled rate, and there's no guarantee that the interchange savings flow through to that rate.
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savings → pay → rate
"
While big businesses could leverage their bargaining power to negotiate savings in their contracts, smaller businesses don't have that option.
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businesses → leverage → option
And that means losing the ability to surcharge while missing out on a drop in costs.
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that → mean → costs
"Against thin margins and rising operating costs, offering a discount for cash is one of the few ways a small business can steer customers toward a cheaper payment method," Professor Zhong says.
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Zhong → rise → method
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says businesses can offer discounts to customers paying via particular means such as cash or PayID, but there are a few rules.
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businesses → say → cash
Discounts should be clearly disclosed before payment and they have to advertise the non-discounted price.
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they → disclose → price
They're not allowed to display the discounted price more prominently than the full price.
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They → allow → price
Is it legal to hike prices to cover the surcharge ban?
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it → hike → ban
Yes, but there are rules about how businesses label these price hikes.
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businesses → be → hikes
"They must not mislead consumers about prices, including about the reasons for any price increases," the ACCC says.
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ACCC → mislead → increases
An example of this might be nursery that used to apply a 1 per cent credit card surcharge for its products.
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that → use → products
To compensate for that cost, they might increase the cost of a $10 pot plant to $10.10.
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they → compensate → 10.10
But let's say the nursery owner decides that, while they're setting new figures, they'll increase the pot plant's price to $12 to cover the rise in their electricity and water bills.
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they → let → bills
But they aren't allowed to say the price increase from $10 to $12 is because of the ban.
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increase → allow → ban
"This will be misleading because the price increase also reflects other business costs, not just the cost of accepting card payments," the ACCC says.
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ACCC → reflect → payments
The Aporia
