NOMINATIONS - Changes to card and PayPal processing fees

📅 What's changed

From 1 October 2026, businesses in Australia can no longer add a surcharge when a customer pays by card or PayPal.

• Following a Reserve Bank of Australia review, eftpos, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay and PayPal introduced new rules that end card surcharging.
• The rules apply to every organisation that takes card payments, from supermarkets to sporting clubs.
• They cover payments made in person, online and in apps.

❓What this means for nominations

From what we can see, a large portion of centres already absorb processing fees rather than passing them on to families. This article is mainly for centres that currently pass them on.

• Families can no longer be charged a card or PayPal processing fee at checkout.
• From 1 October, the option to pass these fees on to families has been removed from the platform, so the fees are absorbed by the centre or event host.
• The price your centre sets for a nomination is now the price families pay.
• Card and PayPal processing fees are deducted from the nomination payments your centre receives.
• The Timing Solution Nomination fee ($0.70 + GST per nomination) is not changing. It's for use of the nomination feature, is paid by the centre (not families) and is deducted from your nomination payments, as it is now.

💳 About the processing fee

• The processing fee (2% + 30c per transaction) simply covers the cost of allowing Little Athletics centres to accept card and PayPal payments.
• It's charged by Stripe and PayPal for processing each payment.
• Processing fees are paid by the organisation that receives the money and sets the price, in the same way any shop pays the fees on its eftpos machine.
• Your centre sets the nomination price and receives the payment, so the processing fee sits with your centre.
• Because the fee is a percentage of the price, you stay in control of it through the price you set.

💡 How it works in practice

Your centre has two options:

• Absorb the fee: keep your nomination price the same and cover the small processing fee.
• Increase your nomination price: add a small amount to your nomination price to cover the fee. Families pay a slightly higher amount, your centre receives the same amount, and families see one clear price.

Example: a $100 nomination

✅ Key takeaways

• Card and PayPal processing fees can no longer be passed on to families.
• The organisation that sets the price and receives the payment absorbs the processing fees.

• If you want to recover the fees you've been passing on to families, simply increase your nomination prices.

   

❓Frequently asked questions

Can we still pass the processing fee on to families? No. The new rules don't allow a fee to be added because someone pays by card or PayPal, and the option has been removed from the platform.

Can we call it something else, like an admin fee? No. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned that relabelling a card surcharge as another type of fee isn't allowed.

Need help?

Frequently Asked Questions – Removal of Card Payment Surcharges From 1 October 2026 | RBA