Understanding merchant fees and EFTPOS machine costs

Understanding fees and charges relating to EFTPOS machines is important when making decisions about which payment solution works best for your business. You can also compare offerings between providers, which can at times be complex. Learn more about how you can better understand the types of fees you may be charged and what to watch out for when comparing EFTPOS solutions.

Merchant fees explained

When you use a counter top or standalone EFTPOS machine to accept card payments for your business, you may be charged a range of fees. Fees can include service fees, transaction fees, chargeback fees and EFTPOS machine rental. You can find out more about transaction and chargeback fees, as well as EFTPOS machine rental charges, in our Merchant Support Centre.

Types of EFTPOS fees and charges

Learn more about the fees that can apply to EFTPOS facilities. 

Transaction fees

Merchant Service Fees

Every time a customer uses their card on your EFTPOS machine, a transaction is processed. Merchant service fees are applied to these transactions and may be charged as either a percentage of the value of each transaction or as a fixed fee per transaction.

Interchange and Scheme Fees

Your merchant service fee may include Interchange or Scheme Fees. If they are not included, these are usually charged separately and will depend on the card type and are expressed as a percentage of the transaction value, per transaction or a combination thereof.

Interchange fees are charged to cover the fees payable to the card issuer that supplied the card to your customer. Interchange Fees vary depending on:

1. The card issuer (e.g. Mastercard®, Visa etc.)
2. Where the card was issued (e.g. Australia or overseas)
3. Card product type (e.g. premium card, corporate card etc.)
4. Product form factors (e.g. tokenised transactions, EFTPOS machine transactions vs online transactions etc.)
5. Industry type (e.g. Merchant Category Code, industry more broadly)

Interchange rates are set by the schemes and are published on their respective websites.

Scheme fees are charged to cover the fees your acquirer (that is, the financial institution/bank that has issued your EFTPOS facility) incurs from the respective schemes.

EFTPOS facility fees

EFTPOS machine rental fee

You can rent an EFTPOS machine for a fixed amount, usually payable on a monthly basis. If you download an app-based payment solution like NAB Easy Tap, you don’t pay any machine rental fee as your Android smart device becomes a payment terminal.

POS integration fee

Financial institutions may offer you the option to integrate your EFTPOS machine with a Point Of Sale (POS) system. There may be additional charges for this service. Usually these are included in your EFTPOS machine terminal rental.

Replacement fees

Fees may be charged to replace your EFTPOS machine if it is lost, damaged or stolen.

Other merchant facility fees and charges

Setup fee

Financial institutions may charge a fee to setup and install EFTPOS machines. With NAB, there are no set up fees for our EFTPOS machines.

Annual/monthly fees

You may be charged an annual fee at the anniversary of when you started your merchant service or you may incur a monthly service charge.

Chargeback fees

A chargeback fee is a cost imposed on merchants when a customer disputes a transaction and requests a reversal through their bank or credit card issuer. This fee covers the administrative expenses associated with processing the dispute. It also serves as a reminder to maintain accurate records and follow best practices to minimise future chargebacks.

Simple tips to help prevent chargebacks.

Understanding your merchant fees

Understanding the total fees associated with your EFTPOS machine can be complex. To help with fee transparency, financial institutions will display a cost of acceptance table on your statement at least annually, which sets our the average fees associated with different transactions and card types. This will assist you in understanding your costs and comparing EFTPOS solutions and fee schedules. It will also allow you to select the correct surcharging amount if you choose to utilise this functionality available with your EFTPOS machine.