Eftpos Australia
eftpos is Australia’s domestic debit card network, established in 1984 and operated by eftpos Payments Australia Limited. It processes debit transactions across physical and online channels using the domestic eftpos rail, which is separate from the international Visa and Mastercard debit networks. Most Australian debit cards are co-badged, carrying both the eftpos scheme and either Visa Debit or Mastercard Debit on the same card, giving merchants and acquirers a routing choice at the point of transaction.
That routing choice is commercially significant. eftpos interchange is among the lowest of any card scheme in Australia, regulated by the Reserve Bank of Australia with a cap of AUD $0.10 or 0.2% per transaction, and in practice often considerably lower, sometimes under AUD $0.04 for domestic debit. Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit transactions over the same cards attract higher interchange. For merchants on interchange-plus pricing, routing co-badged debit transactions over the domestic eftpos network rather than the international scheme rail can produce meaningful cost savings at scale. On blended or flat-rate pricing, this benefit is obscured but still present in what the acquirer retains.
The Reserve Bank of Australia finalised a significant regulatory change in March 2026, concluding that surcharging on eftpos, Visa, and Mastercard debit and prepaid cards will be removed as part of a broader package of reforms that also includes reduced interchange fees and improved transparency. This is a material development for Australian merchants currently using surcharging to offset card costs and worth factoring into payment cost modelling for Australia-facing operations.
For e-commerce, eftpos has expanded its online acceptance through the eftpos digital product suite, allowing domestic debit routing for online transactions where previously only the international co-badge network was accessible online. PSP support for domestic eftpos routing in e-commerce varies and is not universal, so confirming whether your PSP routes online debit transactions over eftpos where eligible is a practical cost check for any merchant with meaningful Australian online volume.
Relevant markets: Australia
