Australian Credit Card Surcharging Ban: What It Means for Your MSP & How Cloud Depot RPS Protects Your Margins

Overview

Effective 1st October, new regulations across Australia officially ban businesses from passing credit card surcharges (processing fees) on to customers.

To ensure your billing remains 100% compliant with Australian law without any manual effort on your part, Cloud Depot RPS will automatically disable credit card surcharging across all payment profiles on Monday, 28th September.

What Changes on Monday, 28th September?

• Automatic Surcharge Removal: Cloud Depot RPS will automatically turn off the surcharge calculation setting across all your active customer payment profiles.
• Fee Absorption Risk: Once surcharging is disabled, any client who pays an invoice via credit card will have the full processing fee charged to your merchant account, rather than passed on to the customer.

The Problem with Standard Accounting Integrations (e.g Xero + Stripe)

If you rely on standard payment setups, such as connecting Stripe directly to Xero you face a major limitation once surcharging ends:

• All-or-Nothing Payment Links: In Xero, if an online payment service is attached to an invoice branding theme, every customer receiving that invoice template gets a credit card "Pay Now" option.
• No Granular Control: You cannot easily restrict credit cards for specific high-value clients while leaving them open for smaller transactions.
• Manual Workarounds: To stop a client from paying a $10,000 invoice by credit card and forcing you to absorb the processing fee, you have to manually strip payment services from individual invoices every month.

How Cloud Depot RPS Protects Your Margins

Cloud Depot RPS gives you central control over your payment options without needing to mess with Xero branding themes.

Current Setup:

• Global Restrictions: You can currently enable global payment restrictions across your portal to limit card usage and steer clients towards lower-cost Direct Debit options.

Coming Soon:

• Granular Client & Invoice Controls: Our engineering team is actively building enhanced, granular controls scheduled for release prior to the 28th September deadline. This will allow you to:
  • Restrict credit card payments for specific high-value clients or recurring agreements.
  • Set invoice threshold rules (e.g., disable credit cards for invoices over a certain dollar amount).
  • Automatically enforce Direct Debit for monthly MSP retainers while keeping card options flexible for smaller, non-recurring work.

Recommended Action Plan Before 28th September

1. Review High-Value Credit Card Clients: Identify clients currently paying large monthly agreements via credit card who would cause a margin hit if fees are absorbed.
2. Prepare to Update Payment Rules: Review your portal settings and prepare to apply global or granular restrictions once the new control suite goes live.
3. Transition Clients to Direct Debit: Encourage clients to set up Direct Debit for seamless, automated monthly payments.

Need Help?

Our support team is ready to assist you in preparing your Cloud Depot RPS settings before the automatic turn-off on Monday, 28th September.

•  Support: Contact our team via the Support Portal or open a ticket in your dashboard.