How do people in Australia pay online?
Online payments are a growing share of spending. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s 2025 Consumer Payments Survey found that online payments made up about 20% of all consumer payments, up from 18% in 2022, and 68% of respondents paid online at least once in the survey week. Mobile and app payments were 46% of online payments, up from 37% in 2022.
Debit cards lead. Online debit card payments were 7% of all consumer payments, BPAY and internet banking 5%, credit cards 4%, and other methods such as PayPal, prepaid and gift cards and buy now, pay later another 4%. Across all payments, cards were used for about 73%, with debit cards at 49% and credit cards at 23%. eftpos is Australia’s own debit card network, run by Australian Payments Plus alongside Visa and Mastercard.
Bank payments are catching up. About half of respondents used PayID in the past year, up from 32% in 2022, and around 80% knew of it. PayTo lets a shopper authorise a payment agreement in their online banking and pay straight from their account, which suits subscriptions and repeat payments. Apple Pay and Google Pay are both available in Australia, and device payments made up about 40% of in-person card payments in 2025.
What rules shape online payments in Australia?
Card surcharges are gone. In its conclusions of 31 March 2026, the RBA’s Payment System Board decided to remove surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards on the eftpos, Mastercard and Visa networks from 1 October 2026, and to lower interchange caps on domestic card payments from the same date. A new interchange cap on foreign cards applies from 1 April 2027.
Buy now, pay later is credit. Since 10 June 2025, anyone providing buy now, pay later contracts needs an Australian credit licence, with modified responsible lending rules available for low cost contracts.
GST is 10%. Non-resident suppliers of digital products and services to Australian consumers must register for, collect and pay GST, and GST also applies to low-value imported goods worth AUD 1,000 or less sold to consumers.
Consumer and privacy law apply. Under the Australian Consumer Law, a shopper may be entitled to a refund, repair or replacement if a product is faulty, broken or not as described. The Privacy Act 1988 and its 13 Australian Privacy Principles cover organisations with annual turnover above AUD 3 million, and some smaller ones.
How would Omno route payments in Australia?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In Australia:
- Card pay-ins would follow rules by BIN, scheme and amount, so debit payments could go to a provider that supports eftpos, with cascading: if a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment moves to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
- PayTo and PayID payments would go to a provider connected to the New Payments Platform, with the order confirmed by the provider’s notification.
- Saved cards could let returning customers pay without typing their card again.
- Apple Pay and Google Pay would be shown in the hosted checkout and routed like other card payments.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for debit cards first. They are the most used online method, so make sure eftpos, Visa and Mastercard debit cards all work in the checkout.
Plan for no surcharges. Since 1 October 2026 you cannot pass card costs on as a surcharge for eftpos, Mastercard and Visa cards, so build them into prices.
Plan for bank payments. PayID use is growing quickly, and PayTo offers a bank-based option for subscriptions.
Plan for GST. If you sell digital products or low-value goods to Australian consumers from abroad, check whether you need to register and collect GST.