How Pricing Works for Australian Organisations
From 1 October 2026, Australian law bans adding card surcharges at checkout. This changes how processing fees appear to your supporters when they pay.
If your organisation absorbs fees, nothing changes for you. Read on if your supporters currently cover the processing fees.
What changed
Previously, supporters in Australia saw the item price plus a separate fee line at checkout, the same way it works in New Zealand. Under the new rules, that separate fee line is no longer allowed for card payments.
Raised now builds the fees into the price each supporter sees. The total they pay is simply the sum of the prices shown, with no extra charges added at the end.
How inclusive pricing works
When a supporter buys a $20.00 item from your fundraiser, they will see a price of $21.50 (or similar, depending on exact fee rates). That price already includes Raised's 5% platform fee and Stripe's card processing fee.
The fee components are:
- Raised platform fee: 5% of the base price
- Stripe processing fee: 1.65% + A$0.30 per transaction, plus 10% GST on Stripe's portion
Each item's displayed price includes the full A$0.30 fixed fee and is rounded up to the nearest 10 cents. On a multi-item order this means you collect slightly more than the actual fees cost. That small surplus stays with your organisation.
Item options (like sizes or flavours) also have their prices adjusted, but they don't each carry the A$0.30 fixed fee again. Only the base item carries it.
Your organisation always receives at least the base price you set for each item when paid with a domestic Australian card. International cards have higher Stripe fees that are not passed on to the supporter (passing them on would be a surcharge). The extra cost for international cards comes out of your share instead.
The rounding surplus
Because each item independently includes the A$0.30 fixed fee, a multi-item order collects more in fixed fees than Stripe actually charges (Stripe charges one fixed fee per transaction, not per item). This surplus stays with your organisation. You may see it labelled "rounding" in your order details.
Tap to Pay
If you use the Raised mobile app to take in-person payments with Tap to Pay, the same inclusive pricing applies. The terminal Stripe rate is slightly different (A$0.25 fixed fee instead of A$0.30), so in-person prices may differ slightly from the online prices for the same item.
Payment methods for Australian organisations
Because inclusive pricing only works with card payments (where the fees are predictable), bank transfer and cash are not available for organisations that pass fees on to supporters.
If you need to offer bank transfer or cash, switch your organisation to absorb fees mode. See the section below.
Absorb fees mode
If your organisation absorbs fees, none of this applies to you. Your supporters pay exactly the price you set, and the processing fees come out of your end. The checkout experience is the same as it has always been, and all payment methods (card, bank transfer, cash) remain available.
You can switch between absorb fees and pass-on fees in your organisation settings. Keep in mind that switching to pass-on fees in Australia means your supporters will see the inclusive prices and bank transfer/cash will be disabled.
Donations
Donations have no item price to build fees into, so they work differently from product orders.
For donation pages, donation add-ons on product orders, and crowdfunding campaigns, fees are absorbed by default. The supporter donates $50 and the organisation receives $50 minus the processing fees. There is no separate fee line.
Supporters see a "cover the fees" checkbox at the payment step. If they tick it, the processing fee is added on top of their donation so the full amount goes to the organisation. This checkbox is opt-in and unchecked by default.
This applies to all donation-style payments for Australian organisations, whether on a standalone donation page, a crowdfunding campaign, a colour run, or a donation added to a product order.
What you see in your dashboard
When you view an order that was placed under inclusive pricing, the order details show:
- The prices the supporter actually paid (with fees built in)
- A note that fees are built into the prices
- Your organisation's share, which is at least the base prices you set
- If rounding produced a small surplus, it appears as a "rounding" line under your share
Your fee mode setting in your organisation settings will show "Build fees into prices" instead of "Add fees to customer orders" when your Stripe account is Australian.
Quick reference
| Pass fees on (default) | Absorb fees | |
|---|---|---|
| Card payments | Fees built into displayed prices | Fees deducted from your takings |
| Bank transfer | Not available | Available |
| Cash | Not available | Available |
| Supporter sees | Item price with fees included | Exact price you set |
| You receive | At least your base price | Base price minus fees |