Payments in Australia
Payment gateway in Australia
Boldrails is a licensed payment gateway provider for businesses selling in Australia. We acquire cards, PayID and PayTo, we settle in AUD, USD or crypto, and we pay out to Australian bank accounts. We serve high-risk and high-volume merchants, with onboarding in 3 to 14 days.
- Cards, PayID and PayTo
- We acquire and we settle
- AUD, USD or crypto settlement
- Onboarding in 3 to 14 days
Onboarding takes 3 to 14 days, depending on your case.
Last updated: 6 August 2026
The basics
What is a payment gateway in Australia?
A payment gateway in Australia is the software that takes payment details from your checkout, encrypts them, and passes the transaction to an acquiring bank or a payment rail such as the New Payments Platform. It authorises the payment. It is not the terminal on your counter.
A gateway is not a POS terminal, whatever some ranking guides say. Terminals are hardware, and they read a card in person. The gateway is the path an online payment takes from your checkout to the bank.
Which route the payment takes depends on the method. Card payments go out to an acquiring bank and the card schemes. PayID and PayTo go to the New Payments Platform instead, and never touch a card network at all.
A processor is a different job again. The gateway carries the transaction data. The processor moves the funds between institutions. We do both, so one contract covers the whole path.
Type "payment gateway" into a search box in Australia and you mostly get encyclopedia answers. This page is narrower. It covers accepting payments as a business selling in Australia. For the product itself, read about our payment gateway.
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Rails
Which payment methods and rails can you accept in Australia?
Australian businesses collect on six rails: cards, EFTPOS, PayID and PayTo on the New Payments Platform, BECS Direct Debit, and BPAY. Digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay ride on top of the card rails rather than forming a rail of their own. The six settle in very different shapes, and that matters more than the brand names, so the table below sets out each one with its settlement behaviour.
| Rail | What it is | Typical use | Settlement shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cards (Visa, Mastercard) | Scheme card acceptance, online and in person, including digital wallets that tokenise a card | Everyday online checkout | Acquirer cycle, typically 1 to 3 business days |
| EFTPOS | Australia's domestic debit network | Card-present debit at the counter | Bank cycle, next business day |
| PayID | NPP addressing: pay to an email, phone or ABN instead of a BSB and account number | One-off account-to-account payments | Near real time, 24/7 |
| PayTo | Pre-authorised NPP payments, approved in the payer's online banking | Recurring billing and subscriptions | Near real time, 24/7 |
| BECS Direct Debit | The bulk clearing system AusPayNet administers for batched debits and credits | Legacy recurring debits and batch payroll | Batch cycle, business days |
| BPAY | Bill payments from internet banking, using a biller code | Invoices and bills | Business days |
That is the market. Here is what we do in it. In Australia we acquire cards, PayID and PayTo, and bank transfer. We settle in AUD, USD or crypto, and we pay out to Australian bank accounts. Sending money out in bulk is a separate product, so if you also need payouts to Australian bank accounts at scale, say so at onboarding.
Sources
- Reserve Bank of Australia, New Payments Platform and overlay services (retrieved 6 August 2026)
- Australian Payments Plus, PayTo (retrieved 6 August 2026)
- Australian Payments Network, Direct Entry (retrieved 6 August 2026)
- ASIC, ePayments Code, which covers EFTPOS and BPAY transactions (retrieved 6 August 2026)
Declined by an Australian gateway, or told your category is not supported? Send us the case.
What changed
What is changing: BECS, PayTo and the move to the NPP
Australia's BECS Direct Debit has no retirement date. AusPayNet removed the June 2030 target end-date on 16 December 2025, and the industry now reassesses the outlook every six months.
The history is short. AusPayNet set June 2030 as the target in November 2023. On 16 December 2025 it removed that date, stating that the majority of BECS Members no longer believe the industry can achieve it. In its own words: "AusPayNet is removing the target end-date of June 2030 for decommissioning the BECS Framework." The direction did not change: BECS Members still intend to transition away from BECS in favour of modern alternatives like the NPP, which is the industry's strategic account-to-account payments system.
That did not end the scrutiny. The Reserve Bank's March 2026 risk-assessment update reports on industry progress, as part of an annual oversight program tracking the intended migration away from BECS.
So if you read that BECS retires in 2030, that page is out of date. In practice BECS still runs, and PayTo is where recurring collection is heading, because it is pre-authorised, sits on the NPP and clears in near real time.
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Pricing
How much does payment processing cost in Australia?
Researched and reviewed by: Claude Igrow, Payments Specialist
Published card rates in Australia run about 1.5% to 2.2% plus roughly A$0.30 on a domestic card, and about 3.4% to 3.5% plus A$0.30 on an international one, on figures taken from provider pricing pages on 6 August 2026. Account-to-account rates sit lower and are usually capped.
| Provider | Domestic card | International card | FX | Qualifiers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | 1.7% + A$0.30 | 3.5% + A$0.30 | +2% | Stripe's own page labels these rates effective 1 October 2026 and 1 April 2027. PayTo and BECS Direct Debit 1% + A$0.30, capped at A$3.50. Disputes A$25.00 |
| Square | 2.2% online, 1.6% in person | Not published | Not published | Free plan A$0 per month, Plus from A$40 per month. Next-day payouts free, instant transfers 1.5% |
| Airwallex | 1.65% + A$0.30 | 3.40% + A$0.30 | 0.5% over interbank on majors, 1% on others | Plans from A$0 to A$999 per month |
| GoCardless | 1% + A$0.40, capped at A$4 | 2% + A$0.40 | Not published | The widely copied figure omits the A$4 cap and an extra 0.3% on payments above A$3,000. All fees exclusive of GST |
| Eway | 1.5% + A$0.25 | Adds a 1.99% surcharge on top of that, not a replacement rate | Not published | No setup fee, no monthly fee, no lock-in contract. A Merchant Trust Initiative fee applies past 50 transactions: A$178 to establish, including 12 months, then A$142 a year |
| Boldrails | Not published | Not published | Not published | We do not publish public rates. Pricing is risk-priced and quoted per case on method mix, volume and business profile, and every fee line is confirmed at onboarding |
Cells reading "not published" mean the provider does not state it, not that the fee is zero.
We compared all five providers' own published pricing pages on 6 August 2026 instead of repeating the figures the roundups copy from each other. Our row reads that way on purpose. A high-risk merchant and a low-risk one do not get the same number. So we price the case and confirm every line at onboarding. A published rate card would be wrong for most of the businesses we take.
Three things most roundups get wrong. Stripe's 1.7% is not today's rate: Stripe's own pricing page marks it effective 1 October 2026. GoCardless's headline 1% + A$0.40 leaves out the A$4 cap and the extra 0.3% on payments above A$3,000. On a large invoice that changes the maths. And Eway's 1.99% international fee is a surcharge stacked on its 1.5% + 25c base, not a replacement for it.
These are the lines your quote will carry.
| Fee line | What it covers | What it varies with |
|---|---|---|
| Card acquiring fee | Accepting a card payment | Card mix, volume and risk profile |
| Account-to-account collection fee | Collecting over PayID or PayTo | Volume and average ticket size |
| Settlement and FX conversion | Converting AUD into USD or crypto | Currency pair and settlement frequency |
| Payout fee | Sending funds to an Australian bank account | Payout volume and destination |
| Chargeback handling | Working a card dispute, cards only | Dispute volume |
Every line above is confirmed at onboarding, which takes 3 to 14 days, depending on your case.
Settlement
How fast is settlement in Australia?
Card settlement in Australia typically takes 1 to 3 business days from the transaction to money in your account. Rails on the New Payments Platform work differently. They clear in near real time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, weekends and public holidays included.
The reason is a piece of plumbing almost nobody names. The New Payments Platform has been live since February 2018, and the Reserve Bank of Australia built its settlement component, the Fast Settlement Service, which settles transactions individually, 24/7, in close to real time. Batch rails settle in cycles. The NPP settles payment by payment.
We settle you in AUD, USD or crypto, and we pay out to Australian bank accounts. One balance and one reconciliation, whichever rail the money came in on. If you run more than one currency, you can hold and settle in multiple currencies with us.
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Regulation
Who regulates payments in Australia?
Four bodies and one industry standard shape how payments work in Australia. None of them issues a single thing called a payment gateway licence. This is the regulatory framework we operate within.
| Body | What it covers | What it means for a merchant |
|---|---|---|
| ASIC | The ePayments Code, and AFS licensing | The Code is voluntary and protects consumers only where the provider subscribes. Some Australian payment businesses operate under an Australian Financial Services Licence |
| AUSTRAC | AML and counter-terrorism financing under the AML/CTF Act 2006 | On AUSTRAC's own account, remittance and digital-currency exchange services in or from Australia must register with AUSTRAC before they start, and failing to do so is a criminal offence |
| Reserve Bank of Australia | Payments-system oversight, and NPP settlement | Sets the direction of travel on rails, including the migration away from BECS |
| APRA | Prudential standards for banks and other deposit takers | Applies to your bank, not to your checkout |
| PCI Security Standards Council | Issues PCI DSS | PCI DSS is a card-industry standard, not Australian law. It reaches you through your card contracts |
Bodies and standards listed as market context. Boldrails claims no named regime as its own attribute.
Other guides get this wrong in two places. ASIC states plainly that the ePayments Code is a voluntary code of practice and that it protects consumers only where they deal with a subscriber, so it binds only the providers who sign up to it. PCI DSS is the other one. It is issued by the PCI Security Standards Council, a card-industry body and not an Australian regulator, so it lands on you contractually rather than by statute.
On our side, we hold the necessary licences required in the markets we serve.
Sources
- ASIC, ePayments Code (retrieved 6 August 2026)
- Reserve Bank of Australia, New Payments Platform (retrieved 6 August 2026)
- AUSTRAC submission on digital assets, hosted on treasury.gov.au (retrieved 6 August 2026)
- Norton Rose Fulbright on the ePayments Code and its voluntary status (retrieved 6 August 2026)
Who we serve
Who we serve in Australia
We are built for high-risk and high-volume verticals, including iGaming, forex and CFD brokers, crypto businesses, subscription platforms, marketplaces and travel. Mainstream Australian gateways screen most of those out by category. We underwrite by case instead, so a business gets read on its own numbers.
Onboarding checks KYC and KYB: who owns the business, who runs it, and where the money comes from. Some verticals carry an obligation of their own on top of ours. A business providing remittance or digital-currency exchange services in or from Australia must register with AUSTRAC under the AML/CTF Act 2006 before it starts.
Onboarding takes 3 to 14 days, depending on your case.
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Questions
Payments in Australia: common questions
Last updated: 6 August 2026