Originally Posted by
MaxVO
This decision was made when credit cards were first introduced and were not used in most/all transactions. It was thought outrageous at that time that Party A could order service, and Party B would have to pay the bill. However the CC banks succeeded in making CC surcharges illegal in the US, and possibly other countries. Now several decades later we no longer think that the banks' skimming on most of retail transactions is anything but normal.
Yeah, CC surcharges are actually allowed in the US now thanks to a recent SCOTUS decision and previous settlements with merchants. Of course, other than at gas stations, they still aren't really considered "normal".
As for Australia, IIRC EFTPOS is free for merchants. That and debit being used way more than credit is why surcharging for credit is more common there.