To accept card payments in New Zealand, you need to understand how local payment systems work, where the real costs come from, and what customers expect at the point of sale (POS). This helps you establish your business’s card setup and offer a faster, easier, and safer checkout process. Below, we’ll explain how businesses can accept credit cards in New Zealand, what kinds of card acceptance models are available, and how to choose the best model for your business.

What’s in this article?

• What does it mean to accept credit cards in New Zealand?
  
• How do NZ businesses set up merchant acquiring and payment processing?
  
• What types of card acceptance models are available in NZ?
  
• How do card acceptance fees work in NZ?
  
• What security and compliance responsibilities do NZ businesses have?
  
• How should NZ businesses choose the best payment acceptance model?
  
• How Stripe Payments can help
  

What does it mean to accept credit cards in New Zealand?

Customers in New Zealand overwhelmingly prefer card payments to cash, with only 10.3% of them using the latter as their primary payment method in 2023. Meanwhile, about 81.4% opted for debit, credit, or local payment card options. Small businesses in New Zealand can miss out on significant revenue if they don’t accept cards.

Accepting cards means handling fees, settlement timing, and security requirements. Companies will also need to understand how card payments interact with EFTPOS (short for Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale), which processes domestic debit differently from Visa and Mastercard.

How do NZ businesses set up merchant acquiring and payment processing?

There are two main ways to start accepting card payments in New Zealand. Here’s a closer look.

A merchant account through your bank

You apply to a bank (e.g., ANZ, ASB Bank, BNZ, Westpac) for a merchant account. Once it’s approved, your merchant account receives card transactions before they settle in your primary business account. For this setup, you’ll also need a payment gateway for online sales or a POS terminal for in-person payments.

The setup usually involves paperwork, risk checks, and some waiting time. Costs vary but might include merchant service fees, terminal rental, and monthly service charges. In return, you get more granular pricing and a direct relationship with your bank, which is helpful for higher volumes or bespoke setups.

A payments service provider

This option doesn’t require a separate merchant account. You sign up online, verify your details, and start accepting payments within hours. Everything from the gateway to compliance and pricing typically costs a simple flat fee per transaction. This model is common for small businesses and startups because it’s quick to launch and avoids the administrative overhead of managing multiple payment components.

Regardless of which route you choose, you’ll need to verify your business, meet Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements, and ensure your payment method supports the channels you use, whether they’re online, in person, or both.

What types of card acceptance models are available in NZ?

How you accept card payments depends on where and how you sell. The infrastructure is flexible enough to support any combination—whether it’s in-store or online—but the setup matters.

These are the different types.

Terminals and EFTPOS

Many physical businesses use EFTPOS terminals that handle both domestic debit and Visa and Mastercard transactions. When you insert a card and enter a personal identification number (PIN), the domestic EFTPOS network handles that payment. When you tap a credit card, the Visa or Mastercard system handles it. The terminals can be wireless and typically support contactless payments. Some providers offer Tap to Pay, which enables compatible smartphones to operate as terminals without additional hardware.

Gateways and integrations

Ecommerce requires a payment gateway. Many payment providers include a gateway by default, which makes it easier for small businesses to offer payment options in New Zealand.

Standard online setups include:

• Hosted checkout pages, which have the fastest setup and lowest risk

• Embedded fields or application programming interface (API) integrations, which enable more control and customization

• Payment links or invoices, which are ideal for service businesses

Digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay are widely supported and improve the mobile checkout experience.

Mobile readers

Mobile card readers pair with your phone or tablet and are popular with tradespeople, market vendors, and mobile service providers. They offer portability with simple per-transaction pricing. Tools like Stripe Terminal let you manage online and in-person payments through a single platform.

Many businesses use a mix of in-store terminals, online gateways, and mobile readers for flexibility. Your setup should reflect how and where your customers want to pay.

How do card acceptance fees work in NZ?

Every card transaction (except domestic EFTPOS) incurs a merchant service fee, often a percentage of the sale amount. Costs are based on the payment type, card type, and your provider.

This charge typically includes:

• Interchange fee paid to the cardholder’s bank

• Scheme fees paid to the card network

• Processing fees and acquirer margin paid to your bank or provider

Payment providers often bundle these costs into a single flat rate per transaction (e.g., 2.7% + 30¢). If you process large volumes, you might get interchange plus pricing or a blended rate.

How much do these fees cost you?

Merchant fees largely depend on your payment provider and which payment methods you accept. Interchange in New Zealand is also based on the card type, but there are industry caps.

Here’s a breakdown of interchange for different payment methods:

• EFTPOS: There’s no per-transaction interchange fee.

• Contactless debit: Interchange is capped at 0.2%, but total merchant fees are often 0.6%–0.7%.

• Credit cards: As of December 2025, interchange is capped at 0.3% for in-person transactions and 0.7% for online orders.

• International and foreign cards: Fees are currently uncapped, but starting in May 2026, they’ll be capped at 0.7% for in-person credit card payments and 0.6% for in-person debit card payments. Online card transactions will be capped at 1.5% for credit cards and 1.4% for debit cards.

Can you surcharge?

Businesses can surcharge to recover interchange or merchant fees, but local guidelines mandate transparency and fairness when they do so. Pending legislation could ban the practice altogether for in-person transactions in 2026.

What security and compliance responsibilities do NZ businesses have?

Accepting card payments means protecting card data and preventing fraud. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is the global standard that applies to all businesses that accept cards.

Your PCI DSS obligation depends on how you accept payments:

• If you’re using an EFTPOS terminal with no stored card data, you’re responsible only for keeping devices secure and checking for tampering.

• If you’re using online hosted checkout pages or redirects, a payment provider handles the sensitive information and you complete a short self-assessment annually.

• If you’re handling card details directly or storing them, your compliance load is heavier. Expect security scans, stricter controls, and possibly audits.

Across all models, you must maintain secure networks, keep systems up-to-date, and never store full card numbers unless you do so through a certified provider’s tokenization system.

Other important security practices include:

• Using 3D Secure to minimize online fraud and shift liability back to the issuer

• Never storing card data manually (no paper forms, notes, or spreadsheets)

• Notifying your provider immediately if you suspect a breach

• Following New Zealand’s privacy laws when you collect personal information

PCI Level 1 service providers like Stripe handle the most complex aspects of compliance when you integrate using approved methods.

How should NZ businesses choose the best payment acceptance model?

Each payment method has its strengths. The best mix depends on your sales channels, customer behavior, and cost priorities.

Here are the pros and cons of each payment method.

Credit and debit cards

These are fast, convenient, and important for online sales, hospitality, and customer-facing businesses. Fees apply, but checkout friction can drop considerably. That usually increases conversions.

EFTPOS

These are the cheapest option for in-person payments. There are no per-transaction fees, but they’re limited to domestic debit cards and in-store use only. They’re not available for online or remote payments.

Bank transfers

These are great for invoices, B2B transactions, and high-value items. There are no merchant fees, but the process is slower and relies on customers to manually complete the transfer.

A smart strategy might involve using EFTPOS to keep costs low for in-person domestic debt, using cards to minimize customer drop-off during online checkouts, and using bank transfers for large invoices where customers are comfortable paying manually. The strongest setups meet customers where they are and remove any barriers to completing a sale.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payment solution that helps any business—from scaling startups to global enterprises—accept payments online, in person, and around the world.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimize your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save thousands of engineering hours with prebuilt payment UIs, access to 125+ payment methods, and Link, a wallet built by Stripe.

• Expand to new markets faster: Reach customers worldwide and reduce the complexity and cost of multicurrency management with cross-border payment options, available in 195 countries across 135+ currencies.

• Unify payments in person and online: Build a unified commerce experience across online and in-person channels to personalize interactions, reward loyalty, and grow revenue.

• Improve payment performance: Increase revenue with a range of customizable, easy-to-configure payment tools, including no-code fraud protection and advanced capabilities to improve authorization rates.

• Move faster with a flexible, reliable platform for growth: Build on a platform designed to scale with you, with 99.999% historical uptime and industry-leading reliability.

Learn more about how Stripe Payments can power your online and in-person payments, or get started today.