专家表示，企业正利用信用卡附加费的最新禁令作为“掩护”，向客户转嫁更大幅度的价格上涨，因为咖啡馆和餐厅正努力应对成本上升和利率上涨的压力。
Businesses are using the recent ban on credit card surcharges as "cover" to pass along much larger price increases to customers, experts say, as cafes and restaurants struggle to cope with climbing costs and rising interest rates.
信用卡附加费通常相当于交易额的1.5%，自10月1日起被禁止，这是由澳大利亚储备银行主导的改革的一部分，旨在提高客户透明度，并最终降低银行费用。
Credit card surcharges, typically worth about 1.5% of the transaction, were banned from 1 October as part of a Reserve Bank-led reform aimed at improving transparency for customers and, ultimately, lowering bank fees.
在线咖啡价格追踪平台Small Flat White报告称，自附加费禁令实施以来，17%的咖啡馆已提高价格。
Small Flat White, an online coffee price tracker, has reported that 17% of cafes have increased their prices since the start of the surcharge ban.
根据对超过1500家咖啡馆的调查，在这些提价的咖啡馆中，平均涨幅为50美分，即超过10%。这一涨幅是典型1.5%信用卡附加费的多倍。
Of those who raised coffee prices, the average increase was 50c, or more than 10%, according to the survey of more than 1,500 cafes. That is multiples of the typical 1.5% card surcharge fee.
瑞银投资银行经济学家Stephen Wu表示，韧性的消费者需求和高通胀环境“可能使商家能够利用这一变化作为‘掩护’，转嫁更广泛的成本压力”。Wu表示：“在多年高于目标的通胀之后，消费者可能对价格上涨更具接受度。”
Stephen Wu, an economist at investment bank UBS, said resilient consumer demand and a high inflation environment "may be allowing merchants to use the change as 'cover' to pass through broader cost pressures "Following years of above-target inflation, consumers may be more accepting of price rises," Wu said. "Evidence of 'round-up' pricing in items such as coffee suggests pass-through could exceed the surcharge itself."
Wu补充说：“咖啡等商品出现的‘整数定价’证据表明，成本转嫁可能超过附加费本身。”
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned businesses that they must not "mislead consumers" by claiming a price rise is due to the surcharge ban when the increase also reflects other costs.
澳大利亚竞争与消费者委员会（ACCC）警告企业，他们不得通过声称价格上涨是由于附加费禁令而误导消费者，如果该涨价同时也反映了其他成本。
The ACCC has also said that businesses who try to avoid the ban by describing the surcharge as another type of fee or charge "may be engaging in misleading conduct".
ACCC还表示，试图通过将附加费描述为另一种费用或收费来规避禁令的企业“可能构成误导行为”。
Wes Lambert, chief executive of the Australian Restaurant & Cafe Association, said business costs were rising rapidly while coffee prices in Australia were among the cheapest in the world.
澳大利亚餐饮咖啡协会首席执行官Wes Lambert表示，企业成本正在快速上升，而澳大利亚的咖啡价格在全球处于较低水平。
Lambert said businesses change their prices for many reasons, and that the surcharge ban could have been the impetus for company owners to build up the courage to pass on costs to customers.
Lambert表示，企业出于多种原因调整价格，而附加费禁令可能成为公司老板鼓起勇气将成本转嫁给客户的契机。
"Maybe this is the catalyst that has caused cafes and restaurateurs around the country to wake up."
“也许这就是导致全国咖啡馆和餐馆老板们觉醒的催化剂。”兰伯特表示，餐馆将涨价的原因归咎于农产品成本上升、租金高企以及对青年工资水平和待遇的近期调整。
Lambert said restaurants were blaming the need for price hikes on rising produce costs, steep rents, and recent adjustments to junior pay rates and awards. Many business owners are also affected by the four interest rate hikes in 2026, which have driven up repayments on variable-rate loans and equipment financing.
许多企业主也受到2026年四次加息的影响，这导致浮动利率贷款和设备融资的还款额增加。“在高通胀、高利率的环境下，企业提价并不令人意外，”他说。
"It should be no surprise that in a high inflation, high interest rate environment that businesses are going to raise their prices," he said. Despite being telegraphed well in advance, the surcharge ban has triggered a furious response from small business groups.
尽管涨费禁令早在很久以前就已明确传达，但它仍引发了小企业团体的强烈反应。
Jim Chalmers, the treasurer, was forced to intervene after the Australian Taxation Office announced it would no longer accept credit card payments for tax owing.
财政部长吉姆·查尔默斯在澳大利亚税务局宣布将不再接受信用卡支付应缴税款后被迫介入。
Chalmers said the government would provide additional funding to the ATO to cover the cost of the surcharge until the middle of next year.
查尔默斯表示，政府将向澳大利亚税务局提供额外资金，以覆盖涨费直至明年中期的成本。
Despite the furore, Morgan Campbell, the head of policy at consumer advocate group Choice, said: "I don't think there's any shock in the way this is working".
尽管争议不断，消费者倡导组织Choice的政策主管摩根·坎贝尔表示：“我认为这种运作方式并没有什么令人震惊的地方。”
"There was always an acknowledgement that some businesses would put up their prices.
“一直以来都有人承认某些企业会提价。但消费者提前知道价格会更好，”坎贝尔说。
But consumers are better off knowing the price up front," Campbell said.
他表示，Choice目前还为时过早，无法自行开展关于涨费禁令效果的研究。
He said it was too early for Choice to begin its own research on how the surcharge ban was working.
“其中一些内容需要一些时间才能在体系中显现出来，”他说，并指出澳洲储备银行预计企业将更加努力地寻找成本更低的银行服务提供商。
"Some of this will take some time to wash through the system," he said, noting the RBA expected businesses to put more effort into finding lower cost bank providers.
如果有些企业提价幅度远高于涨费，坎贝尔建议应由顾客自行决定如何应对。
If some businesses are putting up their prices by much more than the surcharge, Campbell suggested it was up to customers to decide how to respond.