All the ways Australian businesses can accept payments in 2026.

Card payments: Visa, Mastercard and Amex, the baseline

Despite shifting trends, cards remain the baseline payment method for Australian businesses, with card purchases on Australian-issued cards valued at $96.7 billion.

Accepting Visa, Mastercard and Amex gives you a secure digital record that helps protect against disputes, and predictable cash flow through rapid deposits. Letting customers pay the way they prefer, on a single platform, means faster payments and a smoother checkout.

What to consider

The landscape is changing. New 2026 surcharging regulations restrict merchants' ability to pass on card costs, which can make cards less attractive than newer alternatives. To protect margins under these rules, forward-thinking businesses are moving to integrated solutions that balance the convenience of cards with lower-cost digital methods such as PayID and PayTo.

Apple Pay and Google Pay: why customers prefer them

Digital wallets have become the default choice for many Australians. In a single month in 2024, Australians made over 500 million digital wallet transactions, moving more than AUD $20 billion.

For practice managers and operations leaders, the shift is driven by speed and biometric security: customers get a seamless one-tap experience that reduces checkout friction.

Beyond customer preference, digital payment solutions move your business toward faster, more secure financial operations, with features such as real-time payment tracking and cost-saving multi-currency capabilities. Because wallets integrate easily with your existing accounting software, they simplify reconciliation and financial analysis, so your back end is as efficient as your checkout.

PayTo

What is PayTo?

PayTo is a secure, real-time payment method built on the New Payments Platform (NPP) that modernises traditional direct debit. Instead of manual forms, your business sends a digital payment agreement straight to the customer's banking app for instant approval.

Customers keep full control: they can view or pause agreements inside their own bank's secure platform, while your business gets immediate fund clearance. For one-off transactions or recurring subscriptions, PayTo is a fast, transparent and reliable alternative to both credit cards and legacy banking.

How PayTo works

PayTo turns payment into a three-step digital workflow that gives far more control than traditional direct debit. To get started, your business must be sponsored as a PayTo User through a payment service provider. Once enabled, you start a sale by creating a PayTo agreement: a digital record of the amount, frequency and duration of the payments, whether one-off, ad hoc or recurring.

For the customer, the path is transparent:

1. Selection. The customer selects PayTo as their payment option.
2. Authorisation. The agreement is sent to the customer's mobile or internet banking app, where they review and approve the terms instantly.
3. Initiation. Once authorised, the payment is processed through the NPP, which performs real-time validation and funds-availability checks.

Because all records are held in a central NPP database, you and your customer are both notified instantly if an agreement is paused, amended or cancelled. That real-time visibility removes the guesswork of legacy banking, confirms each transaction immediately and keeps your records accurate.

Why it matters for your business

As the 2026 RBA surcharging changes make it harder to pass high card fees on to customers, PayTo becomes the most strategic way to protect your margins. It moves your business from a high-fee "card-first" model to a high-margin "account-first" model.

• Protect your margins. With card surcharging restricted, PayTo's low, flat-fee structure helps you keep more of every dollar without adding costs at checkout.
• Instant certainty. Real-time confirmation of payment success removes the days of uncertainty and the dishonour fees of legacy systems.
• Less admin. Real-time notifications and rich data automate reconciliation. You are alerted instantly if a customer pauses or changes an agreement, so your books stay accurate without manual effort.
• Stronger security. Authorisation happens inside the customer's secure banking app, which sharply reduces fraud risk and unauthorised debits compared with traditional methods.
• 24/7 processing. Unlike traditional banking or legacy BECS, PayTo runs continuously, including weekends and public holidays, so your cash flow never pauses.

PayID

PayID, powered by the NPP, has transformed real-time bank transfers by replacing BSB and account numbers with simple identifiers such as a phone number, email address or ABN. With over 27 million PayIDs created in Australia and nearly AU$2 trillion moved annually in real-time transfers, it has quickly become a standard for secure, instant payments. When a customer enters your PayID in their banking app, they see your business name confirmed straight away, so they know the money is going to the right place.

• No surcharge stress. PayID does not rely on the card schemes targeted by the RBA ban, so you avoid choosing between absorbing card fees and raising prices. You keep 100% of the sale.
• Near-instant liquidity. PayID transfers typically arrive in under a minute via Osko, keeping cash flow moving 24/7.
• Built-in security and trust. There is no need to share sensitive bank details. Customers see your business name before they pay, which reduces both fraud risk and hesitation at checkout.
• Automated admin. Digital-first identifiers allow faster, more accurate reconciliation, saving your operations team hours of manual matching.

Adopting PayID now gives your business a payment method that is as profitable for you as it is easy for your customers.

Direct debit: best for recurring payments, memberships and instalments

Direct debit remains a cornerstone for Australian businesses managing memberships, instalments and long-term payment schedules. Collecting funds automatically on set dates gives you dependable, predictable cash flow, and you no longer have to chase overdue invoices. This "set and forget" approach suits fixed recurring payments, keeping revenue consistent without manual follow-up.

Its primary advantage is a simpler back end: less paperwork and flexible scheduling, so billing lines up with your service cycles. Automating collection simplifies reconciliation and removes the friction of traditional billing, so your business keeps moving and clients enjoy uninterrupted service.

Payment links: collect by email or SMS, with no hardware

ZenPay's payment links let you collect revenue without any hardware or a face-to-face meeting. Send a secure payment request by email or SMS, and the customer opens a personalised payment page with their name, contact details and the amount already filled in. Pre-filling removes manual entry errors and payment friction, so invoices are far more likely to be paid on time.

For your operations team, it simplifies the whole collection cycle. When the customer pays, you are notified instantly and the transaction appears in your merchant portal straight away. It is ideal for service businesses that want professional remote billing that is as fast for the business as it is easy for the client.

Bank transfer and EFT: still common, but slow, and what replaces it

Traditional EFT is still common, but it is increasingly a bottleneck. Relying on BSB and account numbers leads to manual entry errors and multi-day settlement delays. For operations leads, the main hurdle is manual reconciliation, which drains admin time and leaves cash flow in limbo.

Modern alternatives like PayID and PayTo are replacing legacy EFT. They offer the same account-to-account security with instant settlement and automated reconciliation. Switching to these NPP-powered methods gives you real-time confirmation and rich data, and a faster, more automated financial workflow.

Asian payment wallets: Alipay+ and UnionPay for international clients

What is Alipay+?

Alipay+ is a global network that connects local merchants with millions of international consumers. Customers pay with their preferred home wallet using familiar QR codes, and you receive settlement locally through ZenPay, without needing separate foreign currency accounts.

What is UnionPay?

UnionPay is one of the world's major card networks and the primary payment method for Chinese consumers globally. Accepting UnionPay through ZenPay lets you reach a large cardholder base, including international students, tourists and residents who look for UnionPay-friendly merchants.

How this helps businesses with international clients

Australia's strong economic, education and tourism links with Asia make localised payment methods a strategic necessity for growth. Customers are far more likely to complete a purchase, and decide faster, when they see trusted, familiar options at checkout, which reduces cart abandonment and hesitation.

By integrating these wallets through ZenPay, you can serve a broader cross-border customer base. We help you lift conversion by removing friction, with cost-effective, easy-to-integrate capabilities that work across borders and devices. Offering the methods your international clients prefer makes it easier for them to pay, and easier for you to get paid.

Comparison: best use case per method