A diner has questioned if an Australian cashless restaurant is breaking the law by applying a surcharge on card payments, giving customers no way to avoid the extra payment. 

A debate was sparked after the poster shared a photo of the restaurant’s terms and conditions to Reddit earlier this week. 

The venue stated it was strictly cashless and only accepted card, but that a 1.5 per cent bank surcharge would apply to all credit cards.

‘Was looking to book a dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to us and noticed these terms and conditions on their booking page,’ the poster wrote. 

‘Is this allowed? I was under the impression that you can’t charge card surcharges if you decide not to accept cash.’

Readers were divided over the policy, with one reasoning that it was fair.  

‘It’s standard because credit card companies charge the vendor to take a credit card payment. Debit cards, I believe, are a maximum of 50c to the vendor. Usually, you have to accept payment by at least one method without surcharge,’ they said. 

‘Cash is usually what fills that spot. If debit cards don’t incur a surcharge then that could be it,’ another suggested.

An Aussie diner has questioned if a cashless restaurant is breaking the law by enforcing a surcharge on card payments (stock image)

 But others described the policy as ‘discrimination’. 

‘The law requires a fee-free payment option. As they are a cashless venue this means their debit card charge must be $0, or they are breaking consumer law,’ one said.

‘It should be illegal. It discriminates,’ a second wrote. 

The card surcharge was not the only policy at the restaurant to invoke anger, as it also charged customers who brought their own cake $25. 

And on Tuesdays to Thursdays, for any ‘special’ bottle of wine customers wished to bring along, there was a $25 BYO charge.

‘I’m more concerned about the $25 cakeage and $20 BYO bottle fees…wtf is that,’ one person wrote.

‘Cakeage, corkage, all get ducked. Will find another pond to swim in!’ a second said.

Dining at a restaurant can end up costing more than what’s advertised on the menu (stock)

The latest instance of surcharge anger came after a restaurant in Victoria was slammed for charging extra to customers who paid with cash.

A traveller on the Great Ocean Road stopped to eat in Lorne and noticed they were charged three per cent extra no matter how they paid.

Swinburne University’s Professor Steve Worthington told Yahoo Finance that the charges were getting beyond a joke.

‘Surcharging for paying by cash is more than cheeky,’ he said. ‘It’s actually pretty poor performance.’

The three per cent surcharge only applied to payments made during the week.

Weekend and public holiday surcharges are common, but a weekday surcharge for card and cash raised some questions.  

It meant that customers, no matter when and how they pay, would not know the real cost until they hand over their card or money.

Businesses can only charge customers the cost of accepting certain payments.

If their card payment system incurs a one per cent fee every time someone taps their debit card, the business is allowed to pass that onto the consumer, but no more.

A three per cent surcharge for card purchases is well above the standard rate of 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent seen at most businesses and could be illegal under the rules set by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The ACCC has been contacted by Daily Mail Australia.