Eway Review

Eway (formerly styled eWAY) is an Australian online payments company founded in 1998 and owned by Global Payments since 2016. It sells two things. Online Payments is an all-in-one account: Eway supplies the merchant facility and the gateway, through its sister company Ezidebit, at a published flat rate of 1.5% + 25c per Visa, Mastercard or Amex transaction, with a further 1.99% on international credit cards. All prices include GST, and there is no setup fee, monthly fee or lock-in contract. Settlement takes 1 to 3 business days. The Payment Gateway plans connect a merchant account you already hold with your bank. These cost $20, $30 or $60 a month, billed annually, plus 40c to 60c per transaction. Once you have processed 50 transactions you are enrolled in a paid security program unless you opt out, and Eway's own pages give two different prices for it. Eway is online-only, with no terminals of its own, and it does not support Afterpay or Zip. On ProductReview.com.au it is rated 1.1 out of 5 from 21 reviews, with complaints about account closures, held funds and support.

Estimated annual cost at three realistic processing volumes, using Eway’s published online rate plus monthly fees. Real costs vary with average transaction size, chargeback rate, and any negotiated terms.

What Eway is

Eway is an Australian online payments company. The company says it started in 1998, working out of its founder's home, and its own blog describes Matt Bullock as founder and CEO. Its operating company is Web Active Corporation Pty Ltd (ABN 32 086 209 403), which traded as eWAY and now styles the name Eway. Global Payments Inc. completed its acquisition of the company in April 2016, calling it the largest payment gateway provider in Australia and New Zealand. Startup Daily and The Canberra Times reported the price as about US$50 million; Global Payments' completion announcement gave no figure. Where Eway is based is not clear-cut. It was founded and long run from Canberra, its terms are governed by the law of the Australian Capital Territory, and it publishes no head-office address, but the Australian Business Register lists the company's main business location as postcode 4006 in Brisbane, where Ezidebit is based.

According to its About page, Eway employs more than 310 people (its own timeline dates that figure to 2021) and has served more than 97,000 merchants since it began. That is a cumulative count, not a figure for current customers. The most recent volume figure on the page is $7.6 billion processed in calendar year 2020. It operates in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau. This review covers the Australian offer on eway.com.au, with prices in Australian dollars.

Why we list Eway as a payment facilitator

Eway sells two models, and which one you use decides who holds your merchant agreement. On Online Payments, its flagship and most-promoted product, Eway says it provides both the merchant account and the gateway, and its legal page says the all-in-one solution is provided through Ezidebit under a partnership between the two brands. Ezidebit and Eway are both subsidiaries of Global Payments Australia, and Global Payments described Ezidebit as the largest Australian non-bank merchant acquirer when it agreed to buy it in 2014. Ezidebit's terms name Global Payments Australia 1 Pty Ltd as the acquirer. They say that once a merchant's card volume passes the card schemes' thresholds, the acquirer joins the agreement as an extra party while Ezidebit keeps providing the service. That is the payment facilitator, or aggregator, model: you are a sub-merchant under a facilitator's account, not a direct customer of a bank. On the Payment Gateway plans, your own bank holds the merchant agreement and Eway is a pure gateway. We list Eway as a payment facilitator because the flat-rate, all-in-one account, launched in 2017, is the product Eway promotes as its flagship, but businesses on the gateway plans are using it as a payment gateway.

What it costs

• Online Payments: 1.5% + 25c per Visa, Mastercard and Amex transaction, as listed in October 2026. Prices include GST.
• International credit cards: a further 1.99%, so 3.49% + 25c in total.
• JCB and Discover: priced individually.
• No setup fee, monthly fee or lock-in contract on Online Payments.
• Payment Gateway (your own bank merchant account): Community $20 a month with 10 free transactions then 50c each; Budget $30 a month with 5 free then 60c; VIP $60 a month with 200 free then 40c. All billed annually, plus your bank's merchant fees.
• Chargebacks: $44 per payment charged back.
• Merchant Trust Initiative: added after 50 transactions unless you opt out. The page quotes $178 then $142 a year in one place and $149.95 then $9.95 a month, billed annually, in another.
• Fees may apply for changing details on an activated account; Eway does not list the amount.

As an illustration at the listed rates: a shop taking $20,000 a month in 250 domestic card sales averaging $80 would pay 1.5% of $20,000 ($300) plus 250 × 25c ($62.50), or $362.50 a month, about 1.8% of sales, before any security program fee. The fixed 25c weighs more on small orders: a $10 sale costs 40c, or 4%. A merchant whose customers are mostly overseas should model the 1.99% international fee on top. The published rate is for new merchants only, and the Ezidebit Product Disclosure Statement behind the all-in-one account (effective 15 December 2024) sets fee ceilings well above it: up to 4.70% plus up to $1.30 per online Visa or Mastercard transaction, up to $6.50 per refund and up to $40 a month for eCommerce access. Ezidebit's terms let it change fees after giving notice, and you may terminate if you do not accept the change. The advertised rate is what new customers are offered, not a contractual cap, so get your rate confirmed in writing.

How it works

Eway is built for card-not-present payments. Merchants connect through hosted checkout pages, a Rapid API, secure fields or one of more than 250 listed integrations, including WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, NetSuite, Chargebee and Xero. The MyEway portal holds transaction and settlement reports and a Virtual Terminal for phone and manual payments, so a business can take card payments without a website. Eway supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, Click to Pay, recurring billing and tokenised payments, and it markets PayTo for pre-authorised real-time bank payments. It does not make or sell its own terminals and points in-store merchants to third-party POS integrations. Its pricing page says Afterpay and Zip are not supported. Eway says it is certified to PCI DSS Level 1. Every account gets Fraud Lite free, with rule-based blocking and risk scoring; paid Fraud Essentials and Fraud Ultimate plans use ACI ReD Shield and are priced on enquiry.

Settlement, holds and contract terms

Eway says Online Payments settle into your Australian bank account in 1 to 3 business days, subject to approval. Gateway customers settle under their bank's agreement. The all-in-one account runs on Ezidebit's terms, which let either side terminate on 30 days' written notice and let Ezidebit deduct fees and amounts owed, such as refunds, chargebacks and scheme fines, from collected funds or directly from your bank account. If chargebacks are expected after you leave, Ezidebit can withhold funds for up to six months, up to its estimate of the risk (clause 18.4). While the account is open, clause 13 of the same terms lets Ezidebit suspend the service, including paying funds out to you, immediately and without notice, on grounds that range from suspected fraud to where it is "otherwise reasonable" to do so; if it is not satisfied with the information you provide, it may return uncleared customer payments to your customers. Ezidebit's PDS likewise says funds can be held if it suspects fraudulent or illegal activity. Eway's own gateway terms (Version 1.6 AU) make an annual service a 12-month minimum that renews automatically unless written notice is given at least 30 days before it expires, and they say fees already paid are not refunded. A separate clause (16.1) allows termination at any time on 30 days' notice, so ask which applies before paying a year in advance. Under the same terms Eway can change its fees at any time. An increase takes effect 30 days after notice is posted on Eway's site or given to you, whichever comes first, so a notice on the website alone is enough. Other amendments with a material impact need 30 days' notice.

The surcharging change

From 1 October 2026 eftpos, Mastercard and Visa no longer allow surcharges on their card payments, after the Reserve Bank of Australia removed its prohibition on their 'no-surcharge' rules. American Express and UnionPay also removed surcharging from 1 October 2026, and PayPal from 5 October 2026. This applies to every business, whichever provider it uses, unless a card network's own rules give an exemption. Eway's guidance is that for most merchants who used to recover card costs through a surcharge, those fees will now be deducted before settlement, which changes the amounts that land in your bank account and your reconciliation. A merchant comparing providers now has to absorb the full rate, which makes the gap between 1.5% + 25c and a cheaper negotiated rate a real cost.

Reputation and complaints

Eway won Best Payments Provider at the National Online Retailers Association awards in 2018 and 2019 and Best Payments Gateway in 2021, according to its own site. User ratings are split. On Trustpilot it rated 4.0 from 201 reviews in October 2026, with 74% five-star and 17% one-star, and only 14 reviews in the past year. The profile is claimed. On the Australian review site ProductReview.com.au it rated 1.1 out of 5 from 21 reviews, none of them positive, most of them more than a year old. Recent negative reviews on both sites describe accounts closed or funds held without a clear explanation, fee increases, the $44 chargeback fee, slow answers from support and risk teams, and an onboarding process that asks for a lot of documentation. Positive reviews praise reliability and helpful staff. Standard support runs Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm AEST, with 24/7 emergency technical support. We found no lawsuit or regulatory enforcement action naming Eway or Web Active Corporation.

High-risk businesses

Eway does not publish a list of the industries it will not take on, saying only that restrictions exist and change over time. For businesses in those industries, it offers the gateway on its own, provided the business first obtains a merchant account from its bank. In practice Eway can be the gateway for a higher-risk merchant but does not provide the merchant account itself.

Who should use Eway

Eway suits an Australian business that sells online or over the phone, wants one published flat rate with GST included and no lock-in, and wants its accounting in Xero to reconcile itself. It also suits an established business that already has a good merchant rate from its bank and just needs a reliable gateway with broad cart support, as long as it is happy to pay a year in advance. It is a weaker fit for businesses with lots of small orders, heavy overseas sales, a need for in-person terminals or BNPL at checkout, or a low tolerance for account reviews and holds. Before signing, confirm your rate in writing, decide whether to opt out of the Merchant Trust Initiative, and keep a record of any renewal or cancellation notice.