Merchants Overview

Under the enhanced IM program, a percentage of a customer’s income support payment is placed in a bank account with an attached Visa debit card. This card is known as the SmartCard and cannot be used to buy excluded goods or services.

All merchants that have existing point-of-sale terminal facilities and do not sell excluded goods or services, being alcohol, gambling goods/services, tobacco, pornography or gift cards, will automatically be able to accept the SmartCard as a payment method. There is no additional hardware, software or training required for a merchant that does not sell excluded goods and services (as defined below).

Merchants whose main business is in the sale of excluded goods and services will automatically be blocked from accepting SmartCard payments (e.g. casinos, TABs, liquor stores, tobacco, and pornography).

Merchants who sell both excluded and non-excluded goods and services (Mixed Merchants) can choose to enter into a Mixed Merchant Agreement or can implement Product Level Blocking to prevent the sale of excluded goods and services.  Mixed Merchants who choose not to enter into a Mixed Merchant Agreement or do not take action to prevent the sale of excluded goods and services may be blocked from accepting the SmartCard.

To view a Mixed Merchant Agreement, or to sign up and become a Participating Mixed Merchant, please click here. For more information about Product Level Blocking, please click here.

Using the SmartCard at point-of-sale terminal devices

To make a purchase at a point-of-sale terminal device using a SmartCard, a cardholder may insert the SmartCard into the device and press:

  • “SAV” or “Savings” 
  • “CHQ” or “Cheque” or
  • “CR” or “Credit”, then follow the prompts to enter their PIN.

A merchant should only process the SmartCard when the payment network is operational and not when the payment network is offline.

The SmartCard also has a contactless payment feature that cardholders can choose to enable. Once the contactless payment feature has been enabled, the cardholder can pay by tapping their SmartCard on a contactless enabled terminal and waiting for the transaction to be confirmed. There is no need for the cardholder to enter their PIN for purchases of $100 or less (or $200 or less at some businesses).

Excluded goods and services

For the purposes of the enhanced Income Management program, excluded goods and services include:

  1. Alcohol or homebrew kits
  2. Gambling goods and services (including lottery tickets and instant scratchies)
  3. Tobacco and tobacco products
  4. Pornography
  5. Gift cards (cash-like products) that allow customers to access cash or purchase alcohol, tobacco, gambling products or pornographic material
  6. Any other goods or services determined by the Commonwealth of Australia in accordance with the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth).

Blocked Merchants

Merchants can be blocked from accepting SmartCard payments for several reasons:

  • Their main business is the sale or provision of excluded goods and services
  • The merchant sells a mixture of excluded and non-excluded goods and services, but has opted not to be part of the program
  • The merchant is participating in ongoing circumvention of the program.

You can find a list of Blocked Merchants here.

Some merchants are blocked from accepting the SmartCard. Merchants that mainly sell excluded goods (such as TABs, casinos and bottle shops) will automatically be blocked and will not appear in the Blocked Merchant list. Some merchants have been manually blocked to prevent access to cash and the purchasing of excluded goods and services. Merchants that have been manually blocked are listed in the Blocked Merchant List

Please note: SmartCards are accepted at any physical or online business or store that is not on the Blocked Merchants list and does not primarily sell excluded items.

Participating Mixed Merchants

Some merchants selling a mixture of excluded and non-excluded goods and services (such as pubs or sports clubs) have signed an agreement to accept the SmartCard. These merchants are called Participating Mixed Merchants and SmartCards can be used at these businesses to purchase non-excluded items.

View the list of Participating Mixed Merchants who have signed an agreement and accept the SmartCard. This list does not include all Mixed Merchants or those that have implemented product level blocking to prevent the sale of excluded goods and services.