Question 1

What is the cheapest way to take card payments?

Accepted Answer

The cheapest way for small businesses in the UK to take card payments will depend on the business type, the average card turnover and typical transaction size.

Small businesses in the UK with a relatively low card turnover and/or a low average transaction value will likely be better off with a no contract mobile card readers like Square, Zettle or SumUp. They do have relatively high transaction fees of  1.69% - £1.75% but savings can be made on other fees.

Once a business starts processing over £2,000 per month in card transactions per month it normally makes commercial sense to sign a monthly contract with a merchant services provider (i.e. Worldpay, Barclaycard etc) that can offer significantly lower transaction fees than 1.5%.

Question 2

What are the best no contract card readers with printers?

Accepted Answer

For those businesses looking to offer their customers receipts, Square and Sumup also offer mobile card readers with built in printers whilst Zettle bundles in a bluetooth battery operated printer. As you can see below, this significantly increases the price of the hardware.

Question 3

What are the prices of the SumUp 3G card reader?

Accepted Answer

After paying for the hardware upfront (currently £149+VAT) there are no monthly fees or contractual obligations with the SumUp 3G Card Reader. A standard percentage fee of 1.69% is charged on a transaction to transaction basis (i.e. you only pay when you get paid).

Question 4

Why sign up to a monthly contract to get a card machine?

Accepted Answer

If you are transacting more than about £2,000 per month on card, it is often cheaper to sign up to a merchant acquirer or Independent Sales Organisation (ISO) and then select the card machines they have available.

When your card turnover exceeds a certain level the payment processor you work with will make far more of a difference to your bottom line and stress levels than the card machine you use.What

Question 5

What brands of card machines are best?

Accepted Answer

When you sign up with an merchant acquirer or ISO and want to take face to face payments you'll need to select a PDQ (process data quickly) machine that are typically made by Verifone, Ingenico, Pax Technology, Clover, Spire Payments, Datecs or Miura Systems.

They will either be classed a countertop, portable or mobile card machines (we are discounting POS systems as they fall into a different subset).

Question 6

What businesses are mobile machines best suited to?

Accepted Answer

For sales reps travelling the country, delivery services or sole traders  who need to visit customers in their homes, these are the machines you want. As long as there’s a 3G mobile signal, you can collect payment from customers in any location and these are widely used at events where traditional connection methods can be a little tricky.

Question 7

Accepted Answer