Taking Card Payments

Martynt74

Martynt74

Martynt74

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Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
I’m currently helping the wife with setting up her business and looking at taking card payments. We initially went with an RBS bank account due to it including Streamline free for a year which we thought would be very beneficial. However I’m now wondering if other solutions may be better, especially with all the new things like iZettle where it just connects to a smartphone.

Ideally we’d be looking for something to be either wifi or phone line based rather than something which plugs into a phone as this would require buying a smartphone to leave in the business.

I tried some comparison sites but all this has resulted in are masses of sales calls. So wondering if anyone has any experience or things I might be missing.

As a general expected rule all their current transactions are either cash or bank transfer. I’m not sure how much will end up being by card in the short term but I’d estimate around £1000 to £1500 per month to start with.
 
If you are going to go down the route of accepting debit/credit card payments check which each provider is going to charge you. There is usually a charge for:

1. Rental of the unit.
2. Charge for each transaction.
3. A different charge for different card types.
4. See how the above will affect your business.
5. Also don't forget allowing credit cards may encourage to purchase more.
 
https://www.google.com/webhp?source...8#q=mobile+credit+card+reader&revid=101685709

There are a ton you can get for ipad/iphone which are very easy to use. You of course don't get stung for rental like the big units, but you pay the %.

Square, Paypal, Amazon, Intuit all have them.

Edit: clearly didn't read. But the mobile device option I think overall works out cheaper and easier. You could use an iPad. Old ones are cheap enough. Or Nexus 7?
 
Last edited:
randomshenans said:
https://www.google.com/webhp?source...8#q=mobile+credit+card+reader&revid=101685709

There are a ton you can get for ipad/iphone which are very easy to use. You of course don't get stung for rental like the big units, but you pay the %.

Square, Paypal, Amazon, Intuit all have them.
Click to expand...

I think I had one of them the other day. Was in an aquatics shop and their machine was down. They was using an iPad and gave me what looked like one of those bank card readers with paypal on it. Was a bit dubious at first whether or not it was secure.
 
What kind of business is it? How many transactions anticipated?

iZettle is brilliant. I used their bluetooth card reader at a trade show recently and it's fast! Probably more expensive if doing a lot of transactions but no need to tie in to merchant contracts.

My mate uses it for his physio business too and is very happy with it.

I think it is better to use with an iPad though rather than a phone.

Edit: Sorry just seen the anticipated value. It seems iZettle would be a good solution. She could sign up and try it out using the free card reader. It's wired but she can upgrade to the bluetooth one if she's happy with it. Also makes a good backup if she ends up going with an alternative.
 
I've used both iZettle and the PayPal reader.

Both work great.

I stuck with PayPal in the end because people seemed more comfortable putting their card and pin into the device - but since it was used at craft fairs etc you can imagine this coming across as "suspect" to some people either way.

Saying that, more and more people are starting to use these devices so eventually it will become a lot more acceptable.

They're both so low cost (I don't think I paid over £50 each - but I got both the first day they were available) that there's no harm in having both.

I appreciate you don't want to "spend money on a smart phone for the business" but I'm pretty sure you get an android app for both - so you might get away with something like a Tesco Huddle - DON'T TAKE MY WORD ON THIS THOUGH!

Work out the numbers and see which works best for you.
 
we use elavon merchant services for our credit card facilities with spire terminals using sim cards rather than a fixed connection


honestly cant fault them never had a problem in the 2 years we've been using them

although be warned next day funding isn't next day funding come weekends.


you'll also want to speak to American express as you'll need to setup a separate merchant accound with them if you wish to take it. costs nothing to setup the fees are the same as visa/mastercard and you can have as much free POS material as you want :)
 
I use PayPal in my part time business, works great and customers seem happy with the service. Went for this solely on brand name.
 
Seeing a lot of people recommending iZettle and other smartphone devices, OP specified they didn't want these and asked for a Wifi or Phone line based terminal recommendations...

I would recommend following up the offer of going with Worldpay (formerly Streamline) and getting a Static Desktop terminal on IP (broadband). I would expect you to pay £15-20 a month. Debit and credit quotes are now % only (not pence for debit) so haggle as low as possible. Depending on the business' ATV you should try aim for c.0.5% or less to keep txn charges to a minimum.

Also check contract lengths (18m with Worldpay I believe) and also any minimum monthly service charge, try negotiate no MMSC if txn volumes are not going to be very high.
 
Don't get Paypal... iZettle or any of that flash crap. I am a shop owner and I would never get paypal as my primary means for card payments and not even for online payments I use Stripe out of ease (and they're only slightly cheaper)

There are loads of companies out there that do the same thing... barclaycardpdq, globalpayment etc etc that work out far cheaper and have been doing this for much longer. I just got the cheapest handset and have it plugged into my broadband or alternatively you can pay a bit more and get a wifi one. PCI compliance is easy you literally get the card machine and ask the company you got the machine from for a recommended PCI compliance partner - they put you through £5-10 a year done.
 
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