Over the last decade or so there has been a drastic uptake in the use of Card payments by our customers rather than using cash, especially since Contactless came in to play. And more importantly with recent/current global events Contactless is the preferred method of payment both by consumers and businesses rather than cash.
You may have been looking into this in preparation for returning to work if you have been unable to work due to Covid-19 or it may just be something that you have been casually looking at and now is the time to bite the bullet.
Either way if providing your customers with the ability to pay you by card there are many options available out there to you.
It is not until you start looking into having a card reader that you realise the cost (or lack) of providing this but there may be costs that some don’t expect. So here is Independent Bookkeeping’s roundup of the best providers of Merchant Services.
Merchant Services Comparison
| Provider | Square Up | iZettle | Paypal Here |
| Card Reader cost | £19+Vat | £29+Vat | |
| Fee per transaction | 1.75% | 1.75% | 1-2.75% |
| Other Fees | n/a | yes | |
| Digital Receipts | √ | √ | √ |
| Accepts all Major Credit / Debit Cards | √ | √ | √ |
| Multiple Reporting Options | √ | √ | √ |
| Links to your mobile | √ | √ | √ |
| Track other methods of customer payments | √ | √ | x |
| Private consumer feedback | √ | x | √ |
| Plus more! | √ | √ | √ |
| Time to transfer funds to Business bank Account | 3-5 Business Days | 1-2 Business Days | Automatically when withdrawn |
Notes
Paypal: Depending on sales in month depends on transaction fee.
Rates correct as of 20/05/2020
Naturally, you have the usual Barclays/Lloyds etc where you rent your card reader and have merchant fees on top for each transaction, these tend to vary depending on the size of the individual transaction.
One UX Specialist actually went and opened 12 different bank accounts and logged every detail of his experience and shares this with us here: https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/21/this-ux-specialist-opened-12-uk-bank-accounts-and-logged-everything/