Accepting card payments with card reader

[Sparkysea]

Hi All
I have a business account with HSBC
I need to start accepting payments by debit card , directly not over the phone, so I would need a card reader
Please can anyone advise of an easy and affordable service to use?
Thanks
Sparky

[red_slr]

Talk to your own bank first esp if they do your merchant service too.
We use First Data for our terminals if that helps.

[Vixpy1]

And get ready to enter the deeply confusing and frustrating world of PCI compliance.

[NDA]

A fried of mine uses this:

https://www.izettle.com/gb/card-readers?credit-car...

Says it's been very easy, secure etc.

[red_slr]

Vixpy1 said:

And get ready to enter the deeply confusing and frustrating world of PCI compliance.

Its not too bad tbh, the main issue is scanning your network. That always causes us problems.

I assume OP you already have a merchant account?

[Sparkysea]

Nope ...no merchant account as far as I know

[essayer]

iZettle is quite good, larger transaction fees but no monthlies - pretty much instant setup and a card reader that works via your phone. Also PayPal here.

If you get a merchant account from someone like Worldpay there'll be a monthly fee/minimum plus rentals for the card machine, consumables etc.

[Sparkysea]

How fast is izettle I hate it when they take an age....

[Sparkysea]

HSBC said their "preferred supplier is Global Payments" - I haven't called them yet...

[red_slr]

Whats the nature of your business? Sagepay is my preferred option for ecom and F2F as you don't need a card terminal you can just use virtual terminal. That said might not work depending on the type of business you are.

[mjb1]

Low volumes/values/occasional use izettle or similar would probably do. Otherwise, you're better of paying a monthly fee for the terminal/service and negotiating a lower commission rate (should be possible to get below 1%). Check the terms very carefully for extra charges/penalty fees (some have a minimum use threshold, so for example if you don't do enough transactions to generate a set amount of commission per month, you get charged a fee for it anyway).

[Wacky Racer]

Sparkysea said:

HSBC said their "preferred supplier is Global Payments" - I haven't called them yet...

I've just moved from Global Payments to this company.....50% of the cost in fees approx.

http://www.universaltp.com/

I do not have any connection with them whatsoever.

[romeogolf]

Sparkysea said:

How fast is izettle I hate it when they take an age....

A small shop near us uses the iZettle and it's just as quick as a regular card reader in our experience.

[TheOversteerLever]

Looked into PayPal and their card reader? https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/credit-card-...

[Venturist]

I had a shop style business for a period of only a month last year (don't ask) and after much research decided on PayPal Here, I can't complain with the transactions but downside it will need a smartphone or tablet to run it, you can't do it from a computer yet - and the device takes an age to start up yet doesn't have the battery to last a whole day so it needs to be plugged in (USB) basically all opening hours, annoying.