Discussion
Hi,
I am the Treasurer of my girl's Parent Association, and we are slooowwlly moving into the 21st century.
In prep for the upcoming summer fete and other cash raising events, we wish to introduce card readers for ease of payment, and also to reduce the volume of petty cash too. Just doing some research, and someone recommended the SumUp card reader below:
https://sumup.co.uk
Some requirements from the top of my head:
- need to be portable / no power source at times so will need to last say 5-6 hours (at summer fete)
- fairly infrequent use / few times a month.
- are these all contract free?
- how do I find out the financial backer behind the card readers i.e. is it an established high street financial institution?
- SumUp charge 1.69% for their cut. Is this the market rate / are there any other companies to consider too
Any tips or any other recommendation will be greatly appreciated as i am pretty clueless on the card reader market i.e. no idea if the £19, £29 or £79 SumUp card reader will suffice for our need?
I am the Treasurer of my girl's Parent Association, and we are slooowwlly moving into the 21st century.
In prep for the upcoming summer fete and other cash raising events, we wish to introduce card readers for ease of payment, and also to reduce the volume of petty cash too. Just doing some research, and someone recommended the SumUp card reader below:
https://sumup.co.uk
Some requirements from the top of my head:
- need to be portable / no power source at times so will need to last say 5-6 hours (at summer fete)
- fairly infrequent use / few times a month.
- are these all contract free?
- how do I find out the financial backer behind the card readers i.e. is it an established high street financial institution?
- SumUp charge 1.69% for their cut. Is this the market rate / are there any other companies to consider too
Any tips or any other recommendation will be greatly appreciated as i am pretty clueless on the card reader market i.e. no idea if the £19, £29 or £79 SumUp card reader will suffice for our need?
My business had a SumUp 3G for occasional card payments and it worked really well.
You just charged it up, and left it in a drawer, got it out occasionally and used it. It didn't need Wifi or a smartphone connection or anything. Just connected itself to SumUp via a SIM card.
No contract and if you didn't use it, you didn't get charged any fees. Just got charged the 1.69% when we did use it.
It was prefect for us, and it would be perfect for a village committee, village events as well. Hardly anyone carries cash anymore, so if you want to extract money from the public, you pretty much do need a card reader.
If I were you, I would buy the £79 'Solo' version. Built in SIM, no smartphone needed, decent battery etc.
If you buy the cheaper 'Air' model, you will haver to pair it with a smartphone and app, which means someone with the app and the login details, will always have to be present, with their phone, to take a payment. With the Solo. Anyone you hand the device to can take a payment.
You just charged it up, and left it in a drawer, got it out occasionally and used it. It didn't need Wifi or a smartphone connection or anything. Just connected itself to SumUp via a SIM card.
No contract and if you didn't use it, you didn't get charged any fees. Just got charged the 1.69% when we did use it.
It was prefect for us, and it would be perfect for a village committee, village events as well. Hardly anyone carries cash anymore, so if you want to extract money from the public, you pretty much do need a card reader.
If I were you, I would buy the £79 'Solo' version. Built in SIM, no smartphone needed, decent battery etc.
If you buy the cheaper 'Air' model, you will haver to pair it with a smartphone and app, which means someone with the app and the login details, will always have to be present, with their phone, to take a payment. With the Solo. Anyone you hand the device to can take a payment.
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 22 April 15:11
Cheapest Air one is entirely driven by an app on a phone, so whoever's operating it will have to have the app, pair it up, and use their data if you're out in a field. Light on battery though as the phone does a lot of the work, meant to manage 500 transactions per charge.
Solo is standalone, has a SIM card built in (data contract included), as it's a touchscreen you can do things like tipping on the unit too. Only 100 transactions per charge. 3G just adds a printer and proper keys, but is hungrier still at 50 transactions. Could plug any of these into a USB power bank though.
Note the reduced prices (eg £79 for Solo) are for the first reader on an account - if you're buying a few you'll be paying full price for the rest.
It's not a bad solution for things like school events, no monthly fee, no minimum transaction fee just a flat 1.69%.
Solo is standalone, has a SIM card built in (data contract included), as it's a touchscreen you can do things like tipping on the unit too. Only 100 transactions per charge. 3G just adds a printer and proper keys, but is hungrier still at 50 transactions. Could plug any of these into a USB power bank though.
Note the reduced prices (eg £79 for Solo) are for the first reader on an account - if you're buying a few you'll be paying full price for the rest.
It's not a bad solution for things like school events, no monthly fee, no minimum transaction fee just a flat 1.69%.
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