Barber - taking card payment in shop - iZettle?
Discussion
My wife ran a business that started out with iZettle. Found them efficient, but:
(1) Rates too high when you hit any sort of volume;
(2) Relies upon a smartphone / tablet; needs a separate printer for receipts (both have a cost)
(3) Was not a robust device - we got through about 5 readers in 2 years. If you dropped it, or even looked at it funnily it could play up, not charge, and/or declare it had been tampered with. There was no backup process - we once had to wait 5 days for a new reader;
(4) At the time (5 years ago), people were suspicious as it didn't look like a "proper" card terminal (I realise that's not so much of a problem now);
(5) No cardholder not present capability - at the time I think WorldPay Zinc was the only similar "widget-based" card service to offer that (through a web-based virtual terminal).
We swapped it out for a Lloyds Cardnet "proper" terminal. Rates were *much* lower, but of course there's the cost of the service / equipment to consider. Overall it was still a significant saving.
At the time, iZettle essentially relied upon a perception that traditional terminals were very expensive, and that it was very hard to get one. Even 5 years ago, that was no longer really true.
Another thing; we found that if the phone/tablet couldn't get a GPS lock that we had problems - iZettle were using the location of the terminal / device as a part of their security / fraud processing. I don't know if that's still the case, but it meant we had to keep the phone nearer to the shop window!
Caveat: we last used them 3/4 years ago, so these observations may be out of date. Nowadays I mainly see them on market stalls and the like - been a while since I saw one in a shop. Paypal Here seem to be quite prevalent in the takeaway market, however, but I've had bad experiences with Paypal so would personally tend to steer clear.
(1) Rates too high when you hit any sort of volume;
(2) Relies upon a smartphone / tablet; needs a separate printer for receipts (both have a cost)
(3) Was not a robust device - we got through about 5 readers in 2 years. If you dropped it, or even looked at it funnily it could play up, not charge, and/or declare it had been tampered with. There was no backup process - we once had to wait 5 days for a new reader;
(4) At the time (5 years ago), people were suspicious as it didn't look like a "proper" card terminal (I realise that's not so much of a problem now);
(5) No cardholder not present capability - at the time I think WorldPay Zinc was the only similar "widget-based" card service to offer that (through a web-based virtual terminal).
We swapped it out for a Lloyds Cardnet "proper" terminal. Rates were *much* lower, but of course there's the cost of the service / equipment to consider. Overall it was still a significant saving.
At the time, iZettle essentially relied upon a perception that traditional terminals were very expensive, and that it was very hard to get one. Even 5 years ago, that was no longer really true.
Another thing; we found that if the phone/tablet couldn't get a GPS lock that we had problems - iZettle were using the location of the terminal / device as a part of their security / fraud processing. I don't know if that's still the case, but it meant we had to keep the phone nearer to the shop window!
Caveat: we last used them 3/4 years ago, so these observations may be out of date. Nowadays I mainly see them on market stalls and the like - been a while since I saw one in a shop. Paypal Here seem to be quite prevalent in the takeaway market, however, but I've had bad experiences with Paypal so would personally tend to steer clear.
Phooey said:
Hi,
Hoping someone can help me out here
Mrs Phooey is a self employed barber renting a chair in a barber shop/salon. Fingers crossed back to work on 4th July!
Can someone please recommend a (simple) device which can take card payments? She has an iPhone XR and a decent 4G connection in the area she works. There is no wifi in the salon. A friend of hers has just pinged her a text telling her to look at something called iZettle. I basically need to know if this is the best option for her, or if there are better, cheaper, faster, easier alternatives?
The other (possibly) limiting factor is although she has a bank account, it's not an official business account. I imagine the bank (Natwest) will question the 10-20 individual payments per day and require her to open a business account - which isn't a problem, but time to set it all up is. The reason for using a standard current account was to save on business banking costs - which our accountant doesn't have a problem with.
Cheers
Hi Phooey,Hoping someone can help me out here
Mrs Phooey is a self employed barber renting a chair in a barber shop/salon. Fingers crossed back to work on 4th July!
Can someone please recommend a (simple) device which can take card payments? She has an iPhone XR and a decent 4G connection in the area she works. There is no wifi in the salon. A friend of hers has just pinged her a text telling her to look at something called iZettle. I basically need to know if this is the best option for her, or if there are better, cheaper, faster, easier alternatives?
The other (possibly) limiting factor is although she has a bank account, it's not an official business account. I imagine the bank (Natwest) will question the 10-20 individual payments per day and require her to open a business account - which isn't a problem, but time to set it all up is. The reason for using a standard current account was to save on business banking costs - which our accountant doesn't have a problem with.
Cheers
Some decent advice so far. As a general rule, the new players in the market, all already mentioned iZettle, Sumup and Square do a tremendous job of getting started fairly quickly and easily. Invoicing is also easy as everything is charged at one rate. They hide your PCI compliance (Mrs P needs to get familiar with this if she isn't already) in with their fees.
Again, generally speaking, these set ups will work fine for a business that has a ceiling of roughly 2-2.5K per month. Once you breach that, the companies that charge for machine rental will enter as a viable option as they will offset the rental for the terminal with MUCH lower transaction rates.
NB - I set someone up last week (previously a cash only cafe) who didn't have a business bank account - it's doable!
Drop me a line if you want to chat a bit more about it.
Rollin said:
You can open a Starling business account as a sole trader no problem if needed.
Firstly thank you everyone for your replies Just tried to open a sole trader acc with Starling but unfortunately they are not taking any new applications
Starling also require you to have a personal current account before applying for a business (sole trader acc)
I'll probably start another thread.. but if anyone has any recommendations for a business bank account which is suitable for approx 10-20 small transactions (from iZettle) per day I'd much appreciate it. Her current account is with HSBC so I might get her to open a business account with them - Free banking for 18 months then £6.50/month. Just need to see if each payment attracts a charge, for example a haircut at £10 - would you pay a 1.75% charge with iZettle AND a charge with HSBC
Edited by Phooey on Monday 22 June 20:06
Phooey said:
Firstly thank you everyone for your replies
Just tried to open a sole trader acc with Starling but unfortunately they are not taking any new applications
Starling also require you to have a personal current account before applying for a business (sole trader acc)
I'll probably start another thread.. but if anyone has any recommendations for a business bank account which is suitable for approx 10-20 small transactions (from iZettle) per day I'd much appreciate it. Her current account is with HSBC so I might get her to open a business account with them - Free banking for 18 months then £6.50/month. Just need to see if each payment attracts a charge, for example a haircut at £10 - would you pay a 1.75% charge with iZettle AND a charge with HSBC
You will pay 1.75% of every penny with iZettle, but HSBC have an electronic payment business account (not small business account), and electronic payments are free, cash in / out isn’t.Just tried to open a sole trader acc with Starling but unfortunately they are not taking any new applications
Starling also require you to have a personal current account before applying for a business (sole trader acc)
I'll probably start another thread.. but if anyone has any recommendations for a business bank account which is suitable for approx 10-20 small transactions (from iZettle) per day I'd much appreciate it. Her current account is with HSBC so I might get her to open a business account with them - Free banking for 18 months then £6.50/month. Just need to see if each payment attracts a charge, for example a haircut at £10 - would you pay a 1.75% charge with iZettle AND a charge with HSBC
Edited by Phooey on Monday 22 June 20:06
skwdenyer said:
My wife ran a business that started out with iZettle. Found them efficient, but:
(1) Rates too high when you hit any sort of volume;
(2) Relies upon a smartphone / tablet; needs a separate printer for receipts (both have a cost)
(3) Was not a robust device - we got through about 5 readers in 2 years. If you dropped it, or even looked at it funnily it could play up, not charge, and/or declare it had been tampered with. There was no backup process - we once had to wait 5 days for a new reader;
(4) At the time (5 years ago), people were suspicious as it didn't look like a "proper" card terminal (I realise that's not so much of a problem now);
(5) No cardholder not present capability - at the time I think WorldPay Zinc was the only similar "widget-based" card service to offer that (through a web-based virtual terminal).
We swapped it out for a Lloyds Cardnet "proper" terminal. Rates were *much* lower, but of course there's the cost of the service / equipment to consider. Overall it was still a significant saving.
At the time, iZettle essentially relied upon a perception that traditional terminals were very expensive, and that it was very hard to get one. Even 5 years ago, that was no longer really true.
Another thing; we found that if the phone/tablet couldn't get a GPS lock that we had problems - iZettle were using the location of the terminal / device as a part of their security / fraud processing. I don't know if that's still the case, but it meant we had to keep the phone nearer to the shop window!
Caveat: we last used them 3/4 years ago, so these observations may be out of date. Nowadays I mainly see them on market stalls and the like - been a while since I saw one in a shop. Paypal Here seem to be quite prevalent in the takeaway market, however, but I've had bad experiences with Paypal so would personally tend to steer clear.
Hi skwdenyer, are you still using that Lloyds/Cardsaver set up?(1) Rates too high when you hit any sort of volume;
(2) Relies upon a smartphone / tablet; needs a separate printer for receipts (both have a cost)
(3) Was not a robust device - we got through about 5 readers in 2 years. If you dropped it, or even looked at it funnily it could play up, not charge, and/or declare it had been tampered with. There was no backup process - we once had to wait 5 days for a new reader;
(4) At the time (5 years ago), people were suspicious as it didn't look like a "proper" card terminal (I realise that's not so much of a problem now);
(5) No cardholder not present capability - at the time I think WorldPay Zinc was the only similar "widget-based" card service to offer that (through a web-based virtual terminal).
We swapped it out for a Lloyds Cardnet "proper" terminal. Rates were *much* lower, but of course there's the cost of the service / equipment to consider. Overall it was still a significant saving.
At the time, iZettle essentially relied upon a perception that traditional terminals were very expensive, and that it was very hard to get one. Even 5 years ago, that was no longer really true.
Another thing; we found that if the phone/tablet couldn't get a GPS lock that we had problems - iZettle were using the location of the terminal / device as a part of their security / fraud processing. I don't know if that's still the case, but it meant we had to keep the phone nearer to the shop window!
Caveat: we last used them 3/4 years ago, so these observations may be out of date. Nowadays I mainly see them on market stalls and the like - been a while since I saw one in a shop. Paypal Here seem to be quite prevalent in the takeaway market, however, but I've had bad experiences with Paypal so would personally tend to steer clear.
Phooey said:
With iZettle how easy and quick is it to change back accounts? I'm hoping to set it up with Natwest as time not on my side, and then if need too - switch to another bank
There’s two answers here and I can answer one of them for you.As far as switching your bank account, it is straight forward from the within your account area on the iZettle website. Just go to the settings—> bank details and enter the new name, account no and sort code. Done.
The second question- How quick it would happen I can’t say as I’ve never done it. But setting up initially was really easy. I had it working from receiving the card reader in a couple of hours
Ham_and_Jam said:
There’s two answers here and I can answer one of them for you.
As far as switching your bank account, it is straight forward from the within your account area on the iZettle website. Just go to the settings—> bank details and enter the new name, account no and sort code. Done.
The second question- How quick it would happen I can’t say as I’ve never done it. But setting up initially was really easy. I had it working from receiving the card reader in a couple of hours
Fantastic, thank you Ham and Jam As far as switching your bank account, it is straight forward from the within your account area on the iZettle website. Just go to the settings—> bank details and enter the new name, account no and sort code. Done.
The second question- How quick it would happen I can’t say as I’ve never done it. But setting up initially was really easy. I had it working from receiving the card reader in a couple of hours
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