A card payment machine in the UK, sometimes called a merchant machine, is sold on three numbers: the percentage taken from each sale, the monthly fee for the account behind it, and what the terminal itself costs. Of the providers read for this index, the cheapest published in-person rate is Lopay's Essential account at 0.79%, and the most expensive is 1.75% at Zettle and Elavon. Several well known names publish nothing at all, and that is the finding a buyer needs first.
Card payment machines for small businesses: the three numbers, and which one moves
On a small takings figure the monthly fee dominates. A business turning over 2,000 pounds a month on cards pays about 34 pounds at Zettle's 1.75% with no monthly fee, and about 18 pounds at Tide's 0.89% plus 3p, except that Tide's 0.89% rate sits behind a 17.99 pounds monthly subscription, which puts the two within a few pounds of each other. Read the rate and the monthly fee together or the comparison is meaningless.
Card payment terminal costs, bought outright
Hardware prices are published far more often than rates. Tide lists the Nano from 11 pounds plus VAT, myPOS lists the Go 2 at 39 pounds excluding VAT, Elavon's Start Simple plan carries a 5 pounds one off device cost, and Zettle prices a reader from 29 pounds excluding VAT for new business users. A machine is rarely the expensive part of the decision; the rate that runs behind it for the next three years is.
Why a card machines price comparison UK wide stops short
takepayments, UTP Group, Nexi and Global Payments were each read in full and print no price of any kind: the route to a figure is a call with a consultant. Lloyds Cardnet publishes a minimum monthly charge of 10 pounds and then illustrates its rate with a worked example rather than quoting one. Worldpay's UK pricing address no longer resolves to a pricing page at all. That is a large share of the best known shelf a buyer cannot price before speaking to sales.
Questions people ask about card payment machine
What is the cheapest card payment machine UK providers publish a rate for?
On published rates alone, Lopay's Essential account at 0.79% per transaction for UK consumer Visa and Mastercard is the lowest printed figure among the providers read here. Revolut Business advertises from 0.8% plus 2p. Both are rates the provider prints on its own page, and both sit on accounts with their own conditions.
Do card payment machines for small business carry a monthly fee?
No. SumUp, myPOS and Elavon's Start Simple plan each print a zero pound monthly fee beside their headline rate, and Tide's Pay As You Go column is the same. The trade off is the transaction rate: the plans with a monthly fee generally print a lower percentage.
How much do business card payment machines cost to buy?
Published hardware prices in this index run from 11 pounds plus VAT for Tide's Nano to 179 pounds excluding VAT for the myPOS Ultra. Bank owned acquirers more often rent the terminal monthly than sell it, which is why their pages quote a service fee rather than a device price.