Merchant services is the trade's name for everything that lets a business accept cards: the acquiring account, the terminal, the settlement of your money and the support behind it. It is sold as a percentage of every sale plus a set of fixed charges. The percentage is advertised; the fixed charges are where quotes diverge most.
What sits inside the merchant service charge
Interchange to the customer's bank, capped for UK domestic consumer cards. Scheme and processing fees to Visa or Mastercard. Then the acquirer's own margin. Most UK providers blend all three into one advertised percentage. Adyen publishes them separately as interchange plus, which looks cheaper and is not comparable with a blended figure until you know your card mix.
The charges that are not the percentage
Authorisation fees per transaction, a minimum monthly service charge, PCI compliance fees, chargeback fees and early termination charges. Lloyds Cardnet prints a minimum monthly charge of 10 pounds. Tyl by NatWest lists authorisation and PCI compliance among its charges. Teya's published schedule prices transfers, ATM withdrawals and cash deposits. A quote without these is half a quote.
Who publishes and who does not
Of the thirty two UK providers read for this index, eleven print an in-person rate on their own pages. takepayments, UTP Group, Nexi and Global Payments print nothing. Paymentsense now asks for turnover, average transaction value and merchant category before showing anything. That distribution is the single most useful thing to know before starting a shortlist.
Questions people ask about merchant services
What are merchant services in plain terms?
The account and the equipment that let you take card payments, plus the processing and settlement behind them. A merchant services provider is the firm that runs that account, whether it is a bank, an acquirer or a payments app.
What are the cheapest merchant services in the UK?
On published in-person rates alone, Lopay's Essential account at 0.79% and Revolut Business from 0.8% plus 2p are the lowest figures here. Cheapest overall depends on your monthly volume, your average sale and how many of your customers use commercial or overseas cards.
Do I need a merchant account to take cards?
You need an acquiring relationship, but not necessarily a traditional merchant account in your own name. Several providers here aggregate merchants under their own acquiring, which is faster to open and gives you less direct control over your pricing.