PDQ is British retail shorthand for a card payment terminal, the machine on the counter that takes a chip and PIN or contactless payment. It is not a brand and not a technical standard, and no acquirer sells a product called a PDQ machine. If you are shopping for one you are shopping for a card terminal and an acquiring account, and the account is where the money goes.
Why the word survives
PDQ entered UK retail vocabulary decades ago and stuck, in the way that hoover and biro stuck. It is still the word a publican or a shop manager uses, which is why providers' sales teams answer to it while their own websites say card machine or payment terminal. If a quote arrives headed card terminal, it is the same thing you asked for.
What a PDQ machine costs to buy
Countertop and portable terminals on this index are published between 39 and 179 pounds excluding VAT where they are sold outright, and rented monthly where they are not. Elavon prints per terminal monthly rentals on its Business Booster plan of 15 pounds for a countertop model and 18 pounds for a mobile one, alongside a lower transaction rate, which is the classic rental trade off.
The running cost is the real price
A terminal bought for 89 pounds on a 1.75% account costs more in its first six months of trading at 3,000 pounds a month than the machine did. Published rates on this shelf run from 0.79% to 1.75%, so the spread on the same takings is roughly 29 pounds a month. Choose the account first and let the terminal follow it.
Questions people ask about pdq machine
What does PDQ stand for?
There is no single official expansion. The trade generally reads it as process data quickly, and it has been used in UK retail for so long that the origin is largely folklore. What matters commercially is that PDQ machine, card machine and card terminal describe the same device.
Are PDQ machines rented or bought?
Both, and the split follows the provider type. App based providers sell the terminal outright and charge no monthly fee. Bank owned acquirers and resellers more often rent it monthly, with the rental printed against each model where they publish at all.
Do I need a PDQ machine or will a phone do?
If your customers pay contactless and your average sale is small, a phone with tap to pay may be enough. A dedicated terminal earns its place where you need chip and PIN, where staff should not be using the owner's phone, and where the machine must work away from wifi on its own SIM.