PDQ means a card payment terminal. In UK retail it is the everyday word for the machine a customer taps or inserts a card into at the counter, and it is used interchangeably with card machine, chip and PIN machine and payment terminal. No manufacturer sells a product under the name, which is why the word appears on quotes but rarely on websites.
What does PDQ stand for? Where the word comes from
Read letter by letter, what a PDQ machine stands for in the trade is process data quickly, and it has been in British retail use long enough that the origin is not documented in any authoritative source. It is a piece of shop floor vocabulary rather than an industry standard, which is exactly why a search for it produces marketing pages from acquirers rather than a definition from a regulator or a card scheme.
The meaning of PDQ machine on a quote: what you are buying
Two things, always. The terminal, which is hardware, and the merchant acquiring account behind it, which is the contract. A quote that names only a monthly figure is usually pricing the terminal rental and leaving the transaction rate to a separate schedule. Ask for the rate, the authorisation fee, the minimum monthly charge and the term in one place.
PDQ card payment: what happens on a PDQ card reader
When a card is tapped or inserted, the PDQ terminal encrypts it and sends the transaction to your acquirer, which routes it through the card scheme to the customer's bank for an authorisation. That round trip takes about two seconds and is only a yes or no. The money moves later, in a settlement batch, and most UK providers settle the next working day as standard. A PDQ payment taken on a small reader paired to a phone follows exactly the same route as one taken on a countertop machine; only the hardware differs.
PDQ chip and PIN, contactless and the other words on a quote
Chip and PIN is the cardholder verification method, not a machine type. Contactless is the tap. An acquirer is the regulated firm that processes the payment and pays you. Interchange is the part of your rate that goes to the card issuer and is capped for UK domestic consumer cards. Merchant service charge is the whole percentage you are billed.
Questions people ask about pdq meaning
Is a PDQ machine the same as a card machine?
Yes. They are two names for the same device, and UK suppliers use both. If a supplier answers a request for a PDQ machine with a quote headed card terminal, nothing has changed except the vocabulary.
What does PDQ mean, and is it an official industry term?
It means a card payment terminal, and it is trade vocabulary, not a standard set by a card scheme or a regulator. That is why the expansions you will find online differ and none is authoritative.
Do I ask for a PDQ terminal or a card terminal when getting quotes?
Either. Sales teams recognise both. Asking for a card terminal and a merchant acquiring account together tends to produce a more complete quote, because it names the contract as well as the box.
Is a PDQ credit card payment charged differently from debit?
Often, yes. The terminal takes both, but UK interchange on domestic consumer cards is capped higher for credit than for debit, which Viva.com's own page states as 0.30% for credit and 0.20% for debit and prepaid. Providers that blend the two into one percentage charge the same either way; providers that price card categories separately do not.