If you want to maximise sales by taking payments over the phone, it is easy to do so with a virtual terminal, a device that’s connected to the internet and a merchant account.

Here, we explain what a virtual terminal does and how to use it, fees involved, regulations, and step-by-step process of taking payments over the phone.

Or, if you’re ready to get set up with a payment provider straight away, you can compare providers using the form above.

Virtual terminals

For taking card payments over the phone, you’ll need a virtual terminal.

A virtual terminal is a secure web or software application that allows you, the merchant, to take card payments without a credit or debit card being physically present.

Once you’ve entered the customer’s card details into the terminal, the data is automatically sent to your payment provider, and the cash, minus fees, is deposited in your account.

Taking card payments over the phone step-by-step

Once you have your virtual terminal set up, it’s quick and easy to start taking payments over the phone.

Say you’re on a call with the customer, they want to make a purchase, and they have their card ready – what next?

1. Open your virtual terminal and log in
2. Select ‘take a payment’
3. Ask the customer to read out their card details and enter them immediately into the correct payment fields
4. Enter the billing address for the payment card
5. Double check the details with the customer
6. Hit ‘confirm’ and whoosh, the money should be whizzing it’s way over to you in no time

Fees for taking payments over the phone

As with any card payment, there’s a fee for taking card payments over the phone, and for all virtual payments, you’re charged a card-not-present (CNP) fee.

This fee is actually higher than if you’re completing a transaction using a physical card payment machine. That’s because virtual payments expose the merchant, the customer, and the payment processor to a slightly greater risk of fraud.

Fees vary across suppliers, and different providers employ different fee structures that can make it more or less costly depending on your needs.

For example:

• Some providers charge a percentage-based fee for each transaction taken through your virtual terminal. E.g. 2.9% + 30p per sale
• Others will allow you a certain number of transactions for a monthly subscription cost, with any transactions over the limit charged at a flat rate. E.g. 200 transactions for £9.99 per month + 10p per additional transaction
• Or you could be charged on a sliding scale depending on your monthly sales volume. For example, a £8.29 monthly fee with Paymentsense will cover all transactions up to £50,000, while a £12.45 subscription will cover those up to £250,000

Which type of fee structure you choose depends on your unique requirements. If you know you’re going to make a consistent and predictable number of transactions, opt for a monthly subscription. Or, if the number and value of transactions varies wildly month-to-month, a percentage-based fee is probably your best bet.

Taking credit card payments over the phone regulations UK

Taking payments over the phone is completely safe as long as you use a trusted provider.

Any virtual terminal provider you use should be PCI DSS compliant. This stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, and is a set of strict guidelines to ensure sensitive customer information is protected during card transactions.

All major providers make it very clear that they’re PCI DSS compliant, so you won’t need to spend any effort hunting for a compliant provider.

Taking payment over the phone GDPR

It’s perfectly legal to store customer card details for future over-the-phone purchases and remain GDPR compliant, as long as those details are stored securely and not misused.

According to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), you just need to ensure that the customer’s consent is freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous.

Next steps

If the last two years have shown anything, it’s that having the capability to take virtual payments is vital if you want to weather unforeseen circumstances. Get started taking payments today by filling in our short quiz at the top of the page.

More on taking payments 

Five tips to get started taking card payments – Andy Macauley, chief operating officer of Handepay, gives some concise pointers to taking card payments

The post How to take a card payment over the phone using a virtual terminal appeared first on Small Business UK.

UPDATED: Now that your business is ready to take payments, it’s time to think about how you’ll be processing payments. Alternatively, you might just want to change your current payment system. But how do you know which are the best payment processors for UK small businesses right now?

You’ll find that payment processors perform largely the same tasks, but it could be a single feature – or the cost – that’ll ultimately steer your final decision.

Knowing what’s on the market will help get you going, which is why we’ve compiled a list of the most widely recognised systems. But first: a quick definition.

Why getting up to speed on card payments is essential for SMEs – In this piece, in association with Boost Capital, we look at why card payment technology is crucial for small businesses to stay ahead of the curve

Setting up card payments for retail and online selling – Find out how to set up and get the most out of a POS system for your retail or hospitality business

What payment processor should I go for?

Let’s compare some of the best payment processors for UK small businesses on the market, focusing on cost, pros, cons and what kind of payments the system is best suited to.

Or, if you feel like you’re ready to decide, why not get quotes today? All you need to do is provide us with some basic info about your business in the form at the top of the page and we’ll match you with the best providers for your needs. 

WorldPay

What is it? WorldPay has specialist small business packages which you can fit to your requirements.

You can choose your equipment and pricing plan. You’ve got your pick of countertop card machines, portable card machines, mobile card machines and Pax terminals.

It can also take a variety of global payments. You can accept Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Diners’ Club International, Discover, China Union Pay, JCB and American Express (with a separate agreement).

How much does it cost? WorldPay offers the Simplicity Payment Gateway which can be bought as a standard package or a bespoke item:

Simplicity Payment Gateway (£19.95 a month)

It has:

• Free next business day settlement
• No set-up fee
• Visa Checkout
• PayPal
• Digital payment links
• Phone payments
• Standard fraud management tools
• Support service

Bespoke

Many of the features on the other package, plus:

• Lowest transaction fee based on volumes
• Bespoke set-up available
• Advanced fraud management tools
• 24/7 support line
• Fully customisable
• Account management

Pros: Strong customer reviews on TrustPilot, can deal with all types of different payments with one merchant ID.

Cons: Auto renewal can catch some customers out unless they write to WorldPay 30 days before contract end telling them they don’t want to renew, reports of pushy salespeople.

Best for: Medium-sized businesses with consistent transaction levels all year round or more established businesses with higher transaction volumes and more complex needs.

Compare payment processor quotes

Small Business Pro

What is it? Small Business Pro is an all-in-one solution for entrepreneurs, allowing you to take payments with some of the lowest rates on the market, organise your appointments and invoices – you’ll even have the chance of winning a £2,500 grant every month.

How much does it cost?

Small Business Pro has two packages depending on the size of your business:

Sole Trader
(excluding employment disputes)

£39.99 (including VAT) per month

1 to 30 employees
(including employment disputes)

£49.99 (including VAT) per month

Pros: Save over £30 per month with an all-in-one package.

Cons: Not suitable for businesses with over 30 employees.

Best for: Construction, healthcare and beauty, coaches and freelancers, hospitality, retail and market traders, taxis and driving instructors

Zettle

What is it? Zettle by PayPal (formerly iZettle) offers up a point of sale, card reader, invoicing and an ecommerce platform. Manage your inventory, send abandoned cart emails and get a better grasp of your performance with real-time sales analytics. It has the ability to generate sales reports, do inventory management and track staff performance.

How much does it cost?

Zettle Payment Terminal (£149 a month + VAT)

• All-in-one reader and POS service
• No monthly fee
• 1.75 per cent transaction fee

It has:

• Preloaded SIM card in case WiFi is unavailable. Mobile usage covered in original policy
• Terminal with built-in barcode scanner for speed and ease of transaction
• POS app which helps to manage inventory and print receipts
• Get bank deposits in 1-2 business days
• Accepts PayPal QRC, Payment Links, Apple Pay and Google Pay

Zettle Card Reader 2 (£59 + VAT)

• Card reader only
• No monthly fee
• 1.75 per cent transaction fee

It has:

• Payment data encryption
• Is tamper-proof
• Capabilities to work with a range of POS apps
• Integrates with platforms you may already use including Lightspeed, Quickbooks and BigCommerce
• 12-month warranty

Pros: This payment processing platform has no contract and the ability to integrate with Xero and Shopify. It’s also compatible with iOS and Android, accepting Samsung, Google and Apple Pay. It has a visually pleasing design and you get deposits to your bank account in one-two business days.

Cons: The only phone support is available 9am-5pm Monday to Friday.

Best for: Food and drink, retail, health and beauty and service-based businesses that run on multiple platforms.

Compare payment processor quotes

Square

What is it? With Square, you set up an account and buy a reader online or in-store. You’ve got the option to take payments in person, over the phone, by invoice or online. The basic version comes with free real-time analytics as well as inventory and location management.

How much does it cost?

• Chip and PIN, mobile and contactless payments in person: 1.5 per cent
• Manually entered transactions: 2.5 per cent
• Online payments with UK cards: 1.4 per cent + 25p
• Online payments with non-UK cards: 2.5 per cent + 25p

Pros: Square is an easy to use payment gateway with quick launch and a free magnetic stripe reader which accepts international cards. Invoicing and virtual terminal are also included. Integrate Xero and Synder, elect to get your money the next business day.

Cons: Reviews on Trustpilot reveal that customer service is poor

Best for: Small businesses with less consistent sales who want to start up quickly.

Compare payment processor quotes

Stripe

What is it? Stripe is a payment solution for online payments which is customisable with applications and third-party integrations.

How much does it cost? Depending on the size and sales volume of your business, you’ve got two options.

Standard

• UK cards: 1.5 per cent + 20p
• EU cards: 2.5 per cent + 20p
• Link cards: 1.2 per cent + 20p
• International cards: 3.25 per cent + 20p

Customised

You can design a custom package for your business if you have large payments volume or unique business needs. Base it on volume discounts, interchange pricing, multi-product discounts and country-specific rates.

Pros: It offers simplicity, with customised billing plans for membership and subscriptions, rolling bank transfers which can be made weekly or monthly depending on when you want to get paid. Stripe also offers integration with the mobile app, uses over 135 different currencies and customers don’t need a Stripe account in order to pay, so the process is seamless. There are no setup fees, monthly fees or hidden fees to worry about either.

Cons: The chargeback policy may lead to some aggravation. You’ll be charged £20 for any disputed transactions (from April 10, 2023).

Best for: Online businesses with access to a developer.

Compare payment processor quotes

GoCardless

What is it? Collect one-off or recurring payments with GoCardless, with a package specifically geared at small businesses.

How much does it cost?

Standard

• 1% + £/€0.20 per transaction
• 2% + £/€0.20 per transaction for international transactions

Advanced

• 1.25% + £/€0.20 per transaction
• 2.25% + £/€0.20 per transaction for international transactions

Pro

• 1.4% + £/€0.20 per transaction
• 2.4% + £/€0.20 per transaction for international transactions

Pros: Has integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and Salesforce, successfully collects 99 per cent of one-off payments and 97 per cent of recurring payments are collected first time, customisable packages, no set-up costs.

Cons: Takes a while for payments to clear, limits to how many currencies it can accept, can be difficult to track payments.

Best for: Small businesses looking for ease.

Compare payment processor quotes

Amazon Pay

What is it? I’m sure this payment system needs little explanation. Customers on Amazon Pay can make purchases using their Amazon account on eligible websites and apps and do their shopping by voice with Amazon Pay for Alexa Skills.

How much does it cost? If your monthly payment volume is under £50,000, your payment processing fee will be 2.7 per cent and the authorisation fee will be 30p per transaction.

If it’s over £50,000, then you can apply to Amazon for a payment volume discount.

Cross-border fees

Amazon Pay also charges cross-border fees for sales outside the UK of up to 1.5 per cent.

Amazon Pay cross-border fee

Currency conversion

Amazon charges a currency conversion set at 0.5 per cent above its bank’s wholesale exchange rate.

Chargeback dispute fee

If you dispute a chargeback claim not covered under Amazon’s payment protection policy, Amazon Pay charges a fixed fee of £14 + VAT to your merchant account.

Pros: Amazon Pay gets a huge boost from its name recognition – lots of people have an Amazon account. Shopping is quick and easy if the user is already logged in, but you can embed a “buy now” button on your site to make purchasing even easier. It’s also high security, offers merchant protection, and integrates with Shopify and BigCommerce

Cons: Amazon Pay can be quite a target for fraudsters. You may find your account being shut down without prior warning for security reasons, there’s no PayPal support and the transaction fee is pretty high.

Best for: Online retail businesses

Compare payment processor quotes

You can find the right card payments provider for you with takepayments.

Shopify Payments

What is it? Shopify Payments allows you to accept credit cards directly with Shopify in contactless, Chip and PIN or by swiping the customer’s card.

Offers online payments solutions and ecommerce as well as a point of sale system.

How much does it cost?

The standard prices are listed below. However, using Shopify Payments removes the commission Shopify takes on top of payment gateway fees. That’s 2 per cent on Basic, 1 per cent on Shopify and 0.5 per cent on Advanced.

Basic

• Monthly cost: £25 (£1 per month for the first three months)
• Online credit card transaction fees: 2 per cent +25p
• In-person credit card fees: 1.7 per cent + 0p in person

Shopify

• Monthly cost: £65 (£1 per month for the first three months)
• Online credit card transaction fees: 1.7 per cent + 25p
• In-person credit card fees: 1.6 per cent + 0p in person

Advanced

• Monthly cost: £344 (£1 per month for the first three months)
• Online credit card transaction fees: 1.5 per cent + 25p
• In-person credit card fees: 1.5 per cent + 0p in person

Pros: You can set up Shopify Payments instantly and try it out free for three days. Your customers can still pay through another payment system if they prefer. However, using Shopify Payments removes extra transaction fees.

Cons: Shopify also has chargeback fees of £10 per chargeback and, like Stripe, if the decision doesn’t go your way, you lose the fee.

Best for: Online retail businesses

Compare payment processor quotes

SumUp

What is it? SumUp offers card readers that can be used on-site or on the go.

How much does it cost?

No contract

Transaction fees of between 1.69 per cent and 2.5 per cent when you take a payment using a SumUp card reader but no monthly charges or contract.

• £0 monthly cost
• Card readers 1.69 per cent
• POS Lite 1.69 per cent
• Tap to pay on iPhone 1.69 per cent

SumUp One

Lower fees if you take out a cancel-anytime subscription plan.

• £19 monthly cost
• Card readers 0.79 per cent
• POS Lite 0.79 per cent
• Tap to pay on iPhone 0.79 per cent

POS Pro

• £49.99 monthly cost
• Card readers custom
• POS Lite custom
• Tap to pay on iPhone custom

Pros: SumUp’s offering has a fixed transaction rate which is lower than its competitors and no monthly fee. It also has paperless onboarding and no contractual obligations. The Air can process over 500 transactions on a single charge while the Solo card reader has unlimited mobile data and WiFi connectivity.

Cons: There’s no phone support on weekends or late evenings and their social media feeds have several complaints about poor customer service.

Best for: Remote businesses, such as freelance beauticians or food vans.

Compare payment processor quotes

Adyen

What is it? Adyen has the ability to take online payments and in-person with a POS system. If your customer is paying online, they can do so through the web, in-app, pay by link or subscription. It also has AI-powered fraud protection.

How much does it cost?

You’ll be charged a processing fee of €0.11 (10p) plus a fee depending on what payment method you use (MasterCard/Visa 0.3-0.4 per cent, American Express 3.95 per cent)  

Pros: Adyen has no monthly fee and no set-up, integration or closure fees.

Cons: With the fees it does charge, it’s expensive for businesses with lower volumes of sales. Plus, it’s no good for high-risk merchants (ones that get a significant number of chargebacks) as you’re more likely to get blocked. The system is not really designed for brand-new start-ups – you must a minimum of 1,000 transactions a month to keep your account in good standing. Reviews on TrustPilot say that the customer service is lacking.

Best for: Better for larger SMEs, not start-ups.

Compare payment processor quotes

Cybersource

What is it? Owned by Visa, Cybersource allows you to accept payments online, in-person and via mobile throughout the world. Automated screening helps you prevent fraud and Click to Pay allows customers to pay faster without account details or passwords, meaning more satisfied customers and a lower likelihood of abandoned carts.

How much does it cost?

Contact Cybersource directly to find out pricing.

Pros: Cybersource has payment acceptance in over 160 countries around the world in more than 50 currencies.  

Cons: Larger sales volumes incur larger fees and it’s available on a long contract. On top of that, you can’t access transactions that are more than six months old, no free trial.

Best for: More established small business who have developers.

Compare payment processor quotes

Opayo

What is it? Opayo (formerly Sage Pay) offers solutions for online payments, card terminals, phone and point of sale.

How much does it cost?

Pricing plans are split as follows:

Face-to-face payments

• Start Simple: No monthly fee and 1.75 per cent transaction fee, £29 one-off device fee
• Business Booster: From £15 per month for two card machines with a 0.99 per cent transaction fee
• Operate Smarter: £40 per month for tablet-sized terminal with a one per cent transaction fee
• Business Control: £62 per month with a 15.6″ talech Register touchscreen with a 1.2 per cent transaction fee

Payments online (also covers payments over the phone and by mail)

• Always Open – fixed: £25 per month, from 0.99 per cent transaction fee, no joining fee, 350 free transactions
• Always – Pay as you go: £0 with transaction fee from 1.99 per cent, £0.12 gateway click fee, £99 one-off joining fee
• Pros: No hidden fees, 24/7 telephone support available, quick to set up, strong customer service reviews on Trustpilot.

Cons: Opayo is more expensive than Sage Pay was.

Best for: Small businesses who want to go with a trusted name.

Compare payment processor quotes

Easily find the right card payments provider for you with takepayments.

Further reading on payments

Five tips to get started taking card payments
High risk merchant accounts: What you need to know
How to set up a POS system for your small business

The post Best payment processors for UK small businesses – 11 of the best appeared first on Small Business UK.

Well, are there any free card readers for small businesses? The short answer is no, but there are some lower-cost options out there.

When thinking about costs, consider your monthly fees along with your transaction fees, set-up fees and any other charges that may be hidden in the small print.

We’ll be taking a look at some of the cheapest card readers for your small business and whether you’re better off renting or buying.

Should I buy or rent a card reader?

Rental

As some of the contracts below suggest, rental card readers are more suitable for seasonal or pop-up businesses.

Pros

• Can fill demand at busy times such as Christmas
• Providers are good at meeting requirements at short notice
• Rental units are more robust as they can passed between users and so are expected to be better able to handle knocks
• If something goes wrong, your provider can sort it out quickly

Cons

• There may be hidden fees such as set-up
• You have to keep the card readers in an acceptable state of repair

Purchase

Pros

• Purchasing card readers means that you have them on standby which is useful for unexpectedly busy times
• If you’re likely to use the terminal again, it’ll be worth purchasing
• No worry about extra fees beyond transaction fees
• Easier to switch between merchant service providers

Cons

• The machine may become obsolete over time and you’ll have to fork out for a new one
•  Any purchases and repairs are your responsibility         

The 8 cheapest contactless card reader deals out there

How much you pay will come down to your turnover, what card reader you have and what kind of transactions you take. Let’s take a look at the cheapest deals.     

>See also: Why businesses should go cashless: pros and cons    

Rental

Tyl by Natwest Clover Flex package

Reader price: £16.99 + VAT – hire fee waived for three months for new customers
Transaction fee: 1.5 per cent (more for American Express transactions)  
Features: Eight hours of battery life on one charge; use Tyl Portal at no extra cost; 5.99-inch glass touchscreen; fingerprint recognition

Barclaycard Flex

Ideal for start-ups and small businesses

Monthly fee: £7.50 a month (until 31 December 2024 – you must apply by 30 April) + VAT for an 18-month contract
Transaction fee: 1.6 per cent per transaction
Features: Switch between Bluetooth, GPRS, Wi-Fi and mobile data networks; up to 700 sales a day on a full charge; payments can be in your account as soon as the next working day (if they’re taken before 9pm)

Dojo Go

Reader price: £20 a month
Transaction fee: 1.4 per cent +5p if your turnover is below £150,000 and custom pricing if it’s over £150,000
Features: Receive your takings the next day; Dojo may pay up to £3,000 in exit fees to your previous provider; instant fraud detection; point-to-point encryption

Purchase

Small Business Pro

Reader price: WisePad 3 Terminal (£49 one-off cost) OR WisePOS E (£179.00 one-off cost)
Monthly fee: £39.99-£49.99 including VAT (these are membership fees for Small Business Pro)
Transaction fee: From 1.25 per cent
Features: Linked to customer management platform, no minimum spend, PCI compliant, built-in fraud detection

SumUp Air

Reader price: £39
Monthly fee: None
Transaction fee: 1.69 per cent per transaction. If you use SumUp’s business account as a payout account, you can get a 1.49 per cent transaction fee until the end of the next month you booked from
Features: Smartphone connectivity; unlimited free bank transfers on incoming and outgoing payments; process over 500 sales on a single charge

Zettle 

Reader price: From £29 + VAT
Monthly fee: None
Transaction fee: 1.75 per cent per transaction, 1.75 per cent for PayPal and QR codes, 2.5 per cent for Payment Links, 2.5 per cent for Zettle invoices
Features: Integrates with Adobe Commerce and BigCommerce as well as other platforms; sell and accept gift cards

Square

Reader price: £19 + VAT
Monthly fee: None
Transaction fee: 1.75 per cent per transaction
Features: Connect to Apple or Android device via Bluetooth; two-year warranty

>See also: Best payment apps for small businesses

Lopay

Reader price: £24 plus P&P and £49 plus P&P for additional card readers
Transaction fee: 0.79 per cent for weekly payment, 0.99 per cent next day or 1.79 per cent for instant payment. Add one per cent to the above for American Express and international payments. Add 0.25 per cent for payments via Point of Sale, 0.49 per cent for payments and 0.69 per cent for subscriptions.
Features: Choice of payments done instantly, next day or weekly; smart tipping feature; and export reports to add to your preferred accounting software

Which card reader should I buy?

Which low-cost card reader you go for is up to you but remember that factors beyond price come in here too. Think about your functionality needs such as tableside payments if you’re a restaurant or increased Amex payment fees if you take a lot of payments from customers who use American Express.  

Want to compare prices and features from all the best card payment devices we’ve listed above? Our free comparison tool can match you with the most suitable provider for your needs.

Simply fill in our free quote-finding form, and answer a few questions about your business (it takes less than a minute). We’ll match you with the most appropriate card payment provider.

Read more

Best payment processors for UK small businesses – 11 of the best

The post Are there any free card readers for small businesses? appeared first on Small Business UK.

In an increasingly cashless society, if you don’t have card payment machines, you risk losing out on sales.

There are countless card machines for small businesses on the market today, and most enable you to take chip and PIN, contactless, and mobile payments.

But there are differences in features, fees and upfront costs which will make some more or less suitable for your business than others.

This article will break down the hardware and functionality of the best payment machines currently on the market to help you choose the one that’s right for you.

You can jump straight to a particular card machine or read on to find more info on the 10 (plus one bonus!) best card payment machines for small UK businesses in 2023.

40% of the UK’s micro businesses do not accept card payments – This is despite digital payments being the preferred way to pay for 47pc of shoppers

Card payment machines

1. SumUp Air
2. Zettle Reader 2
3. Square Reader
4. MyPOS Go
5. Dojo Go
6. Barclaycard Smartpay Anywhere
7. TakePayments
8. Tyl (by Natwest)
9. Shopify
10. Tide Card Reader
11. Small Business Pro

With Small Business Pro, track your invoices as well as getting in-person and online transactions at one of the lowest rates on the market. It will also help with the heavy lifting of managing customers, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

How much does a typical card payment machine cost?

Card payment machine costs are made up of the cost of the device and the cost of payment processing fees.

Device cost

Mobile card readers generally cost between £15 and £30, countertop card machines cost between £150 and £200.

You can either buy the device outright or rent the device for a monthly cost. This changes from provider to provider.

How to optimise cash flow with cashless payments – The phrase ‘cash is king’ has never been truer, but how can small businesses like yours ensure a healthy inflow of money to cover costs and make profits?

Fees

Transaction fees are taken by your card payment provider as a percentage of every payment made through your card machine. They’re typically between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent of the value of the transaction.

So, if the customer buys an item costing £25, and your transaction fee is 1.75 per cent, you’ll be charged around 43p by your card payment provider.

Card payment providers will also advertise a card not present (CNP) transaction. A CNP transaction occurs when neither the cardholder or their card are present for the transaction – in other words, an online or phone payment, or a recurring payment.

CNP fees are usually around 2.5 per cent. They’re higher for the simple reason that there’s a greater risk of fraud during these kinds of payments.

Countertop vs portable vs mobile card readers

There are three types of card payment machine: countertop, portable, and mobile.

Countertop card machines are designed to be used at designated till points in your store. Although they don’t offer any portability, they’re usually very reliable in terms of their connectivity. They’re best for businesses with a fixed payment point such as a grocery or small retailer.

Portable credit card machines are battery-powered devices that use Wi-Fi to take card payments anywhere on your site. They’re best for cafes and restaurants.

Mobile card readers are even more compact, battery-powered devices that use a GPRS (3G or 4G) signal to take card payments wherever you are. They also usually have Wi-Fi functionality as well. They’re great for pop up shops, markets, festivals, street food vans – anywhere really.

This article will predominantly focus on mobile card readers, as they’re the most affordable and offer the most flexibility to growing small businesses.

Most of the providers below also sell other hardware such as charging docks, receipt printers, countertop systems and tills.

You only need the card payment device to start taking payments, but these items allow you to enhance your POS system as your business grows.

8 payment systems for festivals, pop-ups and street food markets – Take a look at this rundown of payment systems that are ideal for festivals, street food markets, pop-ups and promotional events

Card payment machines – the options

The 10 card payment machines below are great options for small businesses, offering competitive fees and great features.

SumUp Air Card Reader

Thanks to its ease of use and practicality, this stylish and lightweight portable card reader is currently one of the popular card readers for small businesses.

It’s easy to set up and start using. All you need to do to start accepting contactless, chip and PIN, and mobile payments from all major providers is to pair the device with your smartphone, which takes minutes.

You can then start using the SumUp Air anywhere with Wi-Fi or data coverage, and it can process 500 transactions on a single charge – at 12 hours, it’s probably the best battery life on the market.

Available for a one-off cost of just £39, and with a reduced 1.69 per cent transaction fee, it’s also very affordable. And they have also sped up the length of time for payments to appear in your account to just one day.

You also get access to a handy smartphone app, with a dashboard that allows you to view your product catalogue, track sales, and send digital receipts.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Zettle Reader 2

The Zettle Reader 2 is another lightweight (just 130g) device that you can pair with your Apple or Android smartphone and start using within minutes using the Zettle app.

It accepts all major debit and credit card payment types and has a decent eight-hour battery life – though this only lasts for around 100 transactions, which is no match for SumUp’s 500.

Where the Zettle Reader 2 really seeks to differentiate itself is in its focus on security. Claiming to be one of the safest card readers on the market, Zettle’s tamper-proof device adheres to the highest industry standards, and is fully encrypted by HSMs cryptographic servers.

And if you do spot a suspicious charge, Zettle’s transaction protection covers up to £250 in chargebacks per month.

As with the SumUp Air, there are no monthly fees – you just pay a flat rate per transaction, though at 1.75 per cent, this is slightly higher than its rival.

But at £59 + VAT, the Zettle Reader 2 is dearer than the SumUp Air, and the in-dock charger will cost another £39 + VAT on top.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Square Reader

The Square Reader is the most sleek, simple and affordable card reader on the market. This appropriately square-shaped device costs just £19 + VAT, much lower than competitors.

And weighing in at just 56g, it’s not just the price that’s low. All you have to do is sync it to your phone via Bluetooth and start selling. You can then monitor and manage all your sales from Square’s free app. All funds are deposited the next working day.

Nifty features include specially-designed POS dashboards for restaurants, restaurants and mobile businesses who need to make appointments, such as hairdressers or masseurs.

And Square also has a whole arsenal of other payments kit you can buy to create a full POS setup including terminals, registers, and other hardware and accessories.

Square is offering new customers a reduced 1.5 per cent transaction for the timebeing.

And businesses that take more than £200,000 a year in card sales pay a lower transaction fee.

Compare card payment machine quotes

myPOS Go

Weighing 180g, its design isn’t as sleek and stylish as rivals, but under the hood, myPOS Go 2 is another highly functional and compact mobile card reader.

The device costs £39 + VAT and its transaction fee is just 1.10 per cent + 7p and can be much lower (depending on the amount you’re taking).

The Linux-driven myPOS Go 2 card reader has several other features that set it apart from competitors. You get a free e-money merchant account, with a dedicated IBAN in 14 currencies, making it easy to take international payments.

6 of the best payment systems for accepting US dollars – If you have a lot of customers Stateside, you’ll want them to be able to pay in US dollars. We look at the best payment systems for USD

Unlike the days you might have to wait with other providers, card payments are settled in your account in less than three seconds, and you get instant access to funds via your free VISA business card.

We also like the multi-operator mode, which allows you to monitor individual staff performance and split tips accordingly.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Dojo Go

Dojo Go describes itself as the “ultimate all-rounder”, a small business card machine that’s just as handy as a mobile (operating on 3G/4G connectivity) and a portable (using Wi-Fi) device.

Dojo Go’s big selling point is its speed: the company claims its device can take card payments in around two seconds – nearly 60 per cent faster than the industry average. And you can keep track of all those payments in real time using the Dojo Go app.

Dojo is supremely confident in its product – so much so that, if you’re switching from an existing provider, it will pay your exit fees up to a value of £3,000. (You have to share your recent statements with another provider with Dojo before it decides on the transfer value.)

We also admire Dojo’s help and support, which is available 24 hours a day. And if you can’t get things fixed over the phone, Dojo can take over your device remotely to investigate.

All payments are transferred in your account at 10am the next working day, which it claims is faster than any other provider as standard.

There are two tiers of transaction fees: 1.4 per cent + 5p per transaction plus £20 per month terminal rental, if your annual card turnover is below £150,000; if you’re above £150,000 then your credit and debit card rate and the monthly terminal rental fee are negotiable.

Pro tip: Dojo sets a minimum £24.95 monthly charge for customers who have not taken card payments before, which is the minimum cost you must pay in transaction fees each month – even if you have zero takings. This is on top of the monthly £20 terminal rental. After six months, the contract flips to monthly rolling.

Because you’re tied into a six-month contract if your card turnover is below £150,000, Dojo Go is better for scaling small businesses with consistently high monthly takings.

And, if your business needs cash quickly, Dojo offers a merchant cash advance powered by YouLend, which is repaid through a percentage of your card takings. Dojo charges a fixed one-off fee for this cash facility.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Barclaycard Smartpay Anywhere

Barclaycard Smartpay Anywhere is aimed at hospitality and retail businesses, with the “app” turning it into a POS solution. It does not connect with cash drawers, or barcode scanners – but does connect to wireless printers and an app and web portal.

It has next-working-day settlement and, in addition to the standard Mastercard and Visa, accepts Amex and Diners Club (Discover).

The transaction fee is 1.6 per cent, among the lowest of any major provider.

It’s also powered by a feature filled app as well as access to a web portal providing real time data and insight into your business performance. If you need support there is a 24/7 customer support team, and it is PCI compliant without fees or the need for attestation.

However, unlike some rivals, when applying for Smartpay Anywhere, you have to go through an online vetting process checking financial and borrowing history to be approved for a device, which Barclays says ensures the device is suitable for your business before you pay for it.

The pros are that it’s a compact and affordable card reader at £29 + VAT with low transaction fees and payments settled the next business day.

Compare card payment machine quotes

TakePayments

Stockport-based TakePayments has provided card terminals and online payment solutions for over 30 years. It is one of the fastest-growing card payment companies in the UK with over 70,000 customers.

A fast and reliable Android terminal that lets you take both card and cash payments.

Some key features include:

• Speedy 4G and WiFi connection
• Stock and pricing management from the device
• Ability to split payments
• Detailed transaction reporting to see how your business is performing
• Access to a Management Portal to handle your business remotely

takepaymentsplus pricing: £25 + VAT monthly (18-month contract)

Or, if you’re just looking to take payments quickly, their A920Pro card machine and DX8000 terminal take only four simple steps to set up. Stay connected with 4G and WiFi, and accept Apple and Google Pay as standard.

Terminal rental from £15 + VAT.

The transaction fee based on business turnover and the CNP (card not present) fee is dependent on payment acquirer.

Own POS system

TakePayments uses its own EPOS system called tPOS, which cannot be downloaded onto an iPad or other tablet and has its own tablet register.

tPOS is available in two forms, Counter and Complete. Plus, their dedicated team will provide full training and customer support seven days a week.

tPOS starts from £45 a month.

Some key features include:

• Product management and stock inventory
• Ability to split payments and serve multiple customers at once
• Fixed discounts and offers
• Ability to add notes and configure orders
• Enhanced reporting

Get a quote with takepayments now

Tyl (by NatWest) Clover Flex

Weighing in at 453 grams, Tyl’s Clover Flex card reader is at the chunkier end of the mobile card reader market.

Although it still utilises Wi-Fi and 4G, allowing you to use it anywhere, it’s still significantly heavier than the other devices, which does affect its portability.

However, more does in this case mean more. The Clover Flex acts as an all-in-one POS system that allows you to both take payments and manage your business from one device, including inventory and customer management, itemised receipts and more.

It has a decent eight-hour battery life and a high-res 5’’ touchscreen, which enables you to use a variety of the 150 apps on the Clover App Market. However, while it’s handy to have this functionality in one place, we’d wager most people don’t mind switching to their phone for these functions if it means having a smaller device.

Also, it’s not the most affordable option for small businesses. You’ll pay £16.99 per month for the 4G mobile version before transaction fees are even factored into the equation. The transaction fee is a flat 1.5 per cent on all cards, excluding American Express.

However, NatWest is offering to waive hire fees for new customers for three months, once they commit to a 12-month contract.

Tyl is also waiving its monthly fees on its e-commerce gateway for 12 months, up until the end of December 2023. Normally, it charges £14.95 + VAT per month.

4G usage is charged up to £9.99 + VAT per month depending on how much you use.

Clover Flex is better for larger small businesses with a large, consistent sales volume.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Shopify WisePad 3 Reader

Although only available for Shopify customers, we think it’s worth highlighting Shopify’s WisePad 3 Reader.

It’s lightweight (130 grams) and accepts all major payment cards and types. You have to subscribe to Shopify though to be able to use it and it only works with an iPad or through your iPhone.

Shopify subscriptions

Shopify has three subscription levels for its Wisepad 3 card reader: Basic, Shopify and Advanced. Basic costs £25 a month, Shopify £65 per month, and Advanced £344 a month. All are billed annually.

Basic (£25pm)

Credit card rates

• 2% + 25p online
• 1.7% + 0p in person

What’s included in Basic

• Basic reports
• Up to 1,000 inventory locations
• 2 staff accounts

Shopify (£65pm)

Credit card rates

• 1.7% +25p online
• 1.6% + 0p in person

What’s included in Shopify

• Professional reports
• Up to 1,000 inventory locations
• 5 staff accounts

Advanced (£344pm)

Credit card rates

• 1.5% + 25p online
• 1.5% + 0p in person

What’s included in Advanced

• Custom report builder
• Up to 1,000 inventory locations
• 15 staff accounts

However, there is no contractual obligation you have to sign with Shopify, so you are not tied in for months or years. Plus there is a 14-day free trial period for you to try out the Wisepad 3 card reader.

There are also slick add-ons to the Shopify Wisepad 3, including a tablet stand (£120), a barcode scanner (£199) and a Bluetooth receipt printer (£259).

However, with a £49 purchase price (compared with, say, £39 for the SumUp Air card reader), plus monthly subscription fees, Shopify Wisepad 3 works out as one of the most expensive readers on the market.

That said, if already use Shopify as your POS system, this would be a no-brainer.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Tide Card Reader

The Tide Card Reader is designed for mobility, so you can use it for in-store or on-the-go transactions. It is your ticket to seamless payments, anytime, anywhere.

With Tide Card reader, you can accept card and mobile payments on the go with no monthly contracts and minimal transaction fees. You also have unlimited 4G data, eliminating the need for Bluetooth connectivity. With a lifetime of free 4G connectivity and compatibility with Visa, Mastercard, ApplePay, and GooglePay, it’s time to unlock a new level of payment convenience.

The device has a one-off cost of £49 + VAT with a transaction fee of 1.50 per cent.

Small Business Pro

And finally… we can’t forget our very own payment processor, which forms part of our Small Business Pro membership. 

How much does it cost? 

WisePad 3 terminal (£49 one off cost) OR WisePOS E (£179.00 one off cost) + monthly membership fee (£39.99 sole traders and £49.99 for businesses) 

• All-in-one reader and POS service 
• Monthly subscription cost (£39.99 for sole traders and £49.99 for businesses) 
• From 1.25 per cent transaction fees for standard cards, premium cards (such as corporate cards) are 2.25 per cent

It has: 

• No monthly payment fees 
• No minimum spend amounts 
• Built-in fraud detection 
• PCI compliant 
• Integrated with customer management tool to monitor transactions 
• Bank deposits in 3 business days 

Pros: Our transaction fee is the lowest on the market for any payment facilitator starting from 1.25 per cent. 

Cons: It’s not available as a standalone payments service, so you’ll need to purchase a monthly membership from us. 

Best for: Food and drink, retail, health and beauty and service-based businesses that are looking to streamline multiple tools and platforms.

Which is the best card payment device?

By now you’ve either discovered the card reader that’s right for your business, or you’ve left bamboozled by a dizzying range of different card payment machines, fee structures and additional features.

If it’s the latter, don’t worry. For most small businesses, we’d recommend SumUp. It’s an affordable device with one of the lowest transaction fees on the market, and as it’s a flat rate, it’s predictable and transparent. We were also impressed by its long battery life, which can process more than 500 payments on a single charge.

MyPOS Go also really stands out to us as another great option for small businesses. As well as very competitive transaction fees, it has great added features like multi-operator mode, which make it a great choice for cafes and restaurants. It’s also great that you can access funds instantly.

That said, we’ve selected all the above card payment machines for their flexibility, simplicity and practicality, and each one would be a great option for your small business. Happy selling.

Need a card payment device quote?

Want to compare prices from all the best card payment devices we’ve listed above? Why not use our free comparison tool to be matched with the most suitable provider for your needs.

Simply fill in our free quote-finding form, and answer a few questions about your business (it takes less than a minute). We’ll match you with the most appropriate card payment provider.

Further reading

Best payment processors for UK small businesses – 11 of the best – What’s the best payment system for your small business? 11 of the best payment processors for UK SMEs reviewed

The post 10 card payment machines ideal for small business appeared first on Small Business UK.

For any small business operating online, it’s a highly competitive landscape. That’s why managing merchant processing fees is paramount for those looking to maximise their profit margins.

However, by first understanding the intricacies of various fees, exploring seamless integration options, and considering the partners you choose, the platform is set to optimise your payment processes and pave the way for greater financial success in the dynamic world of eCommerce.

Let’s dive in.

Small Business Pro allows you to build your own sales pipelines with our tool which has been specially tailored for small businesses – all at a fraction of the cost of other CRMs.

It will also help with the heavy lifting of taking payments, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

Types of merchant processing fees

The first step in this process is to understand what the different merchant processing fees are. Without a clear comprehension of these fees, businesses may risk overpaying, miss potential cost-saving opportunities, or could encounter unexpected expenses which may dent profitability and financial stability.

Interchange fees

Interchange fees are charges imposed by card networks, such as Visa and Mastercard, for processing transactions. These fees can vary, based on factors like the card type used, such as credit or debit, and the industry the business operates in. For example, if a customer uses a rewards credit card to buy food at a supermarket, the interchange fee might be higher compared to using a debit card for the same transaction. Interchange fees are paid by the small business’s bank (acquirer) to the card network and are an essential part of the cost structure for payment processing.

Assessment fee

An assessment fee is imposed by card networks to cover their operational expenses and maintain the payment infrastructure. Card networks typically charge a percentage of the transaction amount as assessment fees. For example, if a customer makes a £50 purchase using a Visa card, a small percentage of that transaction amount would be allocated as an assessment fee, which contributes to supporting the global payment network and maintaining security measures.

Discount fee

Finally, discount fees (or markup fees) are the revenue earned by the payment processor or payment service provider (PSP) for their services. Payment processors charge these fees to cover their operating costs and generate profit. The fees are added on top of the interchange and assessment fees. For example, a payment processor might charge a flat fee per transaction or a percentage of the transaction amount as a discount fee, which accounts for the specific services provided by the processor, such as fraud protection, customer support, or integration tools.

To achieve lower merchant processing fees, sellers must understand the intricacies of payment processing fee structures – below is a summary of the common payment processing price models:

• Flat-rate pricing: This fee structure charges a fixed fee for every transaction, regardless of the actual interchange cost, often leading to hidden and inflated fees.
• Tiered pricing: This pricing model offers an enticingly low rate for “qualified” transactions but significantly higher rates for “mid-qualified” and “non-qualified” transactions, with the processor determining the categorisation at their discretion.
• Interchange-plus pricing: This pricing structure provides transparency by itemising fees, combining interchange fees with card network assessments, and providing a contracted markup that remains consistent for all payments.

The essential guide to point of sale (POS) systems – In this guide, we take a look at everything small business owners need to know about buying a point of sale (POS) system

Which fee structure should you choose?

Each fee structure has its advantages and disadvantages. Selecting the right one can make a substantial difference in both costs and operational efficiency. My advice here is to work with those payment processors committed to empowering businesses with comprehensive fee information that enables informed decisions tailored to their specific needs.

Transparent processors offer simplified pricing models, eliminating hidden charges and providing cost visibility.

Additionally, value-added services and cost-effective solutions further reduce expenses, including fraud prevention tools, customised integration options, and exceptional customer support, helping to streamline financial operations.

How to reduce your merchant processing fees

The first step is to negotiate better rates with your existing payment processor, as businesses can use their transaction volume and industry reputation as powerful bargaining tools, as well as to show value to their payment processor.

What’s more, emphasising your loyalty and desire to continue a mutually beneficial partnership can foster a collaborative approach during negotiations. I’d also recommend researching competitor rates and industry standards to advocate for more competitive terms.

#1 – Install robust fraud detection tools

Implementing fraud prevention measures is another step to take in reducing merchant processing fees. This is because high chargeback ratios indicate a higher risk of fraudulent transactions and customer disputes, which in turn leads a payment processor to classify the merchant as high-risk. As a result, payment processors may impose higher processing fees to compensate for potential losses. Mitigate these risks through robust fraud detection tools that can help identify suspicious transactions in real time.

#2 – Integrate payment gateways and shopping carts

Integrating payment gateways and shopping carts can lead to reduced merchant processing fees through increased efficiency and optimised transaction processes. By seamlessly integrating these systems, merchants can eliminate the need for manual data entry and reduce the risk of errors, leading to quicker transaction processing and fewer chargebacks.

Best buy now, pay later platforms for small businesses – More people are now using the buy now, pay later method as a direct result of the rise in cost of living. Here are the best platforms to use for your small business

#3 – Embrace tokenisation and P2PE

As a result of improved data security and reduced fraud risk, businesses utilising innovative technologies such as tokenisation and point-to-point encryption (P2PE) may gain trust from customers and payment processors, potentially leading to negotiations for lower processing fees.

Tokenisation replaces payment card information with tokens, ensuring that sensitive data is not stored, reducing the risk of data breaches, and complying with security regulations.

P2PE encrypts payment data from the point of sale until it reaches the payment processor, safeguarding it against potential breaches during transmission, and creating a more secure and cost-effective payment processing environment.

#4 – Compare providers

Comparing providers can mean better pricing and improved services for businesses and customers. When researching and evaluating providers, it’s important to prioritise their reputation, track record, and industry experience.

Businesses should also assess their service offerings, such as transaction fees and any potential hidden costs, to ensure they are both competitive and sustainable for their transaction volume.

Additionally, firms should look for providers which offer valuable supplementary services such as fraud protection, subscription management, and robust international payment support, as these can significantly enhance business operations.

#5 – Consider a specialist PSP

Finally, considering a “specialist” PSP that caters to a specific industry, sector or business type brings a multitude of benefits for businesses. Such providers offer tailored solutions that address the unique needs and challenges of specific sectors, ensuring a more seamless and efficient payment process. For example, a travel-focused provider could offer multi-currency support and adaptive payment options for global travellers.

Why it’s important to reduce merchant processing fees

The importance of consistently reviewing and optimising merchant processing fees cannot be underestimated for profitability. By implementing some of the tips I’ve provided above, such as leveraging specialised industry knowledge, utilising transparent fee structures offered by reliable providers, and partnering with reputable PSPs, it will help to lower merchant processing fees, ensuring long-term cost savings and operational efficiency for your business.

Bob Kaufman is founder and CEO of payments gateway ConnexPay

More on taking payments

Shopify alternatives for UK businesses – Over 180,000 UK businesses use Shopify for their ecommerce platform. However, there are alternatives to Shopify out there which are cheaper or even free

The post 5 ways to reduce your merchant processing fees appeared first on Small Business UK.

Once upon a time, a POS system was nothing more than a cash register that allowed shopkeepers to process and record transactions.

Today, however, a POS is a sophisticated, internet-enabled system which also enables you to manage stock, staff, and sales, reward customer loyalty, and track vital performance metrics.

But with increased sophistication comes increased complexity, and in order to get the most out of your POS system, you need to understand how to set it up and use it properly.

Whether you’re a restaurant or a retailer, this article will explain exactly how to set up a POS system for your small business, and delve into the hardware, costs, and capabilities you need to know.

If you’re still looking for the perfect POS system for your small business, we can help. Just provide some basic details about your business using the form above and we’ll match you with the best providers for your needs.

With Small Business Pro, track your invoices and get in-person and online transactions at one of the lowest rates on the market. It will also help with the heavy lifting of managing customers, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

How to set up a POS system: A deep dive

• What is a POS system?
• How to set up your POS system
• How to use your POS system
• What hardware is needed?
• POS costs
• Next steps
• Get a POS quote

What is a POS system?

A point-of-sale (POS) system is the hardware and software that retailers use to process sales transactions. 

A POS system usually includes a tablet or touchscreen device, a card reader, a barcode scanner, a printer, and a cash register. 

But modern POS systems go beyond just taking payments – they also operate as complete retail management platforms, allowing you to track stock, manage customer relationships, and monitor performance with in-depth analytics. 

>See also: Best payment processors for UK small businesses – 11 of the best

How to set up a POS system

No two POS systems are exactly the same, but most include similar basic hardware, and follow a similar setup process.

The first thing to know is that you don’t necessarily need to do the setup yourself. Some providers will send an expert to install your hardware and train you and your staff in how to use the POS system correctly.

However, this article is for those who are setting it up themselves.

Create an account

All POS providers will require you to create an account using your business email address. As most systems are now cloud based, you can do this before your hardware arrives.

You’ll need to provide some details in order to properly configure your account, including your business name, your location(s), and your business bank account details, so that you can get paid.

Set up your hardware

Depending on the complexity of your system, this could be as simple as plugging in a tablet and switching it on or it could require you to integrate a number of different devices and items into your setup.

In order to trigger the correct series of actions during a transaction, you need to connect your receipt printer to your tablet or touchscreen monitor using a USB, and then the receipt printer to your cash drawer using the provided cable. They will also each have separate power adapters that will need to be plugged into the mains.

Once everything is connected, when you ring up a sale on your touchscreen, the printer will produce a receipt and trigger the cash drawer to open. You may still have to configure some of the settings in your system. For example, you may not want the cash drawer to open with every transaction.

Finally, you just need to connect your card reader to your terminal using a USB, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi.

Connect your POS system to your Wi-Fi

Depending on your system, this will either involve joining your device to your router using an ethernet cable or just keying in the password for your network in your device’s Wi-Fi settings.

Connecting to the Wi-Fi enables your POS system to connect to your provider’s software and full range of functions.

Create your product library

Your product library is going to be the foundation of every action taken on your POS software, so it’s worth taking the time to get it right. This is where all the data will be drawn from to track sales and inventory and produce all your valuable analytics. Any error in information entry could produce discrepancies further down the line.

Firstly, you need to create categories for each product to sit inside. For example, a clothing store might have categories like shirts, trousers, and shoes, or different brands. A restaurant might have drinks, starters, pizzas.

For each item or product, you’ll then be required to provide a name, description, tags and category (so it’s easy to find in the system), cost price and sales price, barcode, and multiple choice options (if needed). There will be other optional fields to fill in, and you should also be able to create custom fields if you don’t see one that’s relevant to you.

If you have a large number of products, you may be able to bulk import the information from a Microsoft Excel CSV file, which is much quicker than manually adding each item.

Add user accounts

All modern POS systems give you the ability to create user profiles for individual team members, which can track login times and monitor performance. You can also decide the access level and admin privileges of each member of staff so that, for example, a manager will be allowed to cash up, but a floor assistant won’t.

Refine your settings

The above is a crash course in how to complete the basic setup of your POS system. However, there are plenty of tweaks you can make to the settings to ensure your system is tailored to the needs and goals of your store or restaurant.

There’s no one way to do this, so the best thing is just to spend some time exploring the software’s capabilities and making the necessary adjustments. If you’re finding it all a bit bewildering, there’s usually loads of help available on your POS provider’s website, or you can call their support line.

How to use a POS system

Once you’ve set up your system and adjusted the settings to your preferences, you’re ready to start using your POS. On an ongoing basis, the main things you’ll be doing are processing transactions, managing inventory, and tracking analytics.

The great thing about modern POS systems is that almost all of these are automated in some way. Sure, when transacting, you’ll have to scan the barcode or key in the bill amount and then take a card payment or cash from the customer. But once you’ve done that, your system will automatically update the stock level of that item, record all relevant sales data and import it into your analytics.

It can then do everything from sending reorder alerts when you’re running low on inventory to giving you daily or even hourly breakdowns of sales. And that’s just for starters. It can also record sales by customer, so you can reward their loyalty, and even remind you of their most frequent purchases, so you can start making their oat milk flat white as soon as they sit down.

Thanks to user accounts, you can also check that your staff are checking in and out on time and see who is making the most sales and when. This information is vital for making informed staffing decisions. For example, you can choose to have top performing staff on at peak times, reward them for promotion, and reprimand or let go of consistent latecomers.

What hardware is needed for POS

Tablet or touchscreen monitor

The nerve centre of your POS system. This is where you or your staff will perform every action from adding products and taking transactions to cashing up and viewing analytics.

Many systems are now iPad-based, and you can buy a special stand to mount the device at your till, though some providers still offer their own touchscreen monitor.

Receipt printer

As many POS providers now give you the option to send email receipts, which is good for your overheads and the environment, this is an optional part of your POS setup. However, paper receipts and paper bills are still expected in most retail and restaurant environments, so it’s a good idea to have one. 

Make sure to stock up with a good supply of till roll – you don’t want to suddenly run out during the busiest hour of the day.

Card reader

A card reader or PDQ machine connects to your POS terminal and allows you to process card transactions. There are three different types: mobile, portable, and countertop.

Mobile card readers use a phone signal and can be used anywhere from a field to a high street. Portable card readers rely on Wi-Fi and are great for restaurants as they can take payments at customers’ tables. Countertop card machines are fixed to your till, making them perfect for shops.

Barcode scanner

A must in retail environments, you’ll use this device to scan the barcode of any item the customer is purchasing, which will automatically bring it up in your system. Some POS providers now allow you to turn your smartphone into a barcode scanner.

Cash drawer

A lockable, enclosed tray with separate sections for different denominations of notes and coins. They come in different sizes, so make sure to get one that’s large enough to store the amount of cash you’re likely to be taking on a daily basis.

POS costs

The overall cost of your POS consists of the price of your hardware, the subscription to your POS provider, and card transaction fees.

These prices can vary wildly, so we’ve tried to give an accurate range based on an assessment of top providers.

Next steps

For most POS systems, setting up the hardware is relatively straightforward – you just need to plug your devices into a power source and connect them to each other using the correct wire or via Bluetooth/Wi-Fi. Then you just need to create your product library and user profiles, and tailor your settings to your requirements.

Some things may require a bit of trial and error, but the great thing about modern POS systems, whether you work in retail or hospitality, is that everything from the hardware to the software is entirely customisable to your requirements.

Don’t take cash? No problem – don’t buy a cash drawer. Need to set different prices for the same item in different locations? That’s possible. Want to find out which are your top performing products and at what times they sell? It’s all in your analytics.

If you do need help with your setup, don’t hesitate to check out your provider’s help pages or call their helpline. Or your POS provider should be able to send round an expert to set up your system and show you how to use it.

Remember, the more time you take to learn about your POS and its capabilities, the more you’ll get out of it.

You can jump straight to one of the providers below to learn more or keep reading to compare them all.

POS systems: a deep dive

• Lightspeed Retail
• Square POS
• Shopify
• EPOS Now
• Zettle
• SaleDock

>See also: Best payment processors for UK small businesses – 11 of the best

Lightspeed Retail

Pricing

Lean: £59 per month
Standard: £79 per month
Advanced: £119 per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing

Features

• Quick keys and easy search to keep sales moving
• Custom fields and customisable buttons and receipts
• Built-in inventory counting and low stock alert
• Retail analytics across multiple locations 
• Integrations with accounting, ecommerce, and marketing apps

Lightspeed Retail is an all-in-one POS system and commerce platform for busy retailers, offering everything from customisable point of sales features to mix and match hardware bundles. 

Lightspeed doesn’t sell its own hardware but allows you to combine elements from different brands within your setup. This means you can integrate an industry-leading printer with an industry-leading scanner and cash register. 

The inventory management function is pretty comprehensive, with reorder points and low stock alerts to significantly reduce the chances of bestsellers being out-of-stock, and the ability to track unit costs, margins, and inventory levels across multiple locations. And with built-in inventory counting features, you can also minimise errors associated with manual entry.

There’s plenty of analytics and reports to get your teeth into as well, including staff performance and customer spend, all of which can be customised to align with your business metrics.

Finally, Lightspeed Retail offers integrations with loads of leading accounting, ecommerce, marketing apps, and more, allowing you to sync data across multiple platforms and even develop custom solutions with its open API.

Compare retail POS system quotes

Square POS

Pricing

Free: Free
Plus: £49 per month per location
Premium: Custom pricing

Features

• Multi-location inventory management and stock forecasting
• Multi-channel selling both online and in-store
• In-depth sales reports
• Manage your team with unlimited employee passcodes and timecard reporting
• Next working day and instant transfers

Founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey, the man who started Twitter, Square has grown to become one of the most popular point of sale systems in the world for retailers.

And it’s not hard to see why: Square POS is fully stocked with everything a busy retail business needs to handle sales, customers, inventory, and more.

Let’s start with payments. Square integrates all payments, whether they’re through card, Apple Pay, or gift card into your POS, and can deliver funds into your account instantly or the next working day for just a 1% transfer fee. Meanwhile, in-depth, by-the-minute sales and profit margin reports give you granular insights into performance that you can act on.

Square also helps keep your queue moving with barcode scanning, item search, and customer profiles, and can quickly process itemised returns and exchanges. Its inventory counting tool makes it easy to update, review, and stock take, and stock forecasting alerts you when you need to reorder.

Finally, Square sells a variety of sleek, compact, and affordable hardware, including terminals, card readers, iPod stands, and accessories, so you can find your perfect retail POS setup.

Compare retail POS system quotes

Shopify

Pricing

Shopify POS pricing is on top of the cost of your Shopify store plan.

Basic: £25 per month
Shopify: £65 per month
Advanced: £344 per month

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Shopify POS Pro: $89 per month per location

Features

• Offer customers a fully omnichannel experience by integrating online and in store shopping
• Smart stock monitoring offers sales and inventory recommendations
• Control staff permissions and track the performance of each team member
• Comprehensive checkout function with customisable receipts, discounts, and sales
• Full range of Shopify POS hardware available

Befitting a company whose primary business is online commerce, Shopify has cornered the market in omnichannel selling. For example, a customer can buy in store and have the product shipped to them from the nearest location with it in stock. They can also purchase online and return in store, and you can send them emails promoting an item they were interested in but didn’t buy in store.

When it comes to stock management, Shopify’s Stocky app is a cut above. It uses smart technology to suggest purchase orders based on product performance and can make recommendations for releasing cash and inventory based on what isn’t selling. It also offers detailed inventory reports and tracking, so you can keep on top of stock and plan ahead.

The customisable checkout is also worth highlighting. You can create customised printed, email, and SMS receipts, and there’s a tailored smart grid that adapts based on cart actions, which makes it easy to offer a seamless experience to both staff and customers.

Lastly, it might have started online, but Shopify now offers its own complete ‘plug-and-play’ POS hardware package through the Shopify Hardware store, all available with a one-year warranty.

Compare retail POS system quotes

EPOS Now

Pricing

£399 or £25 per month

Features

• Full EPOS Now POS hardware available
• Multi-site and omnichannel store management
• Import, update, and manage thousands of products
• Customer profiles that automatically update with every purchase
• Access reports on everything from best sellers to top performing employees through the cloud

EPOS Now is the real deal when it comes to retail. As well as selling its own retail POS hardware, it provides all the features and functions you could ever need, whether you’re a florist or a farm shop.

EPOS Now’s award-winning hardware starter kit includes a touch screen, printer, cash drawer and software, which can be expanded through the addition of other devices and accessories as your business grows. That’s not to mention the hundreds of software integrations, including Mailchimp, Sage, and a variety of ecommerce platforms, so you can build a fully comprehensive setup.

The analytics are also worth shouting about. You can access insights and reports at any time and on any device through the cloud, including individual product performance and employee performance. You can also use the search function to identify trending items or non-selling stock and use reports to identify peak sales times.

What’s more, you can manage customer relationships and build loyalty with customer profiles, which automatically update every time they make a purchase, allowing you to create targeted campaigns and award points.

Compare retail POS system quotes

Zettle

Pricing

Zettle card reader: From £29
Full POS setup: From £149 (excluding VAT) 

Features

• Full range of sleek and compact hardware
• Bulk import thousands of products and manage them within the app
• Bank deposits made within 1-2 business days
• Accepts all major cards, as well as Apple, Android, and Google Pay
• Daily reports on sales and staff performance

Zettle’s range of hardware is both aesthetically pleasing and compact, making it a great option for small retailers with limited space. You can connect the Reader 2 and barcode scanner to your smartphone or tablet or use the in-built barcode scanner on the Zettle app.

Zettle also makes it easy to build and manage your product library. You can bulk import thousands of products from Excel, add photos and descriptions and group products by category and collection for easy search. All products are then synced online, and in-store and sales are tracked so you can keep an eye on inventory, with automatic alerts for low stock levels. You also get automatic daily reports on sales and staff performance.

The payments and fees really set Zettle apart. Card transaction fees are set at a flat rate of 1.75 per cent, so you always know how much of your revenue will be charged, and bank deposits are made in a speedy 1-2 business days, which is much quicker than the average. Zettle accepts all major debit and credit cards, as well as Apple, Android, and Google Pay, so you shouldn’t ever be in a situation where a customer isn’t able to make a purchase because their payment type isn’t supported.

Compare retail POS system quotes

Saledock

Pricing

Essential: £49 per month
Pro: £69 per month
Unified: £119 per month

Features

• Tap, scan, or search barcodes to add items or use your smartphones camera
• Product sync across multiple stores
• Intuitive, easy-to-learn system
• Accept multiple payments on one order and take deposits or partial payments
• 14-day free trial 

Saledock might only be just over two years old (it was founded in 2020), but as a Yorkshire-based, family-run POS which has been designed specifically for the UK market, we think it’s worthy of your consideration.

Saledock is an all-in-one, cloud-based POS, ecommerce, and inventory solution which aims to give retailers only the features they need to make their lives easier. In practice, this means an intuitive, responsive system which staff can quickly get to grips with, and which reduces mistakes at checkout. You can add multiple stores and manage stock across each one with reorder alerts, product sync across devices and online, and top product data.

As well as being able to tap, scan or search barcodes to add items to an order, you can use the camera on your smartphone as a scanner. You can also accept multiple payments for just one order and even take deposits and partial payments if the customer wants to secure an item and settle the full payment later.

With pricing ranging from £49 to £119 per month, it is quite expensive compared to our other top POS systems. And on top of the subscription cost, if you don’t already own hardware, you’ll have to buy third-party equipment through Saledock.

That said, you do get a 14-day free trial, so you can always give it a go and see if it’s right for your business before committing to a subscription.

Compare retail POS system quotes

Need a POS quote?

Not yet found the right POS system? Why not use our free comparison tool to be matched with the most suitable provider for your needs.

Simply fill in our free quote-finding form, and answer a few simple questions about your business (it takes less than a minute). We’ll match you with the most appropriate retail POS systems.

The post How to set up a POS system for your small business appeared first on Small Business UK.

UPDATED: With cash now making up just 10 per cent of payments, taking card payments has never been more important for small businesses.

The most common method today is contactless – making up 87 per cent of all card payments, helped by the limit raise to £100 in October 2021.

It is true it can be a nightmare for businesses to get started. You must pay for the privilege and the amount you pay can vary with every transaction.

But accepting card payments is both simple and cost effective for small businesses and as high street banks and cash points become harder to find, not taking cards could entice customers to shop elsewhere.

But who can you trust? Why do you need to pay? To help, here are five essential need-to-knows. We’ve put together a guide to get you started and written it in plain English to try and make it as painless as possible to understand.

With Small Business Pro, track your invoices as well as getting in-person and online transactions at one of the lowest rates on the market. It will also help with the heavy lifting of managing customers, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

#1 – Know who you’re dealing with

To understand the process, every transaction you accept on a card involves several bodies and they all receive some payment from the merchant (you).

They are the card issuer (the bank or financial institution that provided the card to the customer), the acquirer (such as WorldPay, Zettle, Stripe, etc – an organisation that facilitates the authorisation, processing and settlement of the transaction) and finally, the card scheme (the brand on the card, e.g. Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, etc).

There are many card processing suppliers on the market. They range from your local bank to a specialist processing supplier. However, in practice they all do the same thing.

15 Popular Card Payment Processors

#2 – Make sense of why it costs

Ok, we are going to tell you to suck eggs here but bear with us. Most providers of card payment terminals will quote you a basic rate for credit and debit card processing which is based on a ‘chip and PIN’ transaction using a card issued in the same country it is being processed (i.e. here in the UK).

That means the customer uses a card that has an electronic chip embedded into it and they validate they are the genuine owner of that card using a PIN (just like at the cash point). This greatly reduces the chance of plastic card fraud and these types of transactions are now the norm in the UK. They are also considered to be the most secure and, as such, attract some of the lowest fees, which is why most providers use them in their quote.

Expect to get quotes such as 15p per transaction or x percentage of each transaction. What’s best value for you depends on how many transactions you carry out and what the average value of them is.

The fees you will pay are dependent upon several factors including your turnover and your risk. Higher turnover businesses should be able to obtain a lower fee.

Regarding risk, the banks will look at your trading risk in two ways. Firstly, are you selling a high-risk product in a high-risk industry, such as travel or gambling? And secondly, are the payments you accept customer present (face to face) or customer not present (over the telephone)?

In all cases I recommend you ask the suppliers to support their service-offer with an estimation of fees and based upon your payment history and if they don’t, don’t use them.

#3 – How to get your payment terminal

Next, you need to think about how you go about getting your payment terminal. This depends a lot on the size of your business and for an SME it’s normally easiest to go through an ‘introducer’. These companies work with thousands of businesses and have a greater buying power when it comes to securing a better rate than if you attempted to do it solo.

Most small business will use a basic bank terminal. However, many POS venders may support a pin pad using a standard card payment application. Most UK banks will support a combined cards processing and terminal package in one. There are a number of card payment ‘aggregators’ that may be able to offer better value and better overall support for medium to larger businesses.

“In terms of overall fees you must consider the cost of ownership/total fees paid”

If you want to find out more about your card payment options, you can easily compare providers with Takepayments.

#4 – Understand those fees

Joining fees: These are variable, some providers charge but others don’t. Look around to see who charges and who doesn’t and factor this into the price. As a rule of thumb, you’re more likely to pay a joining fee if a representative comes out to see you, explains in detail the offer and completes the paperwork with you. This can give you the confidence to fully understand the set-up and as a result can be well worth the fee.

In terms of overall fees you must consider the cost of ownership/total fees paid. This means you need to be aware of all costs including an initial joining fee, ongoing fees and any penalty or termination fees.

Note that many suppliers will lure you in with a great headline fees for you to only realise later that other fees have been inflated. This is why you need to ask your intended supplier to support a calculated estimation of the total fees you would pay using their service.

Merchant Services Charges (MSC)
This is the most complicated section, as the price is calculated on each transaction and can vary from transaction to transaction, but roughly speaking the average business will pay £1 a day to have a card terminal.

Simply put, it breaks down like this:

• BASIC RATE (cost to process the transaction)
• + PREMIUM CHARGES (processing costs for transactions that attract fees above the basic rate, if applicable)
• + AUTHORISATION FEE (sometimes called Bank 24 on statements)
• = PRICE YOU PAY FOR A TRANSACTION.

Rates can vary depending on the type of transactions you complete – face-to-face chip and pin, customer not present, foreign cards, premium cards and magnetic stripe swiping all carry different rates per transaction. Some customers will take the option of paying a percentage of each transaction, others so many pence on each transaction – typically around 15p. It all depends on what the value of your average sale is, how many transactions you do daily and what type of customer you serve.

There are primarily two types of card payment (merchant service) fee options.

The first is described as cost plus or interchange plus and it tends to be offered only to larger companies. This is the most transparent way to pay for card payments, however it can be a little confusing.

Interchange plus = interchange fee (per cent) + Visa or Mastercard scheme fee (per cent and pence per transaction) + bank processing fee (pence per transaction).

The second option is described as blended and it means a blend of the three cost plus fees to make one percentage fee. This is simpler to understand but with this option, the bank will have made a number of assumptions in its favour in order to calculate your blended rate.

My advice is not to just accept the blended rate and to ask your provider to also calculate a cost plus/interchange plus rate.

#5 – Get going

Most applications are processed in a few days which means you could be up and running within a week of signing your agreement. In order to get to this stage, a few checks will be made such as, what does your business do? Do you sell face to face or over the internet? How are your finances? Do you file your tax returns on time? Assuming that’s all fine, you’ll be set up and ready to start taking card payments from your customers.

Top card payments tips for small business owners: Nick Healy, managing director, Suresite.

• Don’t watch as customers put items back on the shelf – let them pay the way they want. It’s easier than you think.
• Ask the suppliers to estimate the fees that you will pay using your historic transaction data.
• Shop around and compare not only fees but the complete service they can offer.
• Don’t just look at the headline rate – ask for a list of all possible fees billed.
• Does the supplier provide a terminal or support the equipment you are using (point of sale/website)?
• Would you make use of a Bluetooth portal or GPRS mobile terminal?
• Does the supplier offer any form of added value services? These could include MI reporting or access to your data via a customer website portal.
• Does the supplier support its customer using human beings or an automated service? Customer support is key if something goes wrong.
• Can the supplier offer different settlement terms? How quickly will they pay you? This will vary from next day credit or three days credit, dependent on your cash flow position.
• Does the supplier offer support for PCI compliance and if so what and what fees are involved?
• All merchants must undertake a PCI (Payment Card Industry) security test each year which can be daunting, however the better suppliers will hand hold through the process to ensure that you pass.

If you want to find out more about your card payment options, you can easily compare providers with Takepayments.

More on taking card payments

Taking card payments – everything you need to know (eBook download) – For small businesses, offering the right payment methods is what could turn window shoppers into paying customers, and that’s the aim of the game, right?

The essential guide to POS systems – In this guide, we take a look at everything small business owners need to know about buying a point of sale (POS) system.

10 card payment machines ideal for small business – Featuring the SumUp Air, Zettle 2, and Square, we break down the fees and functions of the best card payment machines for UK small businesses

The post Five tips to get started taking card payments appeared first on Small Business UK.

So, you have made the decision to start your own business, great! Let’s work on turning your idea into a reality. There is a lot to starting your business properly, this is why we have put together this 18-item checklist you’ll need to do before you start your company all the way through to your regular routine once you have formed your limited company.

Small Business Pro is the ideal tool for you when you’re starting your business. It will help with the heavy lifting of managing customers, taking payments, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

Contents

The steps before you start:

1. Research
2. Think of a name
3. Secure website domain
4. Write a business plan
5. Work out finance needed
6. Define directors and responsibilities
7. Assess strengths and weaknesses
8. Define business structure
9. Form a limited company

 

The steps after you start:

10. Open a business bank account
11. Build a brand
12. Create a website
13. Plan your marketing activities
14. Find premises
15. Get Insurance
16. Buy tools to help you do the job
17. Hire employees
18. Become a creature of habit

Checklist for before you start your company

#1 – Research

You should research the viability of your business idea, as well as who your target market is. You will also need to research who your competitors are and how your business idea differentiates from them. Once you have done this you should test your product to make sure your product is right for your target market and there is a need for your product or service.

You can find some testing methods in our previous article Escaping the nine to five: can I turn my passion into my business?

#2 – Think of a name

Your business name can come to you instantly or it may take longer to come up with. Either way you need to carefully consider what your business name will be as it can have a huge effect on how your business is received by your customers.

Here are a few tips to take into consideration when deciding on your business name:

• Keep your customers in mind – the name must appeal to your customers
• Think big – don’t restrict yourself to things like location, your business could go global
• Web friendly – how will your company name look as a web address and is it available?
• Be precise – choose a name that reflects your products or services and is not confusing
• Be unique – differentiate yourself from your competitors and stand out.

When you form a limited company, your business name is protected.

#3 – Secure your website domain

Securing a domain name should be considered before starting your business. Your domain name should be easily relatable to your business as well as memorable. Domains are relatively inexpensive.

#4 – Write a business plan

Writing a business plan gets everything to do with your new business idea in order. It helps keep you organised and focused at the critical development stage of your business.

A typical business plan includes:

• Market research
• Customer analysis
• Competitor analysis
• Product / service information
• Organisational structure
• Financial information

#5 – Work out finance needed

Some business can be started by using personal finances, some require more. You need to realistically figure out how much you will need to successfully start your business, this includes everything from premises to cost of living. You also need to consider the fact you may not make a profit for some time.

#6 – Define your directors and responsibilities

You may be starting your business alone, great, you will be the director and know that you hold all responsibilities. If you are starting a business with two or more people, you need to choose your company directors and what their responsibilities are when you form a limited company.

#7 – Assess your strengths and weaknesses

If you are starting your business on your own, you will need to be a master of certain skills in order to give your business the best chance of success. By figuring out if you have the necessary skills in areas such as organisation, communication, finance, IT, sales will give you a good idea if you need training to effectively run your business.

#8 – Define your business structure

Deciding what sort of business, you want to own is very important, you could be a sole trader, partnership or a limited company. Each one has its advantages but as limited company you have limited liability, they are tax efficient, potential credibility and prestige and pension possibilities.

#9 – Form your limited company

Once you have checked off all the above, it’s time to form your limited company. See the following articles for advice on this:

• Registering a company name

– A Small Business guide

• Forming a company: Choose your trading type

– Joanne Harris of accountants Nixon Williams shows you the different options when it comes to setting up on your own and working for yourself

• Employing company formation agents to ensure success

– Reasons for your small business to employ registered limited company formation agents.

Checklist for after you’ve formed your company

#10 – Open a business bank account

Now that you have a limited company, your finances must be separate. This is where business bank accounts come in. When selecting your business bank account keep an eye out for charges that may apply and what facilities the bank offer. A lot of banks offer other perks such as cashback too.

#11 – Build a brand

A brand is like your company’s identity or personality. This means you need to convey more than just your logo and themes; you need to convey your brands core values and beliefs in everything that you do and make sure your stake holders and customers understand them.

#12 – Create a website and get online

Building a website is not necessarily essential for every business, but a website has its advantages. It extends your reach to potential customers and customers tend to check out a business’s credentials, products and services by looking at a business’s website and online reviews. If your budget does not cover building a full website, you could consider building a holding page with key information and contact details.

#13 – Plan your marketing activities

You have a great product or service, but how will people know about it? With a marketing plan you should aim to increase your brand awareness and grow your business. Your marketing strategy should have clear objectives, messaging and target audience, as well as the marketing channels you will use.

#14 – Find your premises

You may need to start your business in commercial premises should you need the space for your business to grow, or you may only need to work from home. Either way you should consider the facilities, the proximity to your target market, transport links, licences required, and insurance policies needed.

If you decide to start your business from your home, you should take a look at The GOAT (greatest of all time) guide on how to start a home business. This guide will help you in setting up your business at your home.

You should also consider that your private address will be on the Companies House public register for everyone to see, should you have your registered address as your home address. To protect your private address, when you form a company with LegalZoom, you will get exclusive access to our Registered Agent service which protects your privacy.

#15 – Get insurance

Insurance for your business is critical and you need to get professional advice on what policies you need as they vary from industry to industry, such as liability insurances like professional liability and products liability which vary depending on your industry. You will also need to consider property and contents insurance, business interruption and theft.

#16 – Buy the tools to help you do the job

You will need tools and equipment that help you effectively produce products or enable you to provide a high-quality service. You will need to shop around to find the best deals and find out which tools and equipment are best suited for your needs. This can also administrative requirements e.g. telephone and IT requirements as well as fixtures and fittings.

Make sure you are on top of your financial data from the start. Accounting software will help you with minimizing you administration time. A few tools for Startups we recommend are:

#17 – Hire employees

You should hire someone to fulfil a role that requires a specific skillset. You will not only need to consider the financial implications of an employee’s salary; you will need to consider PAYE and National Insurance contributions along with pension contributions.

#18 – Become a creature of habit

There are certain aspects of your business that are one-off tasks. There are also other tasks that will require regular attention, some of which are:

• Updating your business plan
• Adapting you marketing strategy based on successes and failures
• Refine your target market
• Research new competitors and potential target markets
• HMRC returns
• Confirmation statements
• Up to date insurance policies

Summary and More Guides

Hopefully this checklist has helped get an idea of how to get your business off to the best start, even before you start your business, and the key areas to focus on and organise once you have started your company.

You should also check out our Start a New Business section which contains one set of guides on ‘Setting up your business‘ and another on ‘Getting your business going‘.

The post The complete checklist on starting a business the simple way appeared first on Small Business UK.

You may be looking at payment systems for seasonal markets, festivals, street food stalls, pop-ups or promotional events.

As the number of non-cash payments at festivals grows, so does the number of options for alternative payment systems. An on-the-go payment solution is much more suitable than a clunky tabletop payment system.

Many of the machines below don’t have fixed monthly fees so they’re ideal if you need them for shorter periods of time.

We’ve tried to get a sense of performance in terms of battery life but of course, it depends how much you use the card reader (or your smartphone) in a given day. Let’s take a look at some of the bigger names on the market.

The 8 best payment systems for festivals, pop-ups and street food markets

Jump straight to a particular provider of read on for our in-depth review of each system.

• Elavon
• Worldpay
• Wireless Terminal Solutions
• Zettle
• SumUp Air
• takepayments
• Global Payments (formerly Bleep)
• Square

Elavon

With Elavon’s payment processors, you can link your machine via WiFi or 4G and take card, contactless or mobile wallet payments. And for behind the scenes, you can add relevant functions including stock management and staff rotas.

The payment terminals have dynamic currency conversion (DCC) and multi-currency conversion (MCC). MCC lets customers see prices in their home currency while DCC lets customers pay in their home currency.

Security-wise, you’re covered with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) measures including point to point encryption (P2PE) solutions, safe storage and tokenisation.

The readers are said to have an ‘extra-long battery life’ but no specifics on how long the average machine lasts per charge.

MobileMerchant

MobileMerchant is Elavon’s solution for accepting card payment using your smartphone or tablet. Your funds will be in your account by the next day.

It has features like stock management, reporting functions and business analytics. Evalon says that it’s best suited to services businesses, taxis, retail and cafés.

Fees: The MobileMerchantApp is free. There’s a one-off device cost of £29 and the transaction fee starts at 1.75 per cent.

Compare payment system quotes

You can also easily find the right card payments provider for you with takepayments.

Worldpay

Worldpay pairs with an app and a small card reader that can use WiFi and mobile data to do transactions. It has an extended battery life but, like Elavon, no note of average length per battery charge.

For businesses with an annual card turnover of less than £300,000. Otherwise, you will need custom pricing.

The package comes with next day payment settlement and no hidden fees.

Fees: There’s a 1.5 per cent transaction fee for on the go, in person or online payments. The Simplicity POS package has a £17.50 card payment terminal fee (18-month minimum hire term).

Compare payment system quotes

Wireless Terminal Solutions

Wireless Terminal Solutions comes with the option of a GPRS/GSM terminal, WiFi terminals, portable Bluetooth terminals, integrated EPOS units, fixed line countertop card machines and contactless payment machines. WTS machines accept Apple Pay, Android Pay and UnionPay.

You have the option to rent a card machine in the short-term or the long-term, buy one outright or opt for a refurbished model. The battery life on these readers is typically 60-70 hours.

It takes a few days to get the card machine up and running, which is slower than the company’s competitors.

Fees: Wireless Terminal Solutions has EPOS rentals for festivals and outdoor events. Discounts are offered for multiple EPOS units.

• One to three days – £65 per unit excluding VAT
• One week – £75 per unit excluding VAT
• One month – £160 per unit excluding VAT
• Three months – £260 per unit excluding VAT

Compare payment system quotes

Zettle

Zettle’s Go package is ideal for small businesses who want to get a payment system set up quickly. You can take payment, record sales and track inventory and deposits within one or two working days.

Battery life is on average eight hours with a transaction every five minutes or up to 100 transactions from one charge.

Fees: Zettle has a fee of 1.75pc per card transaction. Like some of the other offerings, the card reader is £29 and the point of sale app is free. iZettle’s Transaction Protection programme will cover you for to £250 of chargebacks per month as long as you follow best practice for accepting card payments.

Compare payment system quotes

> See also: Three ways to reduce chargebacks

SumUp Air

The Air model can take contactless, chip and PIN, Google Pay and Apple Pay. One battery charge lasts for up to 500 transactions.

Software includes a product catalogue and the option to add and edit VAT rates for your products, track sales and manage multiple employee accounts. Payouts to your bank account are slower than the rest of the products listed here at one to three days.

Fees: You’ll pay £39 for the card reader but it has a cheaper 1.69 per cent transaction fee compared to its competitors. It incurs a €10 (£8.81) fee per chargeback. If you select SumUp’s business account as your payout account, you’ll pay a cheaper 1.49 per cent transaction fee until the end of the next month you sign up from.

Compare payment system quotes

takepayments

Working specifically with independents and SMEs, takepayments offers a variety of contracts, starting from 30 days. The mobile payment unit accepts Apple and Google Pay, with a next day settlement fee. A welcome team will help you to set up and the UK based support team will help with any queries. The battery lasts all day and an in-car charger is available.

Fees: Bespoke – contact takepayments for a free quote.

Compare payment system quotes

Global Payments (formerly Bleep)

Global Payments was the payment system in the 2012 London Olympics and Rio 2016 Olympics as well as other events like The Open, Wimbledon and Glastonbury.

The mobile EPOS solutions let you check stock availability and incorporate other functionality based on your business.

Card readers have an extended battery life, but again, no word of how long they last.

Fees: For rentals you need to request a quote. You can rent or buy a unit.

Compare payment system quotes

Square

With the Square reader you can accept chip and PIN and contactless cards as well as Google Pay and Apple Pay.

It’s a very quick set-up so you can start taking payments swiftly – great if you land  a festival spot at the last minute. Again, Square is customisable with apps from the marketplace.

If you’re in need of quick cash, get your money into your account on the next working day or even instantly with Square’s instant deposit feature which incurs a 1 per cent fee.

The reader has a battery which takes 20 per cent more transactions per charge than the first generation reader.

Fees: You’re looking at 1.75 per cent + VAT per chip and PIN or contactless payment and 2.5 per cent + VAT per keyed-in transaction. The reader itself is £19 and Square’s POS app is free.

Compare payment system quotes

Next steps

Want to compare prices from all the best payment systems we’ve listed above? Why not use our free comparison tool to be matched with the most suitable provider for your needs.

Simply fill in our free quote-finding form, and answer a few questions about your business (it takes less than a minute). We’ll match you with the most appropriate card payment provider.

You can also easily find the right card payments provider for you with takepayments.

Read more

Five tips to get started taking card payments

The post 8 payment systems for festivals, pop-ups and street food markets appeared first on Small Business UK.

If there was ever a case for creating an online business, it is the rising percentage of online retail transactions. Recent figures from Statista show that e-commerce revenue in the UK has reached £110bn, accounting for 38 per cent of total retail spend. The UK also has 60 million e-commerce users. 

Having an online presence is therefore essential. The internet offers a platform for a business to be found, be competitive, to gain credibility and ultimately provide great returns. 

A 2018 survey of over 2,000 small and micro-businesses by website provider 123-Reg found that online businesses were 51 per cent more likely to grow than those without a website.  

Together with the fact websites are now a vital element of consumer pre-purchase research, it is more necessary than ever for your business to stand out from the crowd with a .uk domain.  

The good news for those on a budget is that an effective online operation does not have to break the bank. From inexpensive domain name registration to achieving market visibility through strong SEO and social media utilisation, a flourishing online business can be created on a shoestring.  

This guide in association with the UK Domain by Nominet will cover the process getting online, what to consider and how others have found success online. 

Small Business Pro is the ideal tool for you when you’re starting your business. It will help with the heavy lifting of managing customers, taking payments, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

Maximising online success  

Helen Tomes, from the UK Domain by Nominet, discusses the key areas for maximising success when doing business online. 

The internet has transformed virtually all aspects of life. Setting up and running a business is no exception. Having an online presence has never been so essential for small businesses, and those that fail to recognise the importance and opportunities are being left behind.  

Three quarters (76 per cent) of UK consumers look online for information before hitting the high street and it’s no secret that customers are now becoming more reliant on using the internet to search and shop for products and services. 

If your business isn’t online, it’s not visible to most of your potential customers. It also means you can’t compete effectively, as your competitors are likely to be online already and will be displayed when customers search for similar products and services to your own.  

Customers expect to find businesses online 

In an era when people can order a product at 10pm and still get next-day delivery, customers expect to find businesses online. Businesses that have yet to adopt an online presence also risk being perceived in the minds of some customers as less trustworthy and credible. 

This also means that customers now expect to be able to shop, anytime, anywhere, 24/7. Even if you run a business from a physical space, such as a retail shop, being online is an easy and effective way to tell customers where your business is, what times you’re open and what products or services you offer.  

These reasons are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the importance of being online. Not only will you improve your business’s visibility but you’ll also have some great opportunities to talk to all your customers. Got some new products? Received some great feedback from a customer? Being online gives you a great platform to shout about your business through a variety of channels, tools and techniques, not all of which require a hefty budget. 

Getting a website 

Starting and building a website is the essential step towards getting your business online and, despite what you might think, it doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult. 

Securing a great domain name (the string of letters or words that identify websites online) is the best way to own your brand online, and those who sell them (registrars) often have low-priced special offers available.  

“Businesses that have yet to adopt an online presence risk being perceived as less trustworthy and credible” 

Once you have a domain name, the next step is to build your website. Most registrars offer easy-to-use web-building packages that require no technical knowledge to get started with and only require a small monthly or annual fee. 

Optimising for search engines 

You may have already heard of search engine optimisation (SEO), the practice of trying to get a website to climb higher in search engine results in to earn more clicks from people searching. SEO can seem an advanced topic, requiring the expertise of a professional, but there are some simple (and free) things you can do to improve the visibility of your website, with the most crucial being to include lots of quality content on your website. Anticipate the questions your customers are likely to ask and ensure your content answers them. 

>See also: On the first day of Christmas, my SEO said to me… festive search guide 

Engaging on social media 

Social media is a great tool to raise brand awareness and engage with customers and getting set up is free – you’ll only need a budget if you venture into advertising. 

Social media isn’t just a customer service tool: you can use it to drive more traffic to your website, gain valuable insight into your customers, share great content, gain customer feedback and improve loyalty to your brand.  

Paid promotion with advertising 

A little budget can go a long way when it comes to advertising online, if you’re smart about it. From targeting customers on Facebook to showing banner adverts on popular websites, there are plenty of great opportunities you can investigate for your business. You don’t need a big budget but you do need to be very clear about what you want to achieve. That’s a key point to take away throughout this guide: have a plan with clear goals and minimise the risk of wasting money. 

Business name and domain: Getting it right 

When starting any business on a budget, some expenditures will be greater than others. Sorting out your business name and registering a domain is a low-cost activity, but careful thought must be put into it. 

Coming up with a name for your business might not sound like a huge challenge but trying to find something that is unique, memorable and not already being used by another business can be tricky. It requires a lot of thought and careful consideration, as your business name is the first impression consumers will get of your company. 

When you have your name decided on, you have to register it. Nominet is the official registry for all UK domain names. The UK Domain by Nominet provides free expert advice helping businesses to achieve more online. The domain search and domain name comparison tools will help you to check that your chosen .uk domain is available, then present you with a selection of accredited registrars to choose from, giving you information on each so that you can make an informed decision to buy a domain with confidence. 

Getting a .uk domain sends an important message about your business. For Chris Evans, founder of Blighty Commonwealth Cafes, having a .co.uk domain is central to his brand. ‘It was just the right fit for our business – Blighty says UK, and it’s important for us to emphasise that local message,’ he says.  

Choosing and registering a domain: Essential tips 

Traditional or abstract? A traditional name tells potential customers what your business does at a glance, while a quirky domain name can pique the curiosity of visitors.  

Search for it on Google first. If your name is too similar to another existing business, it could create confusion for your potential customers or worse – legal issues. Use the ‘Find a domain’ search tool, which will tell you if the domain name is available. 

Make sure it’s easy to spell. Your name is going to be typed a lot – this needs to be easy for your visitors to do. 

Make it memorable. Keep it short and steer clear of hyphens and digits if you can. 

Once you’ve decided, register it straight away. Don’t risk losing your domain to someone else. 

Consider which .uk domain is best for you: 

• A .uk still carries the trust and authority of being a UK domain, while being snappier and more modern. 
• .co.uk is one of the most established and popular domains in the world, perfect for UK business and enterprise. 
• .org.uk is the domain to champion a cause and community. 
• .me.uk – the domain for individuals – is perfect for personal blogs, portfolios or any website where you’re building your own unique online presence. 

Register multiple domains. If you’ve thought of a few potential domain names, it makes sense to get them all registered as soon as you can. 

>See also: 9 best practices for branding your small business with a domain name 

Case study: How I managed my domain 

Althea Blake, founder of ROOTS POD, discusses how she went about securing the domain name for her business consultancy.  

I had a business to launch, and to validate that I was offering a professional service I needed to have an online presence and be contacted via an email address that reflected my business name and not my personal account; a professional website and email address was essential to have. 

“To register a domain name, I researched special offers among a list of providers” 

I have always loved a bargain and enjoy shopping around for the best deals before committing to a purchase. Over the years, I have negotiated with suppliers for the best prices and services for my clients. Now, I had to do it for my own business. As a small start-up, funds were initially low – and at times non-existent – so committing to long-term contracts was not always practical. 

To register a domain name, I researched special offers among a list of providers recommended by friends and colleagues from their own experience. I opted for a three-year deal, so if my income was limited or non-existent, potential clients would always be able to contact me through email or my website and not get the dreaded ‘404 page not found’ error when visiting my site or an ‘undeliverable’ email message. 

My domain is set and paid for over the next three years, saving approximately 35 per cent. Paying upfront means one less expenditure on my list of monthly outgoings, which equals one less headache for me. That alone is priceless. 

Hosting, building, and introducing a CMS 

Hosting 

Most hosting providers come in at a similar low price point – often from just £1 a month – so business owners should look at online reviews and go for quality of support, says Alex Price, founder of 93digital.co.uk. ‘You need to know you can get in touch with your hosting provider quickly and easily, at any hour, if your website goes down,’ he adds. 

Getting the best web hosting package is key for your website to work smoothly and problem free, says James Blackman, founder of website design and digital marketing agency Cocoonfxmedia. ‘When we set up our business, there weren’t many hosting options out there; however, the golden rule we stuck to was rock-solid customer support and UK-based servers,’ he says. 

The key factor to consider for web hosting is the service-level agreement and the hardware, he adds. ‘RAM and CPU is a good start. The higher the numbers the better, and cloud is often a wise choice. 

‘Hosting should not be seen as the cheapest element; however, you don’t need to spend a fortune,’ he adds. 

Implementing a CMS 

With a background in digital marketing, Caroline Taylor, founder of Taylor’d Bundles, took the decision to design and build her own CMS using Drupal – saving money. ‘Their plug-ins and updates are straightforward and allowed me to build a site that worked well for me,’ she says.  

‘I have a very good friend who programmed, tested and helped me support the site as and when I needed it. I’m very fortunate but made it a priority to fully understand and learn what the site was capable of so I can manage most of it myself.’ 

Taylor works with up-and-coming designers and asks as many as possible to link to her site to help with link building and add her URL to as many posts as possible to help increase SEO visibility. ‘It was also really important for my site to be mobile optimised, so we built the site to appear perfectly on the top 15 mobile operators – I now use analytics to see what the site is being viewed on and optimise accordingly.’ 

Case study: How I built my website 

Deepak Ravindran, co-founder of food delivery service OddBox, explains how he structured the backend of his website. 

OddBox is a food delivery service that rescues misshaped vegetables from local growers and delivers them straight to the customer’s door at a discount. 

We are a subscription-based solution, and we have two parts to our online experience. For our front end, we use a solution which we pay just $20 a month for. We also needed to integrate a subscription management system. For this second element, we use a subscription marketplace which helps us with managing our database, sending out emails to users and onboarding them, and for this we pay $40 a month. 

A seamless customer experience 

Having a setup like this means a customer will be able to use the front end to browse our products, with the actual purchase happening on the subscription marketplace. 

I’m not a technical person, and literally anyone can use the templates provided for today’s front-end solutions. There are also simple tutorials available for these products, and they are economical; we just pay the monthly subscription with no other costs to consider. 

“Having a user-friendly, attractive website that was cost effective to implement and run was key” 

Having a user-friendly, attractive website that was cost effective to implement and run was key. We are an online company through and through, and we have to communicate our brand message on the website through engaging content and imagery, as well as ensure we deliver a high standard of functionality for our customers. By using a reasonably-priced front end and subscription marketplace we feel we’ve been able to achieve this.  

SEO tricks on a budget 

Here, Matt Shaw, digital marketing manager at agency Blue Digital, shares his tips for small businesses to make SEO gains on a modest budget. 

Online marketing is becoming more important for all businesses, no matter their size. But it is often difficult for small businesses to compete with big brands for online exposure, especially when the variations in SEO and advertising budgets are so large. 

This doesn’t mean that SEO on a smaller scale isn’t possible – there are different tactics that small businesses can utilise if they have the right amount of time.   

Local SEO 

One of the best ways to improve search engine visibility for small businesses is to target local searches. This is a proven way small businesses can get ahead of some of the bigger brands within their local areas. At Blue Digital, we have utilised this tactic ourselves; as a small agency in Leeds we are competing against much larger digital marketing agencies, but through well-optimised local targeting we are managing to compete. 

Tips to be successful in SEO: 

• Ensure your business is set up with Google My Business, a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses to manage their online presence across Google and which is optimised for your industry 

• Create uniformed brand citations (company name, address, phone number and website) across reputable directories such as Yell, Thomson Local and Yellow Pages 
• Look at local papers for PR opportunities 
• Create bespoke content pages about specific locations to increase relevancy for those areas 

>See also: Does SEO matter? A close look at the impact of SEO on business website rankings 

Thought leaders 

Although small businesses may have fewer people, they still have experts within their given industries/fields, and one way to get ahead of larger businesses is to share more of their knowledge. Think about commonly asked questions within the industry and utilise in-house experts to answer them and put them on the website. 

With companies of all sizes looking to appear in search engines for high-demand search terms, it is important to pick your battles wisely. So instead of trying to compete for one of your products or services – for example, digital marketing agency – look at targeting the users that are earlier in their purchasing cycle – eg ‘What is digital marketing?’ 

What you need to do: 

• Utilise customer-facing people (or SEO-based keyword research) to find out frequently asked questions 

• Use in-house expertise to answer the questions in detail 
• Share via social media channels and email marketing 

Research and strategy 

If you do only have a small budget, utilise that to get SEO experts to do the technical aspects, including research and strategy creation. This will mean that as a small business your online presence will have the right foundations, and all that will be required from you is the time and effort to implement the strategy.  

SEO can be broken down into several areas and more often than not the implementation can be carried out by people within the business. To do this, the business should look at: 

• Sourcing a reputable SEO/digital marketing agency, not one that says they can do SEO for £20 per month. Mid-level SEO can cost around £1,000 a month 
• An SEO/digital marketing company to carry out technical website audit and keyword research 
• A web company or SEO/digital marketing agency to fix technical issues 
• An SEO/digital marketing company to create a strategy based upon research 

• Small business to implement strategy 
• SEO/digital marketing agency to review performance and update strategy accordingly 
• As long as the initial technical phase and research is performed well, a strategy implemented by the small business should have positive impacts on the online visibility 

Conquering social media on a shoestring 

Here, Lee Cullen, co-founder of marketing agency No Brainer, discusses how a small company should navigate the intricacies of social media promotion. 

As a small business, the thought of launching your fledgling company into the world of social media can be overwhelming. With so many channels to choose from, the challenge of posting good content regularly and the constant risk of negative comments or complaints, it’s easy to see why keeping the floodgates shut can seem like the best option. 

The only problem with that mindset is that – whatever sector you work in – your customers are already there. By ignoring the potential of social media, you’re missing out on valuable opportunities to engage with existing and prospective customers, promote your brand and ultimately hit those all-important business objectives. 

The good news is that, with a bit of upfront thought into your strategy, you can go on to achieve amazing things for your brand in social. Even if you’re working with a shoestring budget, follow some of these simple tips to really boost your chances of social success. 

Set goals and objectives 

The only way you’ll ever know if your social media strategy is working is if you take the time to set some goals and objectives from the start. Far too often, businesses simply dive into posting content without really thinking through why, and nine times out of ten it’s these brands that end up quickly losing heart or running out of ideas. Take the time to set some goals focused on things such as increasing brand awareness, driving engagement, creating conversations and delivering an uplift in website traffic. 

Think about your target audience 

If you sell baby clothes from a small city centre shop in London, your target customers will likely be very different from a company selling cloud-based software to SMEs in the UK. The key thing is to define who your products or services are for. How old are they? What are they interested in? Where do they live? Armed with that knowledge, you can really start to develop a solid content strategy. 

If you’re struggling to answer these questions, running small surveys or focus groups with your customers is a great way to develop ideas. Offer a small incentive to get a good range of feedback, which could be one of your products or some of your time to help keep costs low. 

Choose your channels 

A common social media pitfall is making your brand active across too many platforms. Think strategically about what channels your customers use the most and start with them. You can always add more later. 

Craft a strategy that really works 

Developing a strategy to engage with your audience and keep them coming back for more is the key to long-term social success. The three core elements to bear in mind are frequency of posts, timing and the type of content you publish. 

With frequency, it all depends on the channel. Facebook and Twitter are generally hungrier for posts than LinkedIn, for example. Try to post a few times a week on Facebook and Twitter in the early stages of going live and a couple of times a week on LinkedIn. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself – quality over quantity wins every time. 

Timing is a little trickier, as there’s no hard and fast rules to stick to. The goal posts shift between sectors and platforms but try to think about the typical routines of your target market and post when you think they’re most likely to be online. The key is to test and learn which posts perform best and align your timing to that. Use a free tool like Hootsuite to make the process of scheduling posts a bit easier too. 

The third element of the strategy is the type of post you go for. If you’ve got long-form content in the shape of reports or e-books you can draw upon, create mini campaigns around them and publish quotes or key stats over a number of days with links to your website. It’s absolutely fine to post about the same thing more than once, but don’t forget to use trackable links to check what posts work best. 

Blogging is another great way to inject fresh content into your strategy. A few hundred words is perfect, and topics could include news about your business, customer case studies, product launches and milestones. 

You also need to be thinking multimedia. The picture quality on a smartphone is so good these days that there’s no excuse for you not to be sharing good-quality imagery, and if you want to get creative with your pictures, check out another free tool called Canva, which allows you to create everything from Facebook banners to infographics. 

Video is also getting more popular in social, so in time, think about how you can integrate short clips into your content. 

There’s no time like the present 

Dedicate some time to really thinking about how social media can work for you, and before you know it, you’ll feel ready to get going. Make sure you start small and build out new ideas or platforms as your confidence grows. 

Whatever sector you operate in, social media gives you the opportunity to connect with customers like never before. Now all you have to do is reach out and take it. 

Advertising in a cost-effective way 

Advertising on a small budget can be dauntingly expensive for small businesses, but here we look at the methods you can use to maximise a modest spend. 

For a small business on a modest budget, advertising must be cost effective, as the price can be prohibitive. ‘Businesses looking to take on advertising must weigh up their ROI,’ says James Blackman of CocoonFX Media. ‘If, for example, you’re considering an advert for £1,000 in a magazine with 12,000 readers, ensure that magazine is very much your target audience.’   

Blackman believes social media advertising is the most cost-effective form of advertising for small companies. ‘You can spend as little as £200 and reach 50,000 people instantly, but more importantly you can automatically track the leads and sales,’ he adds.  

Google AdWords, when set up correctly, can transform a business rapidly, but you must expect to spend some money to start with before you get the returns, Blackman advises. He adds that buying banner ads on websites can be a good idea, but only if you’re going for brand recognition. 

‘If you’re starting out, I would always say stay with social media; you can reach more people more quickly and ensure your message is very targeted. 

‘You also have complete control over the budget and the actual statistics.’ 

“What are the pages they might like on Facebook? What kind of interests do they have?” 

Price of 93digital.co.uk says companies should make sure they define their target audience and who they’re marketing to. ‘If you set up a Facebook ad campaign for anyone between 20 and 30 in the centre of London, you’re not going to get value for money, so it’s about defining those personas,’ he says. ‘What are the pages they might like on Facebook? What kind of interests do they have? Make sure you target that advertising in as much detail as possible.’ 

If you have £500 a month to spend on Facebook ads, it may be cost effective to spend an extra £300 on getting an expert to use it for you, he adds. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all have good-value ad options, so explore a range of them to find the best fit for your business. 

‘Facebook retargeting has been effective for us: when people go on our site, we can drop a cookie on their browser, and if they go on Facebook we can remarket an advert to them. Retargeting means you know the people are qualified, and you don’t pay unless they click on your ads, so you aren’t spending lots of money waiting for random clicks – it’s more focused. 

‘We’ve had people see our retargeted ads, click on our site and fill in our contact form; it’s a useful technique to use.’ 

Case study: Online advertising: How I promoted my small veterinary centre 

Andrew Monchar, founder of Two By Two Veterinary Centre, discusses the directories that brought him success. 

I took out an advert on Yell.com for £17 + VAT per month, and now I’m listed at number two for the Yell search ‘Vets in Finchley’.  

I realised I wasn’t going to have time to approach every online directory to get my company listed, so now I also Yell Connect, which is separate from the advert that I’ve put up and costs £25 a month. They create directory listings for your company in all the directories they have access to, and every day their computer system checks it to make sure that nothing’s changed; Google favours companies who have no discrepancy between their listings online.  

More on running an online business

Can your website keep up with your business growth? 

The post Your guide to starting an online business appeared first on Small Business UK.

When the time comes for your business to start taking money, there are many payment apps for small businesses to choose from.

That’s because the number of payment platforms in the UK offering such services is growing at a ferocious pace. Fintech is the UK’s strongest start-up sector, with more than 1,400 high-growth firms in the sector currently active.

These payment apps are essential for small businesses and customers alike. With more consumers choosing to pay via contactless and suppliers invoicing online, businesses no matter how small need to be ready to process transactions.

>See also: Best mobile phone payment for self-employed

Payment apps for small businesses 

Payment apps for small businesses can be used to make bank transfers, mobile payments, online card payments and point of sale payments.

This list comprises of payment gateway apps and point of sale (POS) payment apps. For businesses that are taking in more than £10,000 per month and in retail, it is best to use a more concrete point of sale app, which can come with a card reader.

Jump straight to a particular provider or read on for a comprehensive overview of our pick of the best payment apps for small businesses.

1. PayPal
2. Stripe
3. Zettle Go
4. Square
5. SumUp

Online payment gateway apps

PayPal Business

PayPal is known to be one of the most secure and trusted payment apps available and works well if you deal with business internationally. Its strong encryption technology is known worldwide.

With the PayPal Business app, you can make and accept payments in one place, send invoices, issue refunds and view customer information to streamline business operations. It isn’t required that the client has PayPal to make a payment to you, either.

You can also receive payments in all forms: in person with the PayPal card reader, by QR code, by phone or email as well as online.

If you do set up a free account with PayPal though, ensure you fully intend on using it as you can be charged a £9 inactivity fee if not used in 12 months.

Stripe

Stripe is a popular choice for freelancers as it’s more geared towards accepting payments from clients rather than money transfer. The app is perfect for sending invoices, regular billing and for getting paid quickly.

The payment gateway allows you to request payment and use payment links to sell or start a subscription service. It follows a two-day rolling pay-out system, so you get paid daily for the work completed two days ago.

Customers can pay with their debit card straight to your freelancers’ business account and it has a marginally cheaper transaction rate to its rival PayPal at 1.4 per cent but still offers 24-hour support.

One thing to keep in mind however is the 20p transaction fee – there is no threshold on this so if you make many small transactions, this can become costly.

Point of sale payment apps

Zettle Go

Zettle has shot up in popularity to rival Square and SumUp in the POS market. It has a simple interface to manage payments and there are no monthly fees of contacts.

The transaction fees with Zettle are competitive when paying through contactless or PayPal – at 1.75 per cent at time of publishing. But when it comes to invoice transactions, the cost of using Zettle can become relatively high at 2.5 per cent.

Zettle has an app, Zettle Go, available either on Apple or Google, which turns your phone or tablet into a mobile POS system for taking bookings and tracking sales – including a feature showing which user is selling the most. Cue added rivalry between salespeople.

The app also allows you to customise receipts and collect customer email addresses. It has received some glowing reviews over its simplicity and ease of use for small business owners, but some have cited sporadic connectivity issues.

Square

Square is cheap and simple to set up. The software itself is free but you’ll need a reader which costs a very reasonable £16 (you’ll be hard-pressed to find a cheaper reader on the market).

Advantages of using Square include the fact it pays relatively quickly – you can expect payments to reach you within one to two days and there’s the option of a 30-day trial period to test whether it is suitable for your business.

In terms of the app, it is one of the most sophisticated on the market. It integrates seamlessly with the reader and all POS transactions go through it: you click on the item you wish to charge for, state the price, and then it will appear ready for payment on the reader.

The app also keeps CRM, payments and analytics in one place and allows you to customise receipts. It also integrates well with a host of third-party apps.

Again, there are no monthly fees or set-up fees here, but you will need to have a Square card reader to use the app.

SumUp

SumUp is incredibly quick and easy to set up so you can get on with creating customised invoices, share secure payment links and view your business’s transaction history without much hassle.

It can be a cheap option, too. It has no long-term contracts or monthly fees and the SumUp card reader costs £29, which is the same as Zettle but nearly double Square’s £16 offering.

For freelancers, SumUp Invoices offers customisable templates where all you need to do is add your logo and business details. There is a 2.5 per cent transaction fee for these invoice payments.

Takepayments

Takepayments can act as a payment gateway or POS system.

The payment gateway is a customisable checkout page on your website, so it acts and feels like your brand, but hosted by Takepayments. Contactless and easy to set up, payments take 24 hours to be paid into your account.

Takepayments also has two apps, beepaidGO and Order and beepaid.

BeepaidGO doesn’t require a terminal but allows you to send payment requests via email or text message. You can then manage these payments through the app dashboard.

Order and beepaid lets hospitality businesses take orders and payments from the table or offer a collection or delivery service. It includes a QR code that can be printed and handed to customers for contactless ordering.

Next steps

Want to compare prices from all the bestpayment apps we’ve listed above? Why not use our free comparison tool to be matched with the most suitable provider for your needs.

Simply fill in our free quote-finding form, and answer a few questions about your business (it takes less than a minute). We’ll match you with the most appropriate payment provider.

More on payments

Best payment processors for UK small businesses – 11 of the best

The post Best payment apps for small businesses appeared first on Small Business UK.

The internet has given wings to global entrepreneurial dreams. Ground-breaking digital platforms have found their beginnings in humble garages, bedrooms and home offices. Armed with no more than a vision and a computer, ambitious professionals are transforming their pioneering online business ideas into profitable firms.

There is no reason why you too cannot be one of those entrepreneurs who run a successful start-up from the comfort of their couch.

The most bankable online businesses have high demand, a proven record of success and long-term revenue prospects. Here are five such hot ideas that you can implement today.

1. E-commerce

Do you enjoy designing clothes, baking delicacies, crafting accessories, or building furniture? Dial E for e-commerce.

Government trade figures show that 82 per cent of the UK population bought at least one product online in 2021. Recent figures from Statista showed ecommerce revenue totalling £810bn, with fashion being the leading sector.  

The best part? You don’t require coding expertise to create profitable virtual establishments. Many website builders work by drag and drop so you can place elements where you please.

>See also: Advantages of a merchant account for your e-commerce business

Affordable e-commerce platforms like Shopify have slashed the barriers of e-commerce entry by easing the process of designing moneymaking (and stunning) storefronts. Use templates to get you started and build a theme, with the ability to broaden functionality through apps. They’re mobile-friendly to reach more of your customers.

You don’t even need a physical (or digital) product to become an online merchant.

Source: Oberlo

Dropshipping allows you to sell products, at desirable profit margins, without stocking them.

Simply import your preferred goods from a products marketplace such as Oberlo into your online store and start selling instantly. The suppliers take care of the logistics and the marketplace pretty much automates your store.

Find out more about dropshipping by reading Five successful small business ideas for 2021.

The e-commerce industry is only going to get bigger and better. Grab your slice of this pie and make money sharing your incredible skills with the world.

2. Website design

Where do prospective customers go to check out an online business? Their website. This first impression better be the best impression.

When done right, the business’s website offers a significant competitive advantage. It can also become one of a small business’ most profitable marketing channels.

Source: 2020 Small Business Marketing Report

Discerning users demand easy navigation, clean designs, personalised copy, mobile responsiveness and fast loading times.

According to CloudFlare:

• Pages loading in 2.4 seconds lead to a 1.9 per cent conversion rate
• A 3.3 second loading speed leads to a 1.5 per cent conversion rate
• A 4.2 second loading speed leads to a <1 per cent conversion rate
• A 5.7 second loading speed leads to a <0.6 per cent conversion rate

What’s more, COOK increased conversions by 7 per cent when they reduced page loading time by 0.85 seconds.

Websites that don’t measure up lose traffic, trust, search rankings and sales. This is why businesses are eager to expand their web design budgets and pay good money to recruit the best in the field.

If you are an intuitive designer who knows how to create a customer-centric, clean and high-converting website, this could be a fulfilling and fruitful full-time business.

>See also: Your guide to starting an online business

3. Freelance content services

There are around 4.2m self-employed workers in the UK who fulfil a variety of roles across a variety of industries. The solo self-employed contributed an estimated £303bn to the economy last year, according to data from IPSE.

The freelance content services business, in particular, is a goldmine.

Studies indicate that prospects consume between 3-5 pieces of content, on an average, before making any decision.

Creating relevant, informative, beneficial and credible content is critical to business success. Businesses are thirsty for – and willing to reward – freelance content providers who excel at crafting such persuasive (written, visual or audio) material, including articles, infographics, videos, podcasts and newsletters.

Outsourcing content creation results in a steady stream of unique material with half the effort for businesses. The result is strengthened customer trust, search ranking and revenue.

If you thrive on creativity, providing freelance content services can be your ticket to a prosperous career.

>See also: How do I build a website for my small business?

4. Business coaching

People are different, but their desires are universal.

We all yearn for better health, less stress, more willpower, greater success and increased happiness.

Business coaches offer an outside perspective and objective guidance to enhance ‘individual performance in a business context‘.

They help release limiting beliefs, build leadership skills, set SMART goals, provide clarity, manage distractions, reinforce professional relationships and improve finances.

The most effective coaches undergo rigorous training; in some cases, 125 hours or more, to get certified in their chosen area of expertise (see below for common specialties/niches).

Source: 2016 ICF Global Coaching Study

Business coaching is growing in stature and there is an ever-increasing demand for knowledgeable, eager and ethical coaches.

So why not monetise your passion for helping others to succeed?

>See also: Top social media tips for small businesses

5. Affiliate marketing

Would you like to make a living endorsing products you love? Then set up shop as an affiliate marketer.

Affiliate marketing spend in UK grew by seven per cent per cent in 2021, according to Dentsu.

The premise is straightforward. Advertisers provide a unique affiliate code for marketers to place on their website. When visitors to the affiliate marketer’s site click on this code, they get redirected to the advertiser’s website.

If the referral link leads to a purchase (or other desired action), the referrer gets paid. In this way, affiliate marketers secure ‘a piece of profit for each sale‘.

You don’t need to pay upfront fees, store or ship products, or provide customer support to get started in affiliate marketing. All you need is a pertinent platform to broadcast your voice.

The key to success is selecting the right advertising partnerships. You are staking your reputation with every product you promote, so choose wisely.

Diligently research market needs and only pick products that align with your brand. Constantly test and fine-tune your campaigns to keep the money flowing into your bank.

Further reading

What’s the best website builder for my small business?

Want more online business ideas?

This list barely grazes the surface of online business ideas. Peruse some more by checking out 6 best small business ideas for 2022 and Five business ideas that are bound to click.

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How you take payments is crucial for any small business. And the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the shift away from cash to contactless. According to UK Finance, the total value of contactless transactions in 2021 hit £165.9bn, more than double the amount recorded in 2019 pre-pandemic.

It used to be that taking card payments just involved renting a card reader, today’s payment systems connect your till, your inventory and even your bank account – which means you can even borrow money against real-time takings. Today’s payment systems are seamlessly connected.

But where do you start if you want to take payments?

With Small Business Pro, track your invoices as well as getting in-person and online transactions at one of the lowest rates on the market. It will also help with the heavy lifting of managing customers, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

How can small businesses take payments?

Every small business today has to be equipped not only to take debit and credit card payments, whether it’s Visa, Mastercard or Amex, but also new smartphone payment wallets including Apple Pay and Google Pay, and even cryptocurrencies.

>See also: Flexible payment options for your customers

Best mobile payment app for self-employed

It’s not just businesses with fixed premises that have to take payments. In today’s contactless world, fewer people carry cash. Which means that any sole trader on the move has to be able to whip out their own card machine.

Payment devices you carry around with you have revolutionised how customers pay.

One of the great changes for the self-employed on the move, whether you’re a mobile hairdresser or a masseur or even running a food truck, has been the advent of contactless payment devices linked to your mobile phone.

Even better than the on-the-go convenience is that, unlike the old days of fixed payment terminal card machines, you don’t have to enter a constricting fixed-term contract. You just buy the machine, download the mobile app onto your smartphone and off you go. Mobile phone payment is via a fixed rate per transaction.

Upfront cost vs cost per transaction

There are two parts to consider: the upfront cost of your mobile phone payment card reader and then the cost to you per transaction.

The mobile phone payment card reader can cost anywhere between £19 for a Square Reader up to £49 + VAT for the Shopify Wisepad 3; the cost per transaction ranges from between 0.8 per cent plus a £0.02 transaction fee if you’re a Revolut customer up to 1.75 per cent for Square and Zettle transactions.

6 mobile devices for payments

Barclaycard Anywhere

Revolut Pro

Shopify WisePad 3

Square Reader

SumUp Air

Zettle Card Reader 2

>See also: Best mobile phone payment for self-employed

Best payment apps for small businesses

With the number of payment methods increasing, there are many payment apps for small businesses to choose from. These payment apps are essential for small businesses and customers alike. With more consumers choosing to pay via contactless and suppliers invoicing online, businesses no matter how small need to be ready to process transactions.

Payment apps for small businesses – either payment gateway or point of sale (POS) – can be used to make bank transfers, mobile payments, online card payments and point of sale payments.

For retail businesses that are taking in more than £10,000 per month, it is best to use a payment app connected to a card reader.

Online payment gateway apps

PayPal for Business

PayNow for Stripe

Point of sale (POS) payment apps

Zettle

Square Point of Sale

SumUp Payment Links

beepaidGo

>See also: Best payment apps for small businesses

Are there any free card readers for small businesses?

Cheapest card readers for your small business

The short answer is no, but there are some lower-cost options out there. Cutting costs is a key consideration for small businesses given what’s been called the cost-of-business crisis.

When thinking about costs, consider your monthly fees along with your transaction fees, set-up fees and any other charges that may be hidden in the small print.

Cheapest card readers for your small business

Small Business Pro

Clover Flex

Barclaycard Flex

Dojo Go

SumUp Air

Zettle Go

Square Reader

Lopay

>See also: Are there any free card readers for small businesses?

Next steps

Want to compare prices from all the best card payment devices so you can start taking payments? Why not use our free comparison tool to be matched with the most suitable provider for your needs.

Simply fill in our free quote-finding form, and answer a few questions about your business (it takes less than a minute). We’ll match you with the most appropriate card payment provider.

The post How can small businesses take payments? appeared first on Small Business UK.

Whether your business offers a product or a service, markets these days are global so you need to be able to accept multiple currencies, including US dollars.

Before we crack on, a few definitions.

Payment system: A mechanism for transferring cash. As you’re collecting US dollars in this case, these will be online.

Presentment currency: The currency that the customer pays you in.

Settlement currency: The currency accepted by your account.

Here’s a look at six key providers, along with their fees and conversion rates.

Airwallex

The Airwallex Global Account is an international collections platform which lets you receive foreign currency payment as if it’s local, using the local clearing system.

You can use the Global Account alongside Airwallex’s conversion engine and multi-currency wallet.

Fees: None

Conversion rate: 0.5 per cent

Ideal for: Small businesses who deal with a larger number of multi-currency transactions

GoCardless

GoCardless offers flexible payment processing and it integrates with over 350 other systems including Xero, Salesforce and Sage. You’ll always get the real exchange rate based on currency conversion through Wise.

Fees: 2 per cent + 20p per transaction (conversion rate included); no monthly fee on Standard account

Conversion rate: N/A

Ideal for: Businesses that get a lot of recurring payments

Braintree by PayPal

The difference between PayPal and Braintree is that PayPal only allows you to accept payments through PayPal whereas Braintree allows payments through Venmo, Google Pay and Apple Pay too.

With Braintree you can have single or multiple currency set-ups. If you’ve got a single currency account and somebody makes a purchase in their local currency, the bank will convert the sum to GBP, subject to your bank’s currency conversion rate.

You have the choice to present or settle in multiple currencies. If you want to accept different currencies as well as US dollars, you can put on additional merchant accounts in different currencies. Those who are unsure can experiment with collecting various currencies in Braintree’s testing environments.

Fees: 1.9 per cent + 20p per transaction + 1.5 per cent multi-currency transaction fee

Conversion rate: In line with bank’s conversion rate

Ideal for: Businesses who want to give customers more payment options.

Wise for Business

Wise for Business claims to be 19x cheaper than PayPal. For example, if you’re receiving a $2,000 in GBP it’ll cost nothing on Wise compared to PayPal’s £66.88.

Fees: It costs £45 to open an account. Getting USD wire payments through to your account will incur a 4.14 USD charge.

Conversion rate: US dollars are free to receive, though holding limits apply

Ideal for: Freelancers and micro businesses

Stripe

With Stripe you can display currencies in your customer’s preferred currency and make global payments in over 135 currencies. If the charge currency differs from the settlement currency, Stripe converts the charge to your settlement currency.

The good news is that you won’t be bundled with set-up fees, monthly fees or hidden fees. Though if you want to avoid the conversion rate, it’s best to create multiple settlement accounts.

Stripe has multiple balances for different currencies so that your US dollars will automatically go into a different balance.

Fees: 1.4 per cent + 20p for UK cards (1.1 per cent for European Economic Area); 2.9 per cent + 20p for international cards

Conversion rate: 2 per cent

Ideal for: Online businesses who want to limit their fees

Payoneer

With Payoneer, it very much depends on what accounts your payments are coming from. You’re provided with a local receiving account so people can pay you as if you have a local bank account. You’ve also got the option to accept payments via Payoneer networks for free and receive funds from Amazon, Wish, Rakuten and more.

It allows you to manage currencies and move them between balances for a flat fee of 0.5pc.

Fees: As mentioned, you can receive payments fee-free from other Payoneer customers and via receiving accounts. However, USD payments taken directly from your customers incur 3 per cent on credit card and 1 per cent through ACH Bank Debit. Fees on payments from marketplaces and networks depend on where the payment came from.

Conversion rate: It ranges from free to a small fee, depending on the country that it’s coming from.

Ideal for: Freelancers and service providers, online sellers, digital marketers and holiday rental hosts.

Read more

Accounting in foreign currencies: what small business owners need to know

The post 6 of the best payment systems for accepting US dollars appeared first on Small Business UK.