Advice needed for small business re using credit/debit card terminal

Razzlemcdazzle

Hi can anyone recommend a reliable and not too expensive merchant services company. I am shopping around for the best deal but want a reliable company with good customer services and no hidden charges. So far the banks including my own seem expensive with high credit and debit card rates and set up fees. Handepay (part of Streamline) seem good value and seem honest and reliable. `does anyone use them??? Also Retail Merchant Services seem ok and good rates too but I am going on a website and a phone call. Most tie you in to a 3 year contract. Is this the norm? The odd small company that have 1 year contracts just seem a bit dodgy and don't give me straight answers when I ask basic questions. Please any help or good or bad reviews re hiring and using debit/credit card machine (a mollie unit) would be very helpful. Thank you

Rob_R

Razzlemcdazzle wrote: »

Hi can anyone recommend a reliable and not too expensive merchant services company. I am shopping around for the best deal but want a reliable company with good customer services and no hidden charges. So far the banks including my own seem expensive with high credit and debit card rates and set up fees. Handepay (part of Streamline) seem good value and seem honest and reliable. `does anyone use them??? Also Retail Merchant Services seem ok and good rates too but I am going on a website and a phone call. Most tie you in to a 3 year contract. Is this the norm? The odd small company that have 1 year contracts just seem a bit dodgy and don't give me straight answers when I ask basic questions. Please any help or good or bad reviews re hiring and using debit/credit card machine (a mollie unit) would be very helpful. Thank you

I am with Retail Merchant Services and I can confirm that they are not cheap, honest nor reliable. If ever you want to leave them they will charge you £120, even if your contract is at an end and you give them notice.

It depends how much your turnover is as to who I would recommend - ours is only low and World Pay do a Pay & Go Terminal which is very good, the rates aren't cheap at 3.3% or 65p but there are no other charges, no rentals, no cancellation fees.

HiMyNameIsLauren

3.3% huh? I've had a quote off them before that was high, but not that high!?

aceframer

dont go with handepay !!! if you have, read the contract as you will need to give a years notice or be rolled over for 2 more years. and they wont budge on it. oh and send your notice by recorded delivery as others have posted that they seem to lose cancellation letters

im-lost

Rob_R wrote: »

I am with Retail Merchant Services and I can confirm that they are not cheap, honest nor reliable. If ever you want to leave them they will charge you £120, even if your contract is at an end and you give them notice.

It depends how much your turnover is as to who I would recommend - ours is only low and World Pay do a Pay & Go Terminal which is very good, the rates aren't cheap at 3.3% or 65p but there are no other charges, no rentals, no cancellation fees.

I'd also recommend this, although I'm on a £5pm plan that gives 50p debit cards and 2% credit cards, but there's an 'all you can eat plan' for £10 but the transaction limits are low, but the fees aren't too far off a lot if other merchant services.

I chose worldpay as I was offered one of their pin pads for free when they first started the service, they currently charge £59.99 for the pin pad.

It works surprisingly well, apps on my android phone. open it, input the amount and it's all automated from there, linked to a Bluetooth receipt printer to print the cc receipts. Takes seconds to authorise the payment.

No monthly fees on the payg plan, no servicing fees, I had no device fees, best of all no long contracts, but you pay slightly higher fees, a pretty good trade off imo.

The pin pad actually looks like one you get in shops, that instills confidence in customers.

All in all, it's great for small business users, with relatively low turnover on cards, it really is portable, handy when I do market stalls etc

Intuit do similar, but the pin pad doesn't look so good, they charge just under 3% on everything, with a free pin pad, PayPal are due to release similar this month.

My pin pad...

(removed due to spammers)

Chai_2

Izettle?? Not sure if they are what you are looking for but worth a try and much less hassle!

trailingspouse

I used to use RBS Merchant Services, and was perfectly happy with them. What can I say??

morgani

I use card save but only for a virtual terminal and am very happy.

If you can do what you need online then have a look at gocardless. We have pretty much replaced our direct debit merchant with these as they are so much cheaper.

zippyladoodles

Have you looked at www.payzonecards.co.uk? Have heard that they are competitive in the market and beat prices on companies like Retail Merchant Services.

They also have an online calculator so you can work out what you could save - http://www.payzonecards.co.uk/savings - hope it helps

trevor_john

I use Streamline and have for past 7 years. I have 3 mobile terminals supplied by 123 Send. The terminals are identical to those in garages , shops restaurants etc. I find most customers are very wary about using their cards in unusual unfamiliar terminals such as "pads" or mobile phones etc.