Average cost PDQ machine

[k100danny]

Hi I wonder if anyone could help and list what they pay per month for a pdq, and how much per transaction the fee is to compare deals.

We bank with barlcays and would like to use as few providers as possible, at first i thought their merchant accounts seemed like a good deal, 1.5% but then realised this is across all card types. I don't want to be paying 1.5% on debit card transactions. We have customers who place orders now and wish to pay by card but i tell them to do it via bank transfer and even that is cheaper than that percentage.

some of our orders are over 10k and £150 for a transaction like that seems a lot. Is this what is to be expected? are you then charged again once funds hit your bank like you are when depositing cash etc? we don't get charged for electronic payments and for this reason we have managed to get round a lot of fees as our regular customers have no problem sending funds via paypal gift (no fees)

 

[GPS Tech]

Hello Danny,

I cannot say what I pay for a PDQ + transactions because I don't. I am not a business that takes card payments.

I (working together with Netpay) am a Merchant Services Provider, in this case Barclays are giving you a VERY bad deal on debit card transactions and we would be cheaper on credit card transactions too. If you wish to discuss more about what I can do for your card payment services then please feel free to PM me.

Gregory Stutchbury
GPS Tech

 

[ricky776]

Yeah I would say that's hi

I can't think of the top of my head

But I pay around

18p or 20p a debit card
And credit cards I pay 1.4%

hope that helps

 

[slclark17]

From March Visa is changing from a pence-per-transaction fee to a % based fee, for all payment providers. With Worldpay (as part of the FSB) my fee will be 1.009%, with a surcharge if it's a phone order or interregional (don't know how big a region is).

 

[Talay]

From March Visa is changing from a pence-per-transaction fee to a % based fee, for all payment providers. With Worldpay (as part of the FSB) my fee will be 1.009%, with a surcharge if it's a phone order or interregional (don't know how big a region is).

Time to dump WorldPay then as their fees are capped at 50p I think. Some are still going to provide a bundled service, even though their costs are going to 1p plus 0.2% for debits.

 

[Talay]

Yeah I would say that's hi

I can't think of the top of my head

But I pay around

18p or 20p a debit card
And credit cards I pay 1.4%

hope that helps

Depends upon industry and turnover but when doing the rounds the other week I was most often quoted 14p for cards and around 1.2% for cards (range 0.99% to 2.15%).

However, these are also changing from 01/01/15 so I'd hold fire until then.

 

[mhall]

Don't just look at the %. If you search these threads you will find tales of long contracts and escape clauses that run into hundreds. Look at the whole picture, sign up for as short a time as you can and get everything in writing. Above all, don't agree anything over the phone. Look out for the "double contracts" - one contract for the charge and another contract for the machine with a different company. One will give you a 12 month contract, the other will hold you in for five years up. After the 12 months you wont be able to shift because of the five year contract.

 

[Talay]

....Look out for the "double contracts" - one contract for the charge and another contract for the machine with a different company. One will give you a 12 month contract, the other will hold you in for five years up. After the 12 months you wont be able to shift because of the five year contract.

Barclaycard go down to 12 months but with pretty hefty charges, First Data do 18 months with good charges as well. Essentially, you are "buying" the card machine over the length of the contract so the monthly price varies accordingly.

 

[k100danny]

barclays Is 18 months contract and they supply all machines. There is no set up fee and the fee per month is low at £15 for a countertop terminal. These fees seem fine and I don't think 1.5% is too bad for credit card payments (as I will be adding 1% plus vat for anyone wanting to pay via credit card) but i'm unwilling to pay 1.5% for debit card transactions.

Basically I called them and said i'm not paying that it's ridiculous and they asked me to go in to meet my business manager so i think this may be negotiable, I managed to get them to change the fee for international bank transfers for me, i told them if i didn't get a better rate i'd use transferwise and bank elsewhere after finding out they were charging up to £1000 (or skimming that amount through the conversion process) on every payment i made to my suppliers. Started using transferwise and now pay around £100, they offered to meet me in the middle, i said no deal and still use the other company. I have heard they are looking at providing merchant services over the next few years, fingers crossed.

 

[Talay]

barclays Is 18 months contract and they supply all machines. There is no set up fee and the fee per month is low at £15 for a countertop terminal. These fees seem fine and I don't think 1.5% is too bad for credit card payments (as I will be adding 1% plus vat for anyone wanting to pay via credit card) but i'm unwilling to pay 1.5% for debit card transactions.

Basically I called them and said i'm not paying that it's ridiculous and they asked me to go in to meet my business manager so i think this may be negotiable, I managed to get them to change the fee for international bank transfers for me, i told them if i didn't get a better rate i'd use transferwise and bank elsewhere after finding out they were charging up to £1000 (or skimming that amount through the conversion process) on every payment i made to my suppliers. Started using transferwise and now pay around £100, they offered to meet me in the middle, i said no deal and still use the other company. I have heard they are looking at providing merchant services over the next few years, fingers crossed.

You need to spreadsheet it out. You can't say you won't pay 1.5% for debit cards if that 1.5% is less than a flat rate 14p or whatever.

Aso, if their 2% or whatever equates to £1000 then sending £50,000 a time in foreign currencies on a regular basis needs some serious thought and fx forwards and foreign currency accounts would seem to factor more than direct fx conversion.

Surcharging for credit cards seems a sure fire way to alienate customers but fees are harsh on large numbers. The new figures from 01/01/15 should give you some assistance though.

 

[k100danny]

I wouldn't pay 1.5% on debit cards as our wholesale customers have a minimum order of £500 plus vat so every card transaction will be over that amount, our retail customers i wouldn't mind that on but we get very few people requesting to pay by card.

all of the suppliers in the same field as me charge a surcharge for accepting credit cards so I don't think we will alienate too many people, as i say we have been trading for a few years and have so far managed to get around these fees quite well but it's just something i think we need to do for the future.

the rate given by people such as transferwise is the spot rate, their cut .5% which i personally think it would be hard to beat. I don't know how foreign currency accounts work but i assume their is a fee for the account? Barclays percentage works out about 5% on international money transfers, plus a £15 fee. we were sending on average 10k per month, this has now gone up to 20k per month and will be rising again with this new supplier so their cut is ridiculous when they are buying currency at spot rate.

 

[Talay]

So the new rates (under CBDIP) of 1p plus 0.2% plus the bank's load for debit cards are capped at 50p so your costs should also be capped and not open ended. Credit card costs are down to 0.3 plus bank load, though I am not sure about a cap on these.

I don't know how you are getting hit for 5% on cross border fx transactions. Can't you sell and buy in single currencies and thus just keep a EUR/USD etc. account and avoid fx all together.

 

[Nomad Design Atelier]

I have been using iZettle, no monthly rates, you only pay per transaction and the % decreases the more you sell. It works on WiFi and 4g / 3g. Check them out www. izettle. com/gb and you can have as many handsets are you like. Revolutionary!!

 

[Talay]

iZettle is old hat and not for any significant business volumes.