Card readers

[-Chris-]

For taking credit card / debit card payments face to face, where none of the customers details go into your mobile phone at all, and where the individual payments can be anything from £40 to £300, and where you didn't want to hang round for a few minutes trying to get a signal, which card reader would you recommend from personal experience only please?

 

[Ozzy]

Purely personally experience helping my wife on her trade shows/stands...

Stripe with a Wisepad 3, extremely quick and easy to use but doesn't tick the box of needing a mobile signal. Having said that, we've yet to experience being somewhere that didn't have a mobile signal and/or wifi.

 

[-Chris-]

Thanks Richard, what charges are there and any monthly fees?

 

[Ozzy]

There are no costs for running the Wisepad 3 beyond buying it (which I think was about the cost of a couple drinks at a modern coffee shop). All other costs are the typical fees for Stripe processing charges, costs on their site to see.
I don't know for sure, but I imagine the pad will work with other providers.

 

[-Chris-]

Thanks Ozzy, am looking into that one right now.

 

[ecommerce84]

We use a Zettle machine which is brilliant - we have the one that connects to your mobile - you key in the amount on an app on your phone and then the customer uses the card reader so they don’t touch your phone. We use ours every week at various festivals and events and almost every other seller has one as well.

Zettle do a stand alone unit as well that doesn’t require you to pair it with a mobile, instead it connects to a 4G network. I haven’t used one of these so I can only personally recommend the one that pairs with your mobile.

With either machine they do not charge a monthly fee, charging 1.75% per transaction instead.

We use this one: https://www.zettle.com/gb/payments/card-reader

Stand-alone unit: https://www.zettle.com/gb/payments/terminal

 

[Uwe (Invoiceberry)]

No personal experience with a card reader, but a very good experience working with Square for the past few years. I know that they've got a slick card reader too. You can check it out here: https://squareup.com/shop/hardware/gb/en/products/credit-card-apple-pay-reader-contactless

We're one of their integration partners with InvoiceBerry, and I know that their marketplace of apps is excellent, so it's easy to find a number of apps you might want to connect to.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

How much will you turnover a month?

If under £1000-1500, Stripe is a great option. If more, a proper merchant account will offer better value.

You can tap the costs in here to start making a comparison.

 

[-Chris-]

Between 5k to 10k per month. I hasten to add, that's not all mine, most of that would be paid to sub contractors.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

most of that would be paid to sub contractors.

Doesn't matter.

Get a proper merchant account, however, BEWARE!

Not all merchant accounts are the same. Do not be impressed by the headline rate. Get a few quotes and compare all costs - would you believe it if I said some companies don't overtly declare everything when signing you up.

 

[-Chris-]

Yep, fully aware that the amounts going to others didn't matter specifically, it was just an aside.

 

[-Chris-]

The sumup card readers we use at the moment keeps giving server error! Yes, have Googled and contacted the unhelpful support, but still the issues. anyone else here experiencing the same?

We're going to have to move companies.

 

[Picture Bute]

The sumup card readers we use at the moment keeps giving server error! Yes, have Googled and contacted the unhelpful support, but still the issues. anyone else here experiencing the same?

We're going to have to move companies.

Is your software up to date ? My daughter has a Sum Up machine and it does that when you need to update the software. I have Zettle and have never had an issue with machine/software ever.

 

[-Chris-]

@Picture Bute Good call with the updating, I'll take a look at that.

Which Zettle do you have?

 

[Picture Bute]

@Picture Bute Good call with the updating, I'll take a look at that.

Which Zettle do you have?

Sum Up went through a phase a few months ago of needing updated a lot, so if you haven't updated for a while, deffo worth trying it.

I've just got the standard/cheapest Zettle machine (I have two). They are a tiny bit more than Sum Up in transaction fees but it is negligible really.

 

[GCocolos]

For taking credit card / debit card payments face to face, where none of the customers details go into your mobile phone at all, and where the individual payments can be anything from £40 to £300, and where you didn't want to hang round for a few minutes trying to get a signal, which card reader would you recommend from personal experience only please?

Hi Chris? Have you ever spoken to someone from Dojo?

Cheers,
Gabriel

 

[-Chris-]

Hi Chris? Have you ever spoken to someone from Dojo?

Cheers,
Gabriel

I have thought about Dojo - what is your connection to them?

 

[bovine]

He'll be one of their self employed sales people. They have loads, we've dealt with a few due to our pos integrations. Nowadays we have one allocated to us and hes great.
Dojo now is a good solid product. Just seems to work without issues, they stick a 4g sim that connects to the strongest network so can be used most places. We integrate and use retail and restaurant applications so mostly use a wifi connection. I've got one on my desk for test/support/demo purposes and its straight forward standalone or integrated. Cant really comment on their back-office/app and reporting because we're not involved in that side.
Sumup etc are quicker to get setup, but are higher rates.
If you want to speak to my chap, pm me. But for transparency, if you sign up with him, we get an intro fee.