Card Payments
Compare many of the latest digital payment solutions including
Chip & Pin
Online Payments
Virtual Terminal
High Risk
Pay by Link
Payment Gateway
Pay as You Go
PCI DSS
Chip and Pin Terminals
For all types of card payments, we recommend either Ingenico terminals (the market leader in card reader technology), or the Pax A920 (as left) or the more basic A900. As long as you have access to a router/Wifi or GPRS they will facilitate card payments as swift as is possible. These terminals are NFC enabled to facilitate contactless payments too.
From our experience and thousands of merchants these terminals have been proved to be functional, durable and reliable and the cost ranges from £10 – £25 + vat per month. Since Jan 2023 recently introduced PSR regulation states that any terminal agreement length must be no longer than 18 months.
Online Payments
When looking for a payment provider, here are some of the areas you should consider: Acceptability, Risk and Compliance, Security, Reporting & Analytics.
Then there are many factors to consider as well as debit and credit card fees. Payment solutions for all payment devices, Gateway integration, accounts integration, authentication, and much more.
Online payments are an essential part of any online business, but it’s important to remember that there are a variety of different payment providers out there, each with their own unique features and capabilities.
Payment providers have different services and fees to consider. To help you make the right choice, review the provider’s pricing, supported countries, card funding options, and customer service reputation.
We can help you navigate through the technical jargon, to arrive at an online payment solution that’s right for your business.
All our approved online providers are FCA regulated financial institutions.
Virtual Terminal
Ideally if most or all of your card payments are taken when the customer is not present, usually over the phone or by email. A Virtual terminal is the perfect solution, as you and other members of your team can have individual online logins to access a secure payment portal to take payments over the phone.
You can alsotake payments by sending a link that your customer clicks to open up the same portal to make a payment.
There is no need for any card reader so eliminating the need to rent a terminal. The costs for a Virtual Terminal can range from £0 per month to £20 per month. All you will pay for is the agreed fee for processing the card type and a monthly fee of no more than £5 per month for PCI compliance.
Contact us to discuss which option is best for you.
High Risk Payments
A bank may consider your business riskier than standard merchant accounts due to mitigating factors such as the amount of chargebacks, credit rating, industry type and others (listed below). If this is the case then your business will require a high risk merchant account.
A business with a high risk merchant account will normally have to pay higher fees with extra checks and balances due to these aforementioned risk factors – we at Independent Merchant Services are here to help you decide the best path for your business and answer all the questions you may have on the process.
Banks underwriters will assess your business for the element of risk exposure from your business.
- A historic high number of chargebacks
- Bad reputation (adult industry, debt collectors etc.)
- An average ‘sales ticket’ is greater than £50
- Poor credit rating
- Financial instability
- The average monthly sales volume is over £15,000
Pay by Link
Pay by Link is a fast, secure and simple way to get paid. Send your customers an email or text message that contains a link for quick and easy payment.
If you are looking for a secure way of receiving payment before dispatching the goods, why not email your potential client a “pay by click” link.
Simply email/text or send a QR link to the customer and they will be taken to a payment portal where they will be able to securely input their credit or debit card details. Once they click “Pay” you business will be notified of the payment transaction. Once authorised, you can be confident of a secure transaction and release the goods or services to the customer.
Payment Gateway
A payment gateway is a technology product which is built to ensure your online payments are captured in a safe and secure environment, passing the relevant card details through from your website to your merchant bank /acquirer.
There are providers that supply stand alone gateways and leave you to choose your own acquirer to process the payments. However we would recommend the many benefits in working with a single provider who can provide both the gateway and acquiring together and keep the whole operation under one roof.
In addition to handling standard card payments, you should consider offering your customers other ways to pay – for example via their preferred wallet (Applepay/Googlepay), or via Bank Transfer.
A gateway that can offer all of these will help improve your customers payment experience, building trust, loyalty and repeat business.
Pay as You Go
The most competitive no contract solution we recommend is with Sum Up
Whilst the card fee rate you will be charged for both credit and debit cards will be 1.69% per transaction, there are absolutely no other fees such as PCI fees/Transaction fee/Minimum billing.
The readers cost just £16.00 per card reader and can be used whenever you need them – just link the reader via Bluetooth to your smartphone and it will take payments immediately. Why don’t you try one , test it and then order more as required. There is a 30 day refund anyway.
The monies are transferred to your bank account in two days
Click the link below to benefit from the special offer pricing
What is PCI DSS?
All businesses that have a merchant account have a responsibility to protect the cardholder’s card information and must comply with regulations laid down by the PCI DSS.
PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) and it was introduced in 2006 to create a secure environment for all companies that accept and process card transactions and consumer data. It lays down a set of requirements to help ensure the safe handling of card holder data, and applies to businesses that take credit/debit cards regardless of size and volume or the transactions. All merchants must register within a few months to avoid PCI Non compliance monthly penalties.
Your merchant service provider will be able to ensure that you achieve compliance with the minimum of fuss. They will, however, charge a monthly fee for this. This fee varies by provider.
How we can Help Our approved providers have programs in place to guide you through the online process and ensure that you avoid the unnecessary and avoidable charges that are imposed by the banks. For more information visit the PCI compliance website or contact us.
We can advise on how to become compliant and avoid paying unnecessary penalties for being non compliant.