Discover the most frequently asked Merchant services questions
Who are the UK’s best merchant services providers for small businesses in 2024?
In the UK, the best merchant services may be offered by very different merchant services providers. Some of these merchant account providers have a dedicated UK presence, some have not and only charge their fees in US dollars. Some are pure players, some are originally software providers, others are subsidiaries of major high street banks.
While we have put together a list of UK’s best merchant services providers, it’s important to remember that a large part of the pricing structure of merchant services is usually personalised, and that many things can change depending on a number of factors like payment method used, card used etc.
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Discriminating criteria helping compare merchant services providers include:
- Number of services offered: merchant account, payment gateway, POS software, online shopping system, card machine and POS hardware rental, merchant financing?
- Price of card processing hardware, hardware rental option,
- Number of proprietary services VS outsourced services (for payment gateway, hardware or software...),
- Ease of integration with popular shopping cart, POS and accounting software,
- Customer service availability,
- Clear fee structures,
- Budget…
Based on all the above, here’s our unordered list for 2019 of some of the best merchant account providers and best merchant services in the UK:
Merchant account providers | Advantages | Fees |
Tsys / Cayan | Cayan, a popular payment services provider, was acquired by Tsys. Tsys is now a direct payment processor, which makes to easier to deal complex operations. Tsys now offers a fully comprehensive package with payment gateway, credit card terminals and virtual terminals | Tiered fee structure, prices on request Includes early termination fee ($250) No setup fee. |
QuickBooks / Intuit Pay | Merchant services fully integrated within the accounting software package, Free card reader, Free, fast bank transfers (ACH), | 2.4% - 3.4% depending on payment method (swiped/invoiced/chip-and-PIN) + $.25 No monthly fee Need to be a Quickbooks software user |
Square | Cheap card reader, Mobile card-processing solution, Next business day transfers, Online, over-the-phone and collect payments also possible, Employee management software optional, POS hardware available | £29 card reader 1.75% chip-and-PIN 2.5% cardholder-not-present No monthly fee No setup fee |
Fattmerchant | Mobile phone payment processing, Virtual terminal, Developer API, Customer hotline, Quickbooks integration, $0 PCI compliance fee. | $.06-$.08 transaction fee $.25-$1.50 ACH transaction fee $99-$199 monthly fee No setup fee No termination fee |
PayPal | Payment gateway, Virtual terminal, Card readers, Paypal account integration, Attached debit card for immediate ATM withdrawals and transactions, POS hardware available | 2.7%-3.5% $79 card reader |
Chase Merchant Services | Processes credit card operations for Square, Proprietary payment gateway Free card terminal for contract customers, Large scale, low fees, 24/7 phone support, Cardholder not present transactions support | Rates totally negotiable No setup fee No termination fee No PCI compliance fee |
