Best Credit Card Machine Deals

A question about : Best Credit Card Machine Deals

Hi - I have decided after 16 years in business to start taking credit cards and switch etc.
I have had a look around at deals, and wondered what sort of deals other people have got recently.
I bank with Alliance and Leicester, but will use any bank that offers the best deal for the card machine.
I would be grateful for any input, % for credit cards, price per switch and monthly rate for the machine.
Thanks in advance!
Lesley

Best answers:

• Best advice is to shop around - prices can vary considerably.
  Are you a member of the FSB - they offer discounted deals for merchant services for their members (www.fsb.org,uk) .
• I once purchased a screw on my CC for 10p. I had no cash and was left with no choice but to use my CC. I think it would have been cheaper for the store to have just given it to me for free since there would have been a transaction charge. Usually there is a minimum transaction amount of 5 to 10 pounds.
• Market traders, taxi drivers , new small businesses might be interested in this:
  I have found a little known company, https://www.adelantesoftware.com that offers credit card processing for POS (Point of Sale) via a WAP browser on your phone. Standing charges look to be a quarter of having say, a gprs mobile credit card processing terminal. This co does not blow it's trumpet much on the Website but call them and you can have a demo on your wap phone. There is even an SMS interface.
  They offer a bundled deal for setup if you do not have a Merchant Account, with A&L or Bank of Ireland Merchant Services (your biz acct does not need to be with these to connect).
  This looks OK for lower value items (no chip & PIN) and you also seem to get a Virtual Terminal for Customer Not Present (CNP) transactions.
  I am going to give this system a try.
  Nigel
  ** Own Link removed - Edited by AbCon **
• Thanks for all the replies so far. I am checking out the FSB and will see what they have to offer.
  Rates on card services vary amazingly so I am sad to see that no-one has done a comparison of charges - Martin??
  Lesley
• If I remember correctly the FSB will give you a handout with comprative rates which makes a very compelling case for going with them. The card service companies base their charges on likely volume of transaction - they obviously want to make money and go for low charges for high volumes and vice versa.
  Whoever you sign with will provide a terminal for you - rental on those varies enormously, they will also try and sell you printer rolls for them at inflated prices - you can buy consumables for most machines (much cheaper) from a range of suppliers and on eBay. I think they rely on new people to simply shop with them out of ignorance they certainly don't tell you about alternatives.
  Choice is the real strength of something like the FSB - rather like MSE they have picked the brains of members and sought a deal that capitalises on collective buying power from which each member benefits by saving on transaction and rental fees. As far as I could discern there were no catches and I only ever experienced low key, up front, honest information from which I could make my own decision when it suited me.
  Hope this helps
  GoG
• Thanks again.
  Streamline contacted me today with a better offer than the one I turned down the other day. They beat the deal I would get with the FSB by a long way so I am going along with them. I started off at Ј200 set up, 30p per switch/delta, 2.2% for visa etc.
  Ј19.95 rental. I now have free set up. Ј19.95.rental, 18p for switch, 1.5% for visa etc so that makes a big saving. The FSB deal was more with them - the rental was cheaper (Ј14.95) but the charges were more so I am happy - I think...
  Thanks for all your input in this matter.
  Lesley
• https://www.adelantesoftware.com quoted me Ј25/month fpr a proper chip and pin gprs mobile credit card terminal, flat rate, no call charges just the usual few percent fee in processing the payment. You would need to call them to check if this is too good to be true. I have visted their office a few miles from me & they are a repectable co!
• We have just had Alliance & Leicester (new company offering) offer us 1.2% of credit card, Ј10 per month terminal rental and 13p on switch. It seems better than our current HSBC deal, although terminal rental is higher
  SAM
• That sounds too good to be true but warrants a call from me to A&L to check! You did not mention if the Terminal is a mobile one or a fixed phone line one. If the latter, then this is no more use than a 'Virtual' terminal thru a PC Web Browser such as I get bundled in with the WAP phone processing deal at Ј6/month.
  If they offered you a GSM chip'n'pin terminal at that price, let me know more details of the product name so I can refer to it - thanks.
  But I like that 1.2% - is this an intro period only?
• It seems to be a new offering, the terminal is a boring fixed terminal, but does the job. Speak to new business section at A&L as they are trying to break in merchant services
• try: www.protx.com
  never tryed them, but many people Ive delt with have used them.
• how much does it cost to join the FSB?
• I currently have a standard Merchant account with Streamline using a standard terminal, but now I don't have a shop and all my transactions are 'Mail Order', where the card holder is not present plus I also wish to do online sales so I have been trying to come to the same answers over which 'gateway' provider to use. I have looked at Secpay and now Protx and like the previous poster I'm getting bogged down with all the costs involved. From what I can figure out so far if I integrate sales within my online site I will get a virtual terminal to use for my existing mail order sales so I figure at this stage I can get rid of my terminal, therby saving Ј19.95 a month. Just received through the post this morning the standard sales bumph from streamline about applying for an Internet Merchant account, costs are Ј75+vat arrangement fee, Ј10 per month minimum service charge, which includes your card charges so if your sales for one month are low and the relevant % card charges don't come to more than Ј10, your charged Ј10 anyway. The upside of that from what I can figure out is that if you have a lot of transactions you'll only be paying standard % rates that you have negotiated with them already ( I'm refering to Streamline as my own personal findings so far.)
  From what I can now figure out from my own ramblings is that if I go with Protx I'll basically be replacing a monthly payment of Ј19.95 to Streamline with that of Ј20 a month to Protx, plus my normal card fees but be getting the extra facility of being able to do secure online sales.
  My own conclusion is I've now got to see if I can talk them out of the arrangement fee !!!!
• Thiis is the route I took - result is Ј6/month standing fee including Merchant Service, Virtual Terminal (for Customer not Present transactions) + mobile terminal via WAP Browser for fairs & markets. Transaction fees are reasonable:
  - Join the NMTF https://www.nmtf.co.uk/
  - Apply to Adelante via their deal thru the NMTF, who in turn does a deal with Bank of Ireland for you to give you the Merchant Service.
  I am using this Merchant service and can vouch that your Credit Card receipts clear into your Bank account in 4-5 working days (which is better than what I have heard about others).
  NMTF gives a discount on Adelante setup, Adelante gives a discount on BOI setup. The accrued discounts pay for your NMTF membership and you get permanent discounts on transactions plus NMTF membership = proper traders insurance for occasional fairs, exhibitions etc (legal requirement anyway).
• costs are Ј75+vat arrangement fee, Ј10 per month minimum service charge, which includes your card charges so if your sales for one month are low and the relevant % card charges don't come to more than Ј10, your charged Ј10 anyway. [/QUOTE]
  you are lucky I need the online bit only as I am all internet- and I was quoted Ј250 set up fee yesterday - same Ј10.00 per month min charges
  Does the FSM offer extend to online terminals? as I have heard that it only extends to off line terminals