How to Accept Card Payments for Your Small Business in the UK

Updated August 2026. Accepting card payments is now straightforward for even the smallest UK business. You can start with a £19 to £25 reader, take contactless payments directly on a compatible phone, use a standalone terminal, or add online checkout and payment links if customers are not standing in front of you.

The right setup depends on where you sell, how much card turnover you expect and whether you need only payments or a wider POS system.

What do you need to start accepting cards?

For a normal face-to-face small business, you need three things. If you are still comparing providers, our card machine providers guide gives you the main UK options side by side.

1. a payment provider account;
2. a way to capture the card or contactless payment;
3. a bank or business account where the provider can settle your money.

The payment provider handles much of the technical work. For a simple reader-based service, you normally sign up, complete identity and business checks, connect the reader or activate Tap to Pay, and then take a test transaction.

Option 1: a low-cost card reader

This is usually the easiest route for a sole trader or micro-business. You can also compare our best card machines for small businesses before buying hardware.

Square Reader currently starts at £19 + VAT. Standard UK-card in-person payments cost 1.75%, and Square’s core POS software has no monthly fee.

SumUp Solo Lite currently costs £25 + VAT, with standard PAYG in-person processing at 1.69%.

These models work well when you want low fixed costs. If no customers pay you for a week, there is no traditional terminal rental continuing in the background.

See Square Reader

Option 2: Tap to Pay on your phone

Tap to Pay turns a compatible smartphone into a contactless payment device through a supported provider app. Customers can tap a supported contactless card or digital wallet against the phone.

This is useful for mobile services, tradespeople, events and as an emergency backup. It removes the need to carry a separate reader for every transaction.

A dedicated reader is still useful when staff share devices, you need a conventional Chip & PIN flow or the owner does not want a personal phone to become the business checkout.

See our iPhone card reader and Tap to Pay guide.

Option 3: a standalone card terminal

Standalone terminals are better for businesses where card payments are central to daily operations. If you want a traditional portable or countertop terminal, see our PDQ terminals guide. They have their own screen and connectivity, and many include 4G, Wi-Fi, receipt printing or POS functions.

Square Terminal currently costs £149 + VAT. SumUp Terminal is £135 + VAT. More traditional providers such as Dojo, Worldpay and takepayments quote packages around the business rather than simply selling a cheap reader.

A busy pub, restaurant or shop should compare support, connection options and settlement alongside the rate.

Option 4: online checkout

If customers buy through a website, you need online payment processing. For a fuller comparison of account structures and fees, see our ecommerce merchant accounts guide. The easiest approach is usually a hosted or provider-managed checkout rather than handling raw card details yourself.

Square currently charges 1.4% + 25p for online transactions with UK cards and 2.5% + 25p for non-UK cards. SumUp’s standard online-payment pricing is currently 2.50%. Stripe’s standard UK-card online pricing currently starts at 1.5% + 20p.

Do not choose an online provider using the in-person card rate. Card-present and ecommerce transactions use different pricing.

See our online payment gateway guide.

Option 5: payment links

A payment link lets you send a secure checkout. Businesses taking remote payments may also want our credit card processing guide for a broader view of the payment chain. by email, text, social media or messaging app. It is useful for deposits, remote services, tradespeople and businesses without a full ecommerce website.

The customer opens the link and enters payment details on the provider’s secure page. This is safer and easier than asking a customer to send card details by message.

Option 6: Virtual Terminal

A Virtual Terminal allows authorised staff to key payment details into a secure browser-based interface. It is useful for telephone orders and some business-to-business payments.

Card-not-present transactions normally cost more because fraud risk is higher. Square currently charges 2.5% for Virtual Terminal and manually entered payments under its standard pricing.

Only use a provider’s approved Virtual Terminal. Do not write down card security codes or store card details in a spreadsheet.

How much will accepting card payments cost?

Your cost can include:

• hardware purchase or rental;
• percentage transaction fee;
• fixed pence amount per transaction;
• monthly service fee;
• POS software;
• PCI-related support or compliance fees on some merchant packages;
• chargebacks and disputes;
• optional faster settlement.

For a low-volume business, fixed monthly charges can matter more than a small percentage difference. For a high-volume business, the processing rate usually becomes much more important.

Simple processing example

If your business takes £5,000 a month in qualifying in-person card payments:

These examples exclude subscriptions, hardware and card-type differences. They show why the lowest percentage does not automatically equal the lowest final bill.

Do you need a merchant account?

With providers such as Square or SumUp, the acquiring and payment-processing relationship is packaged so the owner does not normally arrange a separate merchant account in the traditional way.

More conventional providers can use a distinct acquiring relationship and tailored merchant terms.

For a deeper explanation, see our merchant accounts guide.

How quickly will you get paid?

Settlement varies by provider and account type. Some promote next-business-day settlement, while others can make funds available quickly inside their own business-account ecosystem.

Cash flow determines how much this matters. A restaurant buying supplies every day may value faster settlement more than a consultant with low daily costs.

Can you charge customers extra for paying by card?

For normal UK consumer transactions, businesses cannot simply add a surcharge because a customer uses a consumer debit or credit card. UK rules prohibit surcharges for a wide range of consumer payment methods.

Build payment costs into your normal pricing rather than putting a surprise card fee on the checkout.

What about contactless limits?

The UK historically operated a £100 contactless card limit. From March 2026, FCA rule changes gave payment firms greater flexibility to set contactless limits where they have appropriate controls.

That does not mean every physical card now has the same new limit. Firms can decide whether and when to use the flexibility, and customers may still be asked to authenticate transactions.

PCI DSS

PCI DSS is the payment-card security standard. The current standard is PCI DSS v4.0.1. Requirements that were previously future-dated became effective from 31 March 2025.

Your compliance workload depends on how payments are accepted. Using validated terminals and provider-hosted ecommerce checkout can reduce the amount of card data your own systems handle.

Read our PCI DSS guide.

What should a new sole trader choose?

Start with low fixed costs. Square Reader and SumUp Solo Lite are both inexpensive. Tap to Pay can make a useful backup and may be enough on its own for very occasional transactions.

See our card machines for sole traders guide.

What should a busy fixed-premises business choose?

Get at least one tailored quote. Once monthly card turnover reaches several thousand pounds, a lower negotiated or blended rate can outweigh the simplicity of PAYG hardware.

Compare card machine providers and use recent statements so providers quote against your real turnover and card mix.

Questions to ask before signing up

• What is the exact rate for UK consumer cards?
• What do business, international and Amex cards cost?
• Is there a fixed pence fee?
• What does the hardware cost?
• Is there a minimum contract?
• When are funds settled?
• What happens if the terminal fails?
• What online and remote-payment fees apply?
• Can I export transaction data?
• What happens if I close or sell the business?

Related Quotehunt guides

• Best payment processing companies
• Card machines for sole traders
• Mobile card readers
• Contactless payments
• iPhone card readers and Tap to Pay
• PCI DSS guide

Our verdict

For most small businesses starting from scratch, begin with Square or SumUp and keep fixed costs low. If card turnover is already substantial, add Dojo, Worldpay and takepayments to the comparison immediately rather than assuming PAYG will remain cheapest.

Use Tap to Pay and payment links where they genuinely simplify how customers pay, and keep online processing separate in your calculations because ecommerce fees and security requirements differ from face-to-face payments.