Card Machines

[Patstone]

I have had a card machine for nearly 18 months, found out yesterday that the money I am paying is only rental, not off the purchase price of £99, feel hoodwinked. I was persuaded by the bank to go for this particular one as they thought it would fit my needs perfectly, they told me that I could buy in one lump sum and afterwards the machine would be mine, or pay £10 for 10 months and the machine will be mine, and any fees will be transaction fees only. Anyway, I am paying £10 a month plus transaction fees, does anyone have a better card machine or a cheaper deal, as I only go to craft fairs and they are monthly, sometimes two in a month, so I dont want to pay more than £10, I asked if they would give me a deal as I had been "hiring" for 18 months but they said it is still £99 to pay if I decide to go down that route.

[ps_bond]

How galling. I presume it's actually in writing somewhere that they were only renting? The usual 4 point text, buried in the middle of a long and tedious document?
Which company is that, Pat?

[pearlescence]

Sounds like you were mis-sold. You could check with CAB or trading standards
I switched away from card reader machines when the one I had bought was declared obsolete and I was told I had to get a new one at huge price with no special deal.
I've now got one of those readers which plugs into my smartphone - and of course since I got it I haven't used it once so no idea how good it is.
The market has changed with these plug in things but as usual the banks are plodding on with their old creaky expensive notions and haven't noticed that the world outside their little circle has changed and moved on.

[LydiaNiz]

I love my worldpay zinc. You can take telephone payments, send secure links for customers to pay invoices online and the card machine works wirelessly with android phones and iphones. Transactions are 2.75%, charged monthly, but if your monthly sales are large, you can opt for a £12.99 flat rate. The customer service is ace, and you can issue receipts at time of purchase to email or mobiles. I know I sound like I am brainwashed, but it is everything I wanted. It is currently 60 for the machine (owned) but I can give a referral link for a tenner off. You get charged for the machine on the monthly billing cycle, so you have time to try it out before you get charged.

[caroleallen]

The the sim card on my card terminal is, well terminating at the end of this month so I have to send it back. I've been paying £29 per month plus £14 for my merchant account. The company have offered to reduce the rental to £20 but it's still too much. When I did loads of craft fairs it seemed reasonable but it's definitely time to think again.

My bank, Santander supports iZettle but I can't take phone payments with that.

I'm definitely going to look at Worldpay Lydia, so I may be interested in that referral link.

[Patstone]

Elavon done by recommendation of Santander. Mine is linked to my smartphone too, actually I use it with a 7 inch Nexus tablet as its easier for me, plus it gave me an excuse to buy a tablet too. I am not argueing that it doesnt work well, because it does, just that I thought I was buying it and expected the payments to stop, and they have gone on. I cant take telephone payments with it, but most of ours are face to face anyway. Definately going to look at Worldpay.


How galling. I presume it's actually in writing somewhere that they were only renting? The usual 4 point text, buried in the middle of a long and tedious document?
Which company is that, Pat?

[LydiaNiz]

drop me a message if you've got any questions - will try and be useful! :-)

[Patstone]

Thanks for that, I am waiting for a copy of my contract, basically to see if I signed for 10 months at £10 or £10 as a monthly hire. Worldpay is cheaper than Elavon by the looks of it too.

[caroleallen]

Hi Lydia, I would like the referrer link please as I've decided to go with Worldpay. I'll pm you.

[LydiaNiz]

Hi Carole,
Hope you are as pleased with it as I am. My machine took about a week to arrive once I'd applied.
This link (http://wpzinc.me/MMAf4yzaf7) should work for anyone I think. x
ETA: Just seen the PM bit, it has been a looooooooooong day!

[Patstone]

Hi Carole, i have just ordered a Worldpay machine from PC World, ordered it yesterday and it is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Lydia is correct in what she says, the machine is purchased at £59.99 incl VAT. and ther transaction fee as far as i can tell is 2.75%. I didnt realise it at the time of signing up to Elavon but the machine was hired not purchased, and I was told at the time of hiring that phone transactions could not be done, it had to be person to person, yesterday they told me that I could have done phone transactions but the machine has to be programmed for it, which they could do over the phone. They have since offered me a "keyboard" free, where I pay just the transaction fees, but the keyboard isnt wireless, or 3G, not much good if you are in a craft fair in the middle of a field.

[kymbi]

Thanks ver so much for the information and tip about worldpay zinc. I've had a chip n pin machine contract for about 6 years but I don't use it enough now to justify the rental cost and was looking for another option. Worldpay zinc looks ideal for the number of transactions that I now process. Just signed up and ordered my machine from PC World too. I had a discount link for £10 off if I purchased from Worldpay but it looks like their RRP is £79.99 so even with the discount, PC world is cheaper. I'll give it a trial run for a couple of months before finishing my other contract, but if this works well then it will save me about £200 a year. Result!