Choosing A Card Payment Machine

Discover how to pick the best card payment machine for your small business with our handy guide. So as more consumers pay with card and the likes of Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc right now is the best time to be on the look out for a card machine. Of course, a wide range of card machines are available with so many different features. On top of this, they come with a range of prices too - from easy pay as you go to contracts too.

They accept both chip and pin as well as contactless payments and are becoming more and more crucial for businesses across the UK (from startups to established business). In fact, if your business is selling a product it needs a card machine to accept payments!

There are just three simple types, the first is called a countertop, the second is called a portable and the third is called a mobile. Each of these card machines is suitable for a different purpose, such as taking payments from a till, accepting payments at the table, or taking payments on the go. We'll go through them now:

Counter card machines - these tend to be used near a till and are ideal for smaller businesses, such as retail stores. They need to connect to the internet in order to process card payments and, as such mainly use the local network to do this (connecting via network cable).

Portable card machines - these are perfect for the likes of restaurants where the person serving can take the card machine to the customer who is sat at the table. With no cables or cords to worry about, they make taking payments completely easy. They also need to connect to the internet to take payments, and as such they tend to connect using Bluetooth or WiFi.

Mobile card machines - very useful for businesses that are on the move, such as dog walking, mobile car repairs, mobile maintenance, etc, etc. Again, they'll need to connect to the internet in order to process payments but they use a data SIM (much like a mobile phone).