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Best Merchant Accounts For Your Growing Business
Merchant accounts can unlock growth for your business, but which provider is best for you?
Choosing The Best Merchant Account For Your Business
Getting a merchant account involves making an agreement between your business and an acquiring bank. The acquiring bank provides the merchant account, and the agreement outlines terms such as contract length, account type, and fees.
While payment gateways and payment processors are involved in the transaction process, the core relationship is between your business and your acquiring bank, so the fundamental thing to get right is the acquiring bank you choose as this is the company to who you pay most of your merchant account fees.
If you want to learn more about merchant accounts, we’ve written an ultimate guide on merchant accounts that explains what they are, how much they cost, and how they work.
Who Provides The Best Merchant Account?
We know it can be difficult to know where to look for your merchant account, especially if you’re just getting started with taking electronic payments, which is why we’ve done the digging for you.
This article will go through five merchant account providers (listed below) that could work for your business. We’ll discuss processing fees, usability, and integrations to arm you with all the information you need to choose the best merchant account for you. Click the provider you want to find out about to read more about them.
Want to know more about merchant account fees?
If you want to know more about merchant account fees, we’ve written a merchant account fee guide that breaks down all of the associated fees like card processing fees.
Why You Need a Good Merchant Account
Before we get stuck into which merchant account provider is best for your business, let’s first dive into why having a good merchant account is the gift that keeps on giving to your business.
If you’re reading this article it means you’re either ready to start accepting card payments or you want to see if there’s a better deal out there than the one you’re currently on. Whichever it is, a good merchant account means you can take full advantage of a cashless society while also keeping your fees down to a minimum.
The best merchant account, coupled with the best card machine and best payment gateway would mean your business will be able to grow in a sustainable way and for a good price. This makes having a merchant account that suits your business one of the most important things to get right when it comes to running your business.
All of these are subjective, so the best will be different for each business, which is what this article aims to help you with. If, however, you want to cut the chase and get a selection of merchant account quotes to compare, just answer the question below to begin your search.
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Barclaycard offers flexible payment options, including a contract-based service and a pay-as-you-go plan. The pay-as-you-go plan is ideal for businesses looking to start accepting card payments with lower upfront costs and, if you already bank with them, it makes them the perfect choice for your merchant account.
Choosing Barclaycard will also mean you can be provided with a range of Barclaycard card machines, which can perform a range of functions for your business. This means there’s one less thing to worry about as your card machine provider is already sorted, although they do come with their own cost.
Barclaycard’s household name status makes it stand out from the crowd on this list, as does its pre-existing popularity in the consumer industry. Barclaycard is also great when it comes to fraud prevention; its 24/7 fraud monitoring means your business and your customers are protected from suspicious transactions night and day.
It is, however, worth noting that Barclays might not be suitable for your business if you want a merchant account that can be fully integrated with an EPOS system.
How Much Does a Barclaycard Merchant Account Cost?
For a one-time fee of £29 + VAT, you can get a mobile card reader and start processing payments with a 1.6% transaction fee. The lack of a contract goes a long way in making Barclaycard one of the most affordable options on this list, but you do pay a monthly card rental (as high as £29 per month) on some of their card machines, while others are available outright.
Stripe is a big player in the merchant account provider industry. It’s often favoured by small businesses thanks to its competitive transaction fees and lack of monthly card machine rental. It also provides the card machine hardware and the payment gateway software you need to take payments in-person and online.
Your business also gets six reporting tools, so you can get in-depth business insights. These insights allow you to track things like refunds, charges, and transaction fees. These insights can prove useful if you’re a business owner who wants to easily see the comings and goings of your business’s card payments.
How Much Does a Stripe Merchant Account Cost?
Stripe charges 1.4% + 20p for European cards and 2.9% + 20p for non-European cards, which compares well to the other merchant account providers on this list. Also similar to others on this list, the lack of card machine rental and monthly fees adds to its appeal as the only fees you pay are the very reasonable transaction fees.
However, where Stripe falls is in its hardware. Its most basic card reader is the Wisepad 3, which is a basic card reader able to accept card and phone payments, and costs £49. Its more advanced cousin, the WisePOS E, is a more interactive reader with a touchscreen display and costs £179. These prices make Stripe’s hardware some of the most expensive on the market.
This will be something you will need to consider when making your decision about which merchant account provider best suits your business.
Takepayments is a popular choice of merchant account for small businesses across the UK and provides services specifically catered to them. It allows businesses like yours to take full advantage of a cashless society by providing things like card processing, card machines, fully-fledged EPOS systems, and online payment gateways. Best of all, you get hold of the money you take the next working day.
While it does prove popular with its flexible range of payment solutions and ability to give businesses access to detailed insights, takepayments does require you to sign a 12-month contract right from the start, which ties you down and means you’re not able to switch providers as easily. This means you need to be sure if you choose it.
How Much Does Takepayments Cost?
Takepayments’ pricing is bespoke, which means we can’t tell you exactly what you’ll end up paying if you choose them as your merchant account provider. It does, however, offer flexible pricing that’s adapted to your specific needs, which means the price you pay is the right one; you won’t be paying for any services you don’t use or want.
It is, however, still important to compare any quote you get from takepayments with other providers, just so you can be sure that you’re getting the best deal you can for your business.
Because Worldpay offers lower rates to businesses that turnover larger amounts, it’s most suited to businesses that are on the way up. It could be the best choice of a merchant account for you if your business takes a lot of card payments or has ambitions of introducing a no-cash policy.
While other merchant account providers on this list specifically aim their services at smaller-sized businesses, Worldpay offers something different; a solution to fast-growing ones. What’s more, it also offers services to large businesses, which means, if you are on the way up, it can grow with you.
How Much Does WorldPay Cost?
As alluded to above, Worldpay charges lower transaction fees (as low as 0.75%) if your business turnover is £75,000 or more. This fee applies only to in-person transactions and includes a 4.5p charge per transaction. If you don’t meet the £75,000 threshold you’ll be subject to at least a 1.5% fee for in-person transactions.
Regardless of your turnover, Worldpay charges a £5 monthly PCI compliance fee and card machine rental from £17.50 per month. As well as these fees, there are monthly service charges, online transaction fees, payment gateway charges and costs for EPOS systems (should you choose to use one). All of these fees are conditional and, again, are partly influenced by your turnover. Businesses with a higher turnover also have more access to custom fees.
Zettle is part of Paypal, which makes taking payments easier for businesses. Like its parent company, Zettle also focuses on offering small businesses payment solutions. It gives businesses the option of owning their card machines outright – doing away with card machine rental fees. As well as this, its software is free, easy to use, and pays out money quickly. You can even progress to a full EPOS system should your business require it, and its card readers compare well to market leaders like Square and SumUp. The lack of sign-up fees is also a plus. It’s transaction fees, however, aren’t…
How Much Does Zettle Cost?
The card machines Zettle provides – of which there are two – each come with a reasonable price tag. Its most basic card reader, the Zettle Reader, is yours for a one-off payment of £29 and its more advanced cousin comes in at £149. If neither of the card machines suits your business, you can use the Zettle app on your mobile device, which is free.
While these prices are competitive, where Zettle falls is with its transaction fees. Each payment charges 1.75%, regardless of the device you use to take it. If you use a payment link, you’ll pay a 2.5% fee and the same on Zettle invoices. These prices don’t fair as well as some of Zettle’s direct competitors, some of which you’ll find on this list. For this reason, the lack of card rental fees and free membership might not save you the money you think.
Verdict: Which is The Best Merchant Account for Your Business?
So there you have it, the Commercial Experts round-up of the best and most popular merchant account providers in the UK. But which is the best one? Well, as is often the business case, it depends on your circumstances.
If your business has a large turnover of card payments or expects to be doing so soon, you could be best opting for something like Worldpay as it gives favourable rates to these businesses. If, however, your business is just starting and you want the freedom to choose where you go, Zettle or Stripe could be best. If a contract doesn’t bother you, takepayments could be where to look.
It all depends on what you want from your merchant account. Do you want cheap hardware, low transaction fees, no contracts, or no card machine rental? Let yourself be led by the answers to these questions and you will find the merchant account for you. If, however, you’ve read all of the above and would rather we just find a selection of tailored quotes for you, answer the question below and follow the on-screen instructions.
FAQs
Do I need a merchant account?
No, but not having one could mean putting blockades in front of your business’s progression. A good merchant account means you can take full advantage of a cashless society while also keeping your fees down to a minimum.
The best merchant account, coupled with the best card machine and best payment gateway would mean your business will be able to grow. This makes having a merchant account one of the most important things to get sorted when it comes to running your business.
Can I get a free merchant account?
No. While many of the merchant account providers explored here do offer accounts that are free to create, there are still transaction charges, card machine rentals and other types of merchant fees that all cost money.
There are ways to keep costs as low as you can, and doing your research on which providers charge which fees will be a big part of that.
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