Virtual terminals in the UK: 5 best providers

Need to take payments over the phone, but not sure which virtual terminal to choose? Quite a few payment providers in the UK offer virtual terminals, but only few are truly good value for a small business.

So which is the right one to choose? Our virtual terminal comparison gives you an overview of the five best in the UK.

If you’re looking for no commitment, quick registration and no monthly fees, Square is your best solution. The only thing you pay is a fixed transaction fee per Virtual Terminal payment.

Square Virtual Terminal is a very simple page focusing on card details. Photo: Square

You can go many months without using the terminal, without being charged anything, and it will still be available as a complimentary feature in your Square account.

If you’ve saved a customer’s card details in the system, you can pick that for the payment, or start a recurring payment if you’re setting up a new regularly occurring transaction.

Square really has lowered the threshold for getting started with payments, whether it’s for the point of sale, via invoicing, ecommerce or in this case a virtual terminal. With a Square account, you can take payments in any of these ways for a fixed percentage. There is no requirement to submit PCI documentation with Square, but they do expect you to follow general safety check recommendations in line with PCI regulations.

Best for: Small, new or seasonal businesses needing an easy, not-committing option for remote payments.

As the biggest payment processor in the UK, Worldpay offers everything from card machines to online payments, including virtual terminals. Transaction rates are shaped around your card turnover, business area and card types accepted.

Worldpay Virtual Terminal allows you to add billing address.

Precise card rates are given by Worldpay when you contact them, but one thing is sure: the Virtual Terminal, on its own, has a fixed monthly fee of £9.95 + VAT. You pay for transactions on top of the monthly cost, and the plan can be cancelled any time with 30 days’ notice.

Visa, Visa Electron, Mastercard, Maestro, American Express and Diners Club are accepted through the Worldpay virtual terminal, but it is possible they allow other card brands with an extra agreement.

Some features – such as advanced reporting – may incur extra fees, and the monthly costs would not be suitable for businesses who only use the virtual terminal occasionally. Customer service is available over phone and email 24/7.

Best for: Businesses with a relatively stable monthly turnover of over £2k monthly, accepting mainly UK-issued debit cards.

Sage Pay is one of the biggest merchant service providers in the UK, with solutions for ecommerce, accounting, invoicing, point of sales and more. You can subscribe to the Sage virtual terminal under a plan called ‘Sage Pay Phone Payments’ (suitable for small businesses) or ‘Sage Pay Phone Payments Corporate’ if you’re a high-volume business looking for customised fees.

Sage virtual terminal allows you to enter quite a few details.

The basic Sage Pay Phone Payments plan costs a fixed monthly fee of £15 + VAT. This gives you 100 transaction tokens and includes 24/7 phone, email and Twitter support. The Corporate plan has bespoke pricing and is for companies expecting to make over 1,500 transactions a month.

By default, Sage accepts Visa, Visa Electron, Mastercard and Maestro via the virtual terminal, but is also able to set up acceptance for other payment types. Their round-the-clock customer support is generally highly rated.

Best for: Merchants already using Sage’s accounting software and who want to integrate it with phone sales.

PayPal is a popular choice for small business, perhaps partly because it is so well-known. The virtual terminal itself is effective and highly secure, but PayPal makes it your responsibility to set up PCI compliance, which can be costly if you require assistance. PayPal Virtual Terminal accepts Visa, Mastercard and Maestro, and transactions settle in your PayPal account within minutes. Customer service is only available during working hours in the UK.

PayPal’s virtual terminal is simple to use, but costs are a little complicated.

To cut to the chase, transaction fees for their virtual terminal are some of the highest for small businesses.

For a card turnover of less than £1,500 a month, you pay 3.4% + 20p per transaction, then 2.9% + 20p for a monthly turnover of £1,500.01-£6,000, 2.4% + 20p for a monthly turnover of £6,000.01-£15,000, and 1.9% + 20p for a monthly turnover of over £15k. These are for domestic payments only – transactions using a foreign-issued card incur an additional cross-border fee of 0.4%-1.5% depending on the cardholder’s country. Additional fees apply to certain transactions, e.g. for “card account verification” or “uncaptured” payments.

It is possible to choose a different fee system for cards (Interchange Plus), but these fees are more complicated.

Tired of reading about PayPal fees? Maybe this virtual terminal isn’t for you. However, they do offer a broad range of online payment features such as recurring payments, PayPal checkout on your website, but also a mobile card reader. If you’d like to have all this in one place, you may prefer PayPal.

Best for: Online businesses using PayPal services regularly, with a card turnover of at least £6k a month.

SumUp is mostly know for its low-cost card readers. They don’t advertise its Virtual Terminal, but if you have a SumUp account with some sales history, you can message customer support to get the virtual terminal activated. SumUp will ask for some information, after which they undergo security checks. If all goes well, the virtual terminal will be activated for use in your account.

SumUp Virtual Terminal has a simple layout, in line with all of SumUp’s no-fuss products.

The virtual terminal costs nothing in monthly fees, but transactions are charged at 2.95% + 25p regardless of card type or sales volume. Although higher than some other virtual terminals’ card fees, the lack of monthly costs could still mean this is the most economical solution for seasonal sales or low-volume merchants.

There is no contract to commit to with SumUp. Once it is activated, you will be able to accept payments through the virtual terminal when required, but a period of non-usage may deactivate it eventually, requiring you to contact SumUp again.

As with Square’s virtual terminal, the only additional information you can enter is a short note. No customer address or other details than card information can be added.

Best for: SumUp users with an accumulation of transactions from card reader sales.

Summary

Which is the best virtual payment terminal, then? It comes down to how you prioritise monthly fees, contractual commitment, features and ease of use. Sales volume and type of cards accepted (credit or debit) also determine whether one provider is cheaper than another.

Strengths of each virtual terminal provider: