SumUp 3G and Printer review: lowest-cost terminal with receipt printer in UK

How the SumUp 3G Printer works

The SumUp 3G with Printer is formed of a receipt printer cradle that works in conjunction with a SumUp 3G card reader.

Costs and payouts

The SumUp 3G + Printer costs £199 (£129 through our link) + VAT.

Note: If you already have a SumUp 3G card reader, you can buy the printer separately for £109 + VAT.

There is no delivery or setup fee with SumUp, so these are the only upfront costs.

There are no monthly fees, nor contract lock-in with SumUp. When you accept cards with SumUp 3G + Printer, you only pay a fixed rate of 1.69% per transaction regardless of card type, country of issue and brand.

SumUp automatically transfers payments to your bank account within 2-3 working days for free. Refunds are free to process if processed straight after the original transaction, but SumUp keeps the transaction fee if the refund is done after the transaction has been paid into your bank account. Chargebacks cost an £10 admin fee each.

Tech specs

The card reader and printing cradle come as separate entities.

For the printer to work, the card reader should be ‘locked’ in and sit inside the white, rubber-feel, plastic cradle before any transaction if you want to print a receipt for it. If it is even a little loose, the printer won’t work properly, so it’s best not to keep taking it in and out in case you have to fiddle to reestablish the connection.

Photo: Emmanuel Charpentier (EC), Mobile Transaction

SumUp 3G terminal next to SumUp 3G printer when taken apart.

The SumUp 3G + Printer accepts chip cards in the bottom slot, contactless taps over the display, but magnetic stripe cards can only be swiped in the top card reader slot while outside the cradle (receipts for swipe payments can be printed through sales history after the transaction).

Photo: EC, Mobile Transaction

The card reader release button and charging socket are at the bottom of the printer.

The cradle has two black rubber strips underneath to keep it firmly in one spot of a table. Although the device looks like a stationary terminal, the SumUp 3G Printer is wireless and made to used as a handheld terminal (but it is admittedly chunky, so it may feel natural to use it with two hands).

The printing cradle is also a charging cradle, so the card reader will be charged when placed inside the cradle.

The terminal has very few features – it’s basically just for entering an amount, processing the card, printing a receipt and refunding payments. Consequently, the main menu only gives two options: 1) Sales history, and 2) Settings.

The ‘Sales history’ option lists your recent transactions. When you pick a transaction, you see the transaction status, (successful, failed, refunded, payout status), date, time, amount, last digits of card number, and transaction ID. Under each transaction, you can choose to see or reprint the receipt.

You can make full or partial refunds by picking the transaction and scrolling to ‘Refund transaction’.

‘Settings’ leads you to another small menu that includes:

• Printer – choose to auto-print receipts or manually select receipt option (print, no receipt, SMS, email) after transactions
• Change language – choose between most European languages for the card reader display
• Software information – shows software details
• Connection type – choose cellular (3G) or Bluetooth (for connection with SumUp app)
• Logout – log out of your SumUp user account (in the backend, you can create several staff accounts)

After some time of inactivity, the card reader goes on standby. You can manually switch it to standby by pushing the power button quickly, or off completely with a long push of the power button.

The default screen when you turn it back on is the “Please enter amount” screen where you enter the transaction amount and proceed to accept the card payment. It may take more than a few seconds to connect with a cellular network if the local connection isn’t strong, or you have switched it on for the first time in a while.

The SumUp 3G reader with printer cannot be integrated with any other point of sale (POS) equipment. It is intended to be used on its own, but it is possible to use it in conjunction with SumUp app’s features. That said, the SumUp payment app is primarily intended for the SumUp Air reader.

If you have several SumUp devices (SumUp Air or SumUp 3G card reader) registered in the same SumUp account, all transactions will be shown in the SumUp dashboard.

Receipts

The printed receipts are quite detailed, perhaps too small a font size. The same receipt information is displayed on paper, SMS and email receipts and includes:

Since it does not show itemised products, but rather a total amount, it is a small receipt size. You cannot customise the details on the receipt except for business information like address and company name. Changing those details requires contacting SumUp with the request, since it has to be verified in the system.

If you forgot to the attach the printer part to the card reader before getting to the printing stage, you can just finalise the transaction and attach the printer. Then go to the main menu and pick ‘Sales history’, the transaction, and whether to send or print the receipt.

Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction

Receipts are printed from the back of the printing/charging cradle.

When separated from the printer, the card reader will only offer to send a receipt digitally via text or email following the transaction.

We tried to print a receipt for refunds, but found it only prints the receipt for the original transaction, so you can’t provide a paper proof for refunds.

Receipt rolls are easily changed at the back of the printer – just pull out the receipt roll compartment, take out the old roll and insert the new roll with a bit of paper sticking out. Shut the compartment, rip off excess paper – and off you print. No ink is required, since it uses thermal paper (via heat-based technology).

Photo: EC, Mobile Transaction

Receipt paper rolls are changed at the back of the SumUp 3G Printer.

You can’t currently purchase receipt rolls in the SumUp Shop, so you have to order them elsewhere online.

Reporting

The SumUp 3G Printer can print old transaction receipts, but not daily or general sales reports. In that sense, the printer is only useful for customer receipts and additional copies of these receipts.

The same sales reports for all SumUp users through the dashboard account, which you can log in to from any internet browser. In the SumUp account, you can get a sales overview, filter sales, export sales reports to a CSV file and view payout details.

You can filter sales and transactions by:

• Time period – today, last week, last month, last 6 months, or specific date interval
• Payment type – card or cash (the latter only relevant if you use the SumUp app accepting cash)
• Payment status – successful, failed, refund, or chargeback
• Employees (if you’ve added employee user accounts in the backend)

SumUp does not currently have the ability to integrate sales with external accounting systems, but if you export transactions to a CSV file, you can import that file in your chosen accounting software.

Customer service and user reviews

SumUp’s customer support can be phoned on weekdays between 8am and 7pm and Saturdays between 8am and 5pm. Alternatively, you can email support or submit a message via your SumUp account online any time, although there won’t be a response before the following business hours.

Generally, the company is rated highly in user reviews for its low costs, fuss-free sign-up and ease of use. There are not enough comments on the 3G Printer to know what people’s long-term experience with the device is. The support team is generally helpful, but can be a bit slow when it comes to non-urgent issues (urgent issues get a faster response, in our experience).

Who is SumUp 3G and Printer best for?

SumUp is geared towards small businesses, sole traders and merchants who need a low-cost solution for card payments processed over a mobile network rather than WiFi or Ethernet cable.

Coupled with the portability, SumUp 3G with Printer is ideal for locations like the countryside or trains where 4G is poor and 3G or slower mobile connections are the norm. This could be at a market stall, small shop, home visits, business conferences or any other places of business.

Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction

The SumUp 3G terminal is great for mobile businesses where you need to carry it around.

In a restaurant, you may want to use the card machine for tableside payments requiring a printed receipt.

As with other payment companies, certain high-risk business types are not allowed such as pawn shops, investment clubs, multi-level marketers and car dealers. If you plan on doing business abroad (within Europe), you can let SumUp know and they might let you use the terminal in that country for a planned duration.

How to get started

It’s very easy to sign up with SumUp. You just fill in the brief sign-up form on the website, submitting basic personal details and your business information, then order the terminal. Your bank account and business details will then take a few days to verified officially, after which your bank account is ready to receive transactions.

It takes about a week for the package to arrive. We received it in a medium/large brown box with a very sturdy, blue SumUp box inside containing the product contents. There’s already some battery power on the SumUp 3G + Printer, so you can switch it on immediately, log in with your username and password and take payments straight away.

Our verdict

If you want the absolute cheapest card machine with receipt printer, SumUp 3G + Printer takes the prize. No other commitment-free, receipt-printing card machines in the UK are this cheap, with a reasonable card rate, pay-as-you-go and without monthly fees. SumUp ticks all those boxes, and you can use it wirelessly anywhere with a 3G connection.

Admittedly, the two-piece terminal is not the sleekest, nor lightest, but it fits perfectly on a countertop while also being portable. If you don’t need paper receipts, you can just take the card reader out from the printing cradle and use it on its own.

Bottom line: SumUp 3G + Printer duo is a low-cost, effective solution for mobile card payments with paper receipts.