What is Takepayments?
Takepayments is a UK-based independent sales organisation (ISO) offering card machines, online payments and card processing contracts for small businesses. It is one of the fastest-growing card payment companies in the UK, with 60,000+ merchants under its belt.
The company has been around for over 25 years, previously trading as Payzone. In 2019, it started transitioning into Takepayments for card payment solutions, leaving the brand Payzone to focus on payment hubs for utility bills and services.
Card machines
Takepayments has card machines for a fixed till point (Countertop), carrying around on premises (Portable) or using independently on the go (Mobile).
They all accept contactless, chip and PIN and swipe card payments including the mobile wallets Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. Visa, Mastercard and Maestro are accepted as standard, while American Express can be added with an additional agreement.
Countertop card machine
Portable card machine
Mobile card machine
You can print daily transaction reports from any terminal. Otherwise, the only sales reports you get with the Ingenico terminals are a monthly statement from your acquirer. There is no online dashboard to log into to manage card machines, view transactions, payouts and account settings. This could be an issue if you need to integrate with Xero or other accounting software.
There is also a smart POS terminal that is both a wireless card payment machine and checkout in one portable device: the PAX A920 card machine.
It has no physical keypad, just a 5″ HD touchscreen that’s easy to clean. It accepts cards via WiFi, Bluetooth or 4G (with the optional SIM card), has a 10-hour battery life and comes with a countertop dock for when it’s not carried around. Like the other card machines above, it has a receipt printer built in.
Photo: Emily Sorensen (ES), Mobile Transaction
PAX A920 comes with Takepayments’ own software.
It comes with a choice of two Takepayments subscriptions:
- The Easy Deal: £7.50 + VAT monthly (monthly contract)
- Takepaymentsplus: £25 + VAT monthly (annual contract)
The Easy Deal has only basic transactions software, allowing you to accept card payments on the go without additional software like inventory tracking or cash acceptance. It’s ideal for merchants who don’t want to commit to more than a monthly plan, but it does have a setup fee of £150 + VAT. A SIM card for mobile connectivity would be free.
Takepaymentsplus takes features to the next level with an integrated product library, sales and inventory reports and itemised receipts. The monthly cost includes a SIM card, card machine rental and the software, and there is no setup fee.
Image: Takepayments
Takepaymentsplus is a PAX A920 terminal with simple, self-sufficient POS software built in.
POS integrations
What POS integrations are available? Takepayments has its own till system called tPOS. This includes EPOS software, a register tablet and portable PAX A920 for card payments.
You cannot download the POS software on a commercial tablet or your phone. Instead, you get a specialised tablet register manufactured by PAX (either the E700 or E800 model) with a built-in receipt printer.
tPOS is Takepyaments’ own point of sale (POS) system.
There’s a package with features for retail (£45-£55 + VAT monthly) or hospitality (£55-£65 + VAT monthly). Regardless of the package, it comes with a £250 + VAT setup fee.
The setup can be expanded with a cash drawer, kitchen printer, barcode scanner and other compatible hardware.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
Takepayments/PAX terminal with Epos Now software.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
Epos Now checkout screen on PAX terminal.
Alternatively, you can get the PAX A920 terminal with the Epos Now till software (‘eposmove’) for a monthly fee and up to three years’ contract.
We tested the eposmove terminal (above photos) and found it’s like a small, compact POS system suitable for beauty, hospitality and retail. The software has useful features like basic customer loyalty features and a product library, while you get full access to Epos Now’s browser dashboard for management functions.
The system can be expanded with all of Epos Now’s POS software and hardware packages at various costs, and integrations for accounting, ecommerce etc. are available. No other external POS systems can currently be integrated with Takepayments, which could be an issue for businesses with specific till preferences.
Alternatives: Best card payment machines for small businesses
Takepayments fees and contract
One of the main draws of Takepayments is their selection of short contracts. You can either get a monthly or yearly card machine contract, which is shorter than the typical industry norm of 18-60 months. Depending on the contract , there might be a setup fee, though the company takes pride in stating all fees upfront to avoid surprises later on.
Takepayments will set you up with two contracts:
The exact costs are tailored around the individual business and not listed on the website. Instead, Takepayments encourages you to request a quote through their online form and get a visit from a local sales consultant.
We can, however, state the following example of fees:
| Takepayments | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Contract length | 1 (Easy Deal) or 12 months |
| Setup fee | £150 (Easy Deal) or £0 (other card machine packages) |
| Card machine rental | From £7.50 + VAT/mo per terminal |
| Merchant account fees | No monthly or annual fees |
| Transaction rates | Personalised, e.g. 0.3%-2.5% (depends on card/business) + flat fee |
| Monthly minimum charge | £10+/mo |
| PCI compliance | Takepayments fee: £35/yr (optional) Barclaycard fee: £15/mo (mandatory) |
| Chargebacks | £9 each |
| Payouts | Next-day w/Barclaycard: Free Elavon: 30p each |
| Refunds | 30p each |
| Early termination fee | Equivalent to buying out remaining contract |
| Online payments | Annual or monthly fee + transaction charges |
| Take- payments |
Pricing |
|---|---|
| Contract length | 1 (Easy Deal) or 12 months |
| Setup fee | £150 (Easy Deal) or £0 (other card machine packages) |
| Card machine rental | From £7.50 + VAT/mo per terminal |
| Merchant account fees | No monthly or annual fees |
| Transaction rates | Personalised, e.g. 0.3%-2.5% (depends on card/business) + flat fee |
| Monthly minimum charge | £10+/mo |
| PCI compliance | Takepayments fee: £35/yr (optional) Barclaycard fee: £15/mo (mandatory) |
| Chargebacks | £9 each |
| Refunds | 30p each |
| Payouts | Next-day w/Barclaycard: Free Elavon: 30p each |
| Early termination fee | Equivalent to buying out remaining contract |
| Online payments | Annual or monthly fee + transaction charges |
Whereas other acquirers charge monthly and annual fees for card processing, the merchant account from Barclaycard Business has no monthly or yearly account fees. You are only paying fees for card machine transactions, chargebacks, refunds and a monthly PCI-DSS compliance charge to Barclaycard. There’s no charge for the paper statements from the bank.
Transaction charges
Transaction fees are tailored to the merchant’s needs. The main things that determine the card rates are the transaction value and sales volume. If your average transaction value is low, like £5, your quoted fees would be higher than someone accepting high transaction values like £100. This means cafés and convenience stores, for example, probably won’t find that Takepayments is the right fit. Car dealerships, beauticians, restaurants and independent retail shops would, on the other hand, get competitive fees.
Transaction fees are composed of a variable rate associated with the card type/brand, plus a fixed authorisation fee. Takepayments splits the range of fees into four groups: 1) domestic debit cards, 2) domestic credit cards, 3) business debit cards, and 4) business credit cards. Domestic cards have the lowest rate – as low as 0.28% – while a business/corporate card typically costs 1.8%-2% but can go as high as 2.5% plus the fixed authorisation charge.
You can also expect a monthly minimum service charge, which is an agreed amount (say, £20) required in transaction charges every month. If you accept few card machine payments during a month so the total transaction charges are, say, £10, your transaction charges will still amount to £20 in that case.
American Express acceptance requires a separate agreement – it is not automatically accepted until this is set up through your acquirer.
If your average transaction value is low, like £5, your fees would be higher than someone accepting high transaction values like £100. This means cafés and convenience stores, for example, probably won’t be the right fit.
Contract
There’s no cancellation fee if you cancel at least 30 days (Easy Deal) or 60 days (annual plans) before the end of the contract. If you don’t give the required notice, it will auto-renew so an early cancellation does apply for the renewed contract. An early exit fee is equivalent to buying out the remaining contract.
If your business has to temporarily close due to a Covid-19 lockdown, Takepayments can pause your account for the duration of the closure.
The tPOS packages come with an 18-month contract.
The Epos Now integration has a separate contractual commitment of up to 3 years. We strongly encourage checking the small print in this contract, as Epos Now is a separate company with their own terms. The monthly cost per touchscreen terminal with eposmove software is quoted as £45 + VAT.
Other fees
There’s a monthly fee for card machine rental, the cost of which depends on the card machine model. A stationary card machine costs between £10-£15 + VAT per month in rental. Portable or mobile card machines have a higher monthly cost, except for The Easy Deal costing £7.50 monthly with a complimentary SIM card if needed.
If you want mobile connectivity for Takepaymentsplus, a one-off cost of £4.50 applies to a SIM card with unlimited data.
PCI-DSS compliance requires a compulsory monthly fee of £15 from the acquirer (Barclaycard) or ongoing non-compliance fee if you don’t complete all the required paperwork within a certain time frame. If you want help managing PCI-DSS compliance, Takepayments can do this for you for an annual fee of £35.
Chargebacks have a fixed fee of £9 each with Barclaycard, while refunds cost 30p to process.
Transactions are settled in your bank account according to your agreed schedule with the acquirer. With Barclaycard, you get next-day settlement for free, whereas a merchant account with Elavon charges 30p per settlement.
Online payments have separate charges, requiring an annual fee upfront or monthly subscription charge for months in arrears. The first 350 transactions per month are included in the price, whereafter you pay 10p per transaction online.
Remote and online payments
Apart from credit card machines, Takepayments has a good range of online payment methods to subscribe to, usually on an annual contract. These include:
Payment gateway: Customisable online checkout page integrated on your website, but hosted by Takepayments. You can get help setting up the online gateway, so hiring a developer isn’t needed. Compatible with 50+ online shopping carts.
If you don’t have a website already, Takepayments can create one for you for £39 + VAT monthly.
Pay by link: Send payment links through email invoices (invoice creation included), customisable email with “pay now” button, or copying and pasting a link into an email. Links take you to a payment page in a web browser.
Virtual terminal: Secure web page where you can enter card details to process a transaction for the cardholder. Used for over-the-phone payments.
These features are accessed from Merchant Management System in any web browser. Here, you can keep track of payments, add users and manage the online payment (not card machine) account in one place.
It is even possible to set up recurring payments or run pre-authorisations on card payments, to verify if someone can pay.
Photo: Takepayments
Beepaid app for sending payment requests (links) to customers.
There are also the two following apps by Takepayments. They are not publicly available through Google Play or App Store. Instead, Takepayments gives you a URL to access for the below features.
‘beepaidGO’: Lets you send payment requests by email or text message and manage those transactions through the app.
‘Order and beepaid’: Includes a personalised web page with your food and drink menu and QR code to print for contactless ordering on your premises. When customers scan it, they can order and pay. Linked to the UK government’s Track and Trace system.
These online payment tools are great for adapting to socially distanced payments. For example, you can set up a delivery or click-and-collect system, contact-free ordering through QR codes or remote payments for self-isolating customers.
Customer service and reviews
Takepayments takes pride in their onboarding support so you can get up and running quickly. This includes a dedicated account manager for each merchant to turn to when needed.
Takepayments support can be telephoned every day of the week, but with varying opening hours: 8am-7pm on weekdays, 9am-5pm on Saturdays and Bank Holidays, and 9am-1pm on Sundays. You can also send a letter the old-fashioned way, whereas emailing is only possible in some cases.
There is an online support section for frequently asked questions, but it’s hard to find answers for unique questions since the search function rarely shows results even for keywords that you know are covered.
Before you sign up for Takepayments, a local consultant can come and visit your premises to get to know your business. This is part of the promise that you get a unique package, but some merchants may find it intrusive.
As for Takepayments reviews, they are mostly positive, but there have been many complaints in the past year. Common themes in the negative reviews include:
Some of these issues can be avoided by getting a copy of the contract to read in your own time before signing up. A 2-month cancellation period is unfortunately common, but Takepayments does highlight it during sign-up.
The sales consultants can reportedly be pushy, in some cases requesting the merchant’s ID before it’s even agreed they want to sign up. We recommend never passing on more details than you’re comfortable with.
That being said, the average Takepayments merchant ends up staying with the company for several years – which we can only take as a good sign.
Our verdict
A year’s contract for card machine rental and card processing is an attractive deal that’s hard to beat elsewhere. The monthly Easy Deal terminal is even more attractive if you just need simple card acceptance, if you can stomach the setup fee.
Micro-businesses uncertain about future prospects can benefit from this, but you still need to read your contract’s fine print about when to cancel to avoid hefty exit fees.
The touchscreen card machine is good for either simple or advanced POS features, making it versatile for any setup.
The fees are competitive for a merchant service provider, but Takepayments could do a better job of communicating them on the website. Generally, the sales rep is more communicative than the ongoing support staff.
The touchscreen card machine is good for either simple or advanced POS features, making it versatile for any setup.
A downside of the Ingenico terminals is the lack of online dashboard for tracking card machine sales remotely or exporting transactions to bookkeeping software. Most other payment providers include this as standard, but Barclaycard (in charge of card processing) has been slow to keep up with technological developments.
If you choose the PAX terminal, however, you get online access to sales reports, with more advanced reports available on the tPOS plans.
| Takepayments criteria | Rating | Conclusion |
|---|---|---|
| Product | 3.9 | Good |
| Costs and fees | 3.9 | Good |
| Transparency and sign-up | 4 | Good |
| Value-added services | 4 | Good |
| Service and reviews | 4.2 | Good |
| Contract | 3.8 | Good |
| OVERALL SCORE | 4 | Good |
| Takepayments criteria |
Rating | Conclusion |
|---|---|---|
| Product | 3.9 | Good |
| Costs and fees | 3.9 | Good |
| Transparency and sign-up | 4 | Good |
| Value-added services | 4 | Good |
| Service and reviews | 4.2 | Good |
| Contract | 3.8 | Good |
| OVERALL SCORE | 4 | Good |
The tPOS systems for hospitality and retail are a big improvement over the last year, but some businesses will be put off by the 18-month lock-in it has. The lack of other EPOS integrations could be a downside for users with specific preferences.
That said, Takepayments is preferred by businesses that want to avoid long-term commitment when it comes to card machines. The transaction costs are particularly suited for businesses with high-value transactions, and the choice of socially distanced payment methods means you don’t have to look elsewhere to adapt to changing needs.
