- Highs: Well-designed card machines. Can be used in many different environments.
- Lows: Not the cheapest. Long-term contract required. Some poor customer reviews.
- Choose if: You want a good card machine from a well-known brand for the longer term.
What is Verifone?
Verifone is an American card machine manufacturer famous for its payment solutions globally. The company provides their card terminals to a number of merchant service providers in the UK, but also offers products directly with a card processing contract.
Apart from card terminals, Verifone offers accompanying software, payment gateways for online stores, omnichannel solutions (fully integrated in-person and online payments) and other payment setups relevant to a large variety of business sectors.
Verifone card machines
Verifone’s terminal models have advanced over the years. Given the quality of the hardware, you may still see old Verifone card machines in shops – or even on websites of certain merchant service providers. But Verifone only offers the following card machines now.
All of the below models accept chip, swipe and contactless cards and mobile wallets.
Verifone P400
P400 is built on the V/OS (Linux-based) system. Photo: Verifone
Verifone V200c
The V200c is a less advanced version of V400. Photo: Verifone
Verifone V240m
The V240m is ideal on the go or around premises. Photo: Verifone
Verifone VX 680
The VX 680 works with basic network connections. Photo: Verifone
Verifone Carbon Mobile 5
Carbon Mobile 5 is built on the Android 7 operating system. Photo: Verifone
Verifone e285
The e285 reader can work independently or with a mobile app. Photo: Verifone
Verifone e355
Verifone e355 can be programmed to work with or without a custom app. Photo: Verifone
Transactions processed through the terminals can be analysed and sorted into sales reports through Verifone’s own transaction reporting solutions.
If you have more than a few card machines, the Verifone Central Device Management system allows you to oversee and control all sales channels remotely from an internet browser. For instance, you can push rich media to all your terminals at the same time with the push of a button.
No matter your business size, there is a software package for your card payments – but they may cost extra.
Verifone also offers ticketing and vending machines (like the ones in train stations), unattended card readers and terminals for self-service checkouts.
Some of Verifone’s old models still offered by payment providers include Verifone VX 520 (countertop) and Verifone VX 820 Duet (countertop). We expect these will be phased out gradually, since Verifone is not actively recommending them on their website.
There may be others offering Verifone terminals in the UK (many of these companies aren’t exactly transparent about products until you ask). If you are interested in a particular provider, you can always ask if they have any Verifone models as well.
Pricing
Costs are dependent on where you get the Verifone terminal from, the card machine model and your type and size of business.
To give an example, we contacted Verifone directly for quotes on a mobile and portable card machine. With them, you don’t buy the card machines outright. Instead, the chosen terminals are rented on a contract lasting 12, 24 or 36 months. Pricing depends on whether you are a limited company or sole trader.
We were quoted the below for a small limited company.
| Verifone’s own pricing | |
|---|---|
| Contract length | 12, 24 or 36 months |
| Setup fee | None |
| Monthly fee for mobile card machine | £9.99 |
| Early termination fee | Equivalent of the remaining monthly fees of contract |
| Visa Debit, V Pay, Mastercard Debit, Maestro | 0.4% per transaction |
| Visa Credit, Visa Electron, Mastercard Credit | 0.9% per transaction |
| Commercial & corporate cards | Additional 1.3% per transaction |
| Non-EEA cards | Additional 1.6% per transaction |
| Verifone’s own pricing |
|
|---|---|
| Contract length | 12, 24 or 36 months |
| Setup fee | None |
| Monthly fee for mobile card machine | £9.99 |
| Early termination fee | Equivalent of the remaining monthly fees of contract |
| Visa Debit, V Pay, Mastercard Debit, Maestro | 0.4% per transaction |
| Visa Credit, Visa Electron, Mastercard Credit | 0.9% per transaction |
| Commercial & corporate cards | Additional 1.3% per transaction |
| Non-EEA cards | Additional 1.6% per transaction |
Verifone told us they manage the card processing, i.e. your merchant account. This means the above card transaction fees are decided by Verifone, so you do not need to deal with a different card processor unless you also want to accept American Express. To accept Amex, you need to get a separate merchant account from American Express.
There is no setup fee with Verifone. According to the sales rep, you only pay the monthly fee and transaction fees, nothing else. If you decide to end the contract prematurely, you have to pay an early termination fee equivalent to the remaining costs of the contract. When ending the contract after the full term, you only need to give 90 days’ notice to cancel the contract any time – this does not incur a termination fee.
Other merchant service providers will have different fees and packages. It’s always a good idea to request quotes from multiple providers to get an idea of which is the best deal for your particular business. Some will have minimum monthly turnover requirements, meaning a fee applies if sales are not reaching a certain threshold. Some will have setup fees, service costs and other charges, but perhaps also more included in their packages.
If you can buy the card machine upfront, the price would be in the multiple hundreds of pounds, and then you would still need to connect it with a card processing contract and pay for ongoing services.
British competitor: Spire terminals – lesser known, so are they good?
Verifone reviews and support
Availability and quality of customer support depend on where you rent the card machine from. If you get it directly from Verifone, there’s technical support every day of the week including Bank Holidays (8am-8pm Monday-Saturday and Bank Holidays, 10am-5pm Sundays).
What about user reviews? We’ve come across several complaints about Verifone terminals being glitchy, and Verifone is currently not faring very well in the UK compared to Ingenico or even Pax. That being said, it is hard to see why Verifone’s card machines should not perform well given their generally high-quality builds.
The company Verifone does not have many reviews in the UK, implying they mainly offer products through partner providers. The few Verifone reviews we’ve seen, however, have been about slow customer service and teething problems at the beginning of a contract.
In any case, we recommend looking at reviews of the merchant service providers dealing with the rental contract before settling for a provider.
Photo: Verifone
Verifone offers card terminals for any purpose.
Verdict: is Verifone for you?
There’s a Verifone terminal for almost any type of face-to-face business, and they are good builds with advanced technology. For that reason, Verifone is a great choice for anyone looking to get a modern card machine that your customers would immediately trust to use.
When it comes to price, though, it’s not really possible to get a Verifone card terminal without contractual commitment. Payment companies would prefer long-term rental, which usually comes with hidden fees that could be problematic for a micro-business on a budget.
However, with a steady flow of sales, a small business can get low card rates on domestic credit and debit cards. Medium and larger businesses would likely benefit the most, since they can afford the advanced customisation options available for both the hardware and software.
