What card processing actually costs, and what an EPOS should include

Written for people who run venues, not for procurement departments. Numbers where we have them, and we say where they came from.

Shop owner holding a card machine while a customer pays by contactless at the counter

Payments

Adding a card fee to the bill: what the law actually allows

You cannot surcharge a consumer card in the UK and have not been able to since 2018. What the rule covers, where commercial cards sit, and the gap worth closing instead.

Luisa Witney

19 October 2026

Independent shop owner taking a contactless card payment at the counter, the kind of small business comparing monthly card machine fees

Payments

No monthly fee on a card machine, and the turnover that decides it

No monthly fee is a real offer and it is not automatically the cheaper one. The published figures, and the single number that tells you which side of it you are on.

Luisa Witney

14 October 2026

Customer tapping a contactless card on a card machine at a busy pub bar, the kind of card turnover that sits well above the £15,000 a year boundary

Payments

Flat rate or quoted rate: the £15,000 line in UK card acceptance

There are two card markets in the UK and the regulator put the boundary at £15,000 a year. Which side you are on decides whether your rate is a price list or a conversation.

Luisa Witney

10 October 2026

Morning queue of customers waiting to order and pay at the counter of an independent coffee shop, where small card sales are the norm

Payments

Card machine fees per transaction, and why your average sale decides

A per transaction charge has two parts, and only one of them scales with the sale. Published UK rates, the fixed pence, and what your average sale does to both.

Luisa Witney

7 October 2026

EPOS

Pub till quotes: the tier sets the price, not the till count

The price you were quoted is the entry tier, and most bars cannot run on it. What a pub till quote actually turns on, with published figures.

Luisa Witney

4 October 2026

EPOS

The EPOS quote covers one till. What the rest of the room costs

The EPOS quote covers one till. Kitchen screens, kiosks and extra sites are priced separately, and here is what that adds up to over a year.

Luisa Witney

1 October 2026

Business owner comparing three card processing quotes at a table, checking the fees behind a free terminal offer

Payments

Free card machine: what the word free is actually covering

Free hardware is real and it is also the smallest number in the deal. What the word free is covering, and the five questions that make two offers comparable.

Luisa Witney

28 September 2026

Venue operator working through a card processing statement and compliance questionnaire on a laptop in the back office

Payments

The PCI fee on your statement, and what you are actually paying for

£15 a month for a questionnaire nobody explains. What the PCI fee actually buys, which form your venue really needs, and what it adds up to over a year.

Luisa Witney

26 September 2026

Venue owner going through a card processing statement at a back office desk

Payments

Interchange plus or blended: which one your statement is on

One quote says 0.55 per cent all in, the other says interchange plus 0.35 per cent. How to tell which model you are on, and which one suits your card mix.

Luisa Witney

17 September 2026

Card terminal held in the hand at the end of a transaction, showing the receipt options on screen

Payments

What card processing actually costs, beyond the headline rate

The rate you were quoted is one line on a bill with six. Here is the rest of the stack, the maths on a venue taking £18,000 a month, and how to check your own statement.

Luisa Witney

4 September 2026

Handheld ordering device showing a pub menu, held at the table so the guest can order without going to the bar

Hospitality

What happens to spend per head when the ordering moves to the table

Costs went one way and the room to raise prices has gone. Five named UK venues, our own data, and what actually changes when the guest holds the order.

Luisa Witney

2 September 2026

Bring us three months of statements

Send three months of card statements and one busy Friday. We will show you what your card processing is costing you now against what it would cost with us, with every fee named, before you commit to anything.

Get my quote See the pricing