Card reader for event - advice

[WobblyLondoner]

I’d be grateful for advice on whether we can use a card reader to collect money for items my DP will be selling at a forthcoming event. We had assumed we could do this but in reading some reviews (eg SumUp) it appears they need to be used with a business account, which we don’t have. The sums and volumes involved are small - £11 per unit, say 50 units.

We will carry on looking into this (a PayPal business account may be an option) but would welcome anyone’s experiences to help make this as straightforward as possible.

Thanks

I know they can be used with charity accounts.

I mean, I've seen vendors using them at craft fairs and the like, but obviously have no idea what sort of bank accounts they have.
However, if you are selling to that extent, then surely you'd need a business account anyway ?

Thanks. I’d just kind of assumed for £500-600 we wouldn’t need a business account. Or more honestly we hadn’t even considered it!

It looks like a PayPal business account and Zettle might be the way forward.

I posted a similar question a few months ago as i bought a sum up for selling with my daughter at local markets doing fundraising. Like you I was confused as it seemed I needed to be a regular business or self employed...but it all works fine and i have used it without issue. I will look up my account and see how I set it up and report back.

I set up a Stripe account recently for my website, the account set up was super easy. Setting up a Paypal Business account looked a bit complicated. I hope you can sort it!

@iheartcatz that would be amazing - thank you!

I have a sum up and you don't need a business account. It simply transfers the money into your bank account of choice

Thanks @Treacletoots. I’m on the SumUp website and it says you have to open a business account to use their services. Can you say a bit more about how you use it?

Coming at this from another angle, your bank may object if you start using a personal account for business transactions as it;s probably against their T&Cs. in the worst case scenario they could even close it down, so it's probably best to use an account other than your main one for these transactions to keep things separate.

You have to set up a business account within SumUp itself, not have a business bank account generally. The money can just go into the account you nominate but it needs to have same name as the name you set SumUp in. You can also use your phone to take payments and don't need a card reader if your phone is compatible.

Thanks very much everyone - we’ve now navigated our way through SumUp and have even taken a dummy payment. What would I do without Mumsnet!

My Rotary Club uses Sumup. We originally had a wireless terminal which we found difficult as the first place we used it we couldn't get a mobile signal and the WiFi in the venue was crap. We now use it through an app which works really well, and effectively turns a phone into a contact less terminal. Not forget to allow for their charges when pricing up whatever you are selling.