How to make school events take card

[richatnort]

Evening all,

Wasn’t sure if it should have been in here or computers section.

I am part of a school PTA and are trying to organise a fireworks display. We have done all cash payments before but are wanting to try and offer contactless payments for food and drink.

We are a registered charity and obviously want as much of the proceedings to go to the school so want to avoid high transaction charges.

Does anyone have any experience in this area such as a small business that needs to take card payments and how they did it or just any help or companies we can speak to about getting these machines.

Thanks

[joestifff]

Just get a SumUp card machine. They're dirt cheap.

They obviously take a cut, no avoiding that.

[abzmike]

You can get devices such as Square that turn a phone into a card reader for about £30, then they take something like 1.5% as a service charge. Easy peasy.

[OscarIndia]

abzmike said:

You can get devices such as Square that turn a phone into a card reader for about £30, then they take something like 1.5% as a service charge. Easy peasy.

You don't even need the reader now, Square works contactlessly from the phone.

[sjg]

Yep, this. 1.69% isn't bad when there's no other monthly fees.

Consider paying extra for the Solo machine too, the cheap one needs to be paired to someone's phone which is a faff if you have people jumping on and off a stall to help out.

[Benny Saltstein]

My experience with Scouts events, BBQs etc is that the first year we introduced the card reader people spent more, way more. Handling cash is a real pain as well, someone has to count it, take it to the bank etc etc.

[BoRED S2upid]

Speak to your bank especially if you are a registered charity.

[chip*]

We use Sumup which takes a 1.69% cut. We invested in the payment machines with in-built sim card so it just works off the mobile network (and not have to ask the ever-changing volunteers to use their mobile data).

The machines has been invaluable over the last 2 summer fetes (>75% bar taking was contactless which contributed to a record >£10k income on the last two summer fete) and other events such as sports day, ice-cream Friday, uniform sales etc...

(I am the PTA Treasurer for my girl's school)

[richatnort]

chip* said:

We use Sumup which takes a 1.69% cut. We invested in the payment machines with in-built sim card so it just works off the mobile network (and not have to ask the ever-changing volunteers to use their mobile data).

The machines has been invaluable over the last 2 summer fetes (>75% bar taking was contactless which contributed to a record >£10k income on the last two summer fete) and other events such as sports day, ice-cream Friday, uniform sales etc...

(I am the PTA Treasurer for my girl's school)

Thanks. Yes I think we’re going to go with sum up too. I was thinking of getting a pay as you go SIM card and put into an old phone I have to use the data.

Good to know re the contactless I’ll mention your up take too! The PTA is with virgin money and they do a reader which a rate of 1.55% so that’s tempting but there’s bugger all about it online.

[joestifff]

Definitely get one that doesn’t link to a phone. A stand alone unit is what you want.

This is the updated version we have:
https://www.sumup.com/en-gb/solo-card-reader/

Out of interest, would your bank account be classed as business? As the rate is dropped to 1.49% if it is.

[Mazinbrum]

https://www.voilo.co.uk/

[chip*]

richatnort said:

I was thinking of getting a pay as you go SIM card and put into an old phone I have to use the data.

Seriously, just pay the little extra with the inbuilt sim card/ solo machine. Once off payment means no further data expense ever again, and no extra faff for you and the volunteers.

For all fund raising event, all I do is charge the machine up overnight and drop it off on the school run. The machine can be held by other committee members, and just need a simple charge and away they go!

[biggiles]

chip* said:

richatnort said:

I was thinking of getting a pay as you go SIM card and put into an old phone I have to use the data.

Seriously, just pay the little extra with the inbuilt sim card/ solo machine. Once off payment means no further data expense ever again, and no extra faff for you and the volunteers.

For all fund raising event, all I do is charge the machine up overnight and drop it off on the school run. The machine can be held by other committee members, and just need a simple charge and away they go!

This is brilliant, thank you. The SumUp Solo is £79+vat (with built-in 3g), these costs seem to have come down dramatically in the last few years. Battery life looks a little low, but we will keep a USB battery pack nearby.

The Square alternative (more sophisticated device) is about £180.

[eltawater]

biggiles said:

chip* said:

richatnort said:

I was thinking of getting a pay as you go SIM card and put into an old phone I have to use the data.

Seriously, just pay the little extra with the inbuilt sim card/ solo machine. Once off payment means no further data expense ever again, and no extra faff for you and the volunteers.

For all fund raising event, all I do is charge the machine up overnight and drop it off on the school run. The machine can be held by other committee members, and just need a simple charge and away they go!

This is brilliant, thank you. The SumUp Solo is £79+vat (with built-in 3g), these costs seem to have come down dramatically in the last few years. Battery life looks a little low, but we will keep a USB battery pack nearby.

The Square alternative (more sophisticated device) is about £180.

Get it from Toolstation, the Sumup Solo is currently £79 INC VAT (it was £69.99 a few weeks back as part of BF promotions too).

[edc]

eltawater said:

Get it from Toolstation, the Sumup Solo is currently £79 INC VAT (it was £69.99 a few weeks back as part of BF promotions too).

Quidco normally has some cashback for Toolstation.

[FMOB]

biggiles said:

chip* said:

richatnort said:

I was thinking of getting a pay as you go SIM card and put into an old phone I have to use the data.

Seriously, just pay the little extra with the inbuilt sim card/ solo machine. Once off payment means no further data expense ever again, and no extra faff for you and the volunteers.

For all fund raising event, all I do is charge the machine up overnight and drop it off on the school run. The machine can be held by other committee members, and just need a simple charge and away they go!

This is brilliant, thank you. The SumUp Solo is £79+vat (with built-in 3g), these costs seem to have come down dramatically in the last few years. Battery life looks a little low, but we will keep a USB battery pack nearby.

The Square alternative (more sophisticated device) is about £180.

I would not be buying a 3g cellular version as the mobile operators are turning off the 3g networks, look for something that supports 4g or 5g operation.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/00...