Handepay Merchant Services Review

Handepay gives your business a boost, without costing an arm and a leg

When it comes to accepting card payments for your business, a simple approach is often the best. You want a merchant account provider that offers low fees, secure transactions, and excellent customer service.

Handepay delivers all this, and more. It’s an honest, hassle-free way of taking payments online, face-to-face, and over the phone. But what makes it such a handy addition to your small business? Just how cheap are the rates you can expect to pay – and is there a catch?

Read on for our expert review, or jump straight to our Handepay pricing table via the list on the left. Alternatively, fill in our 30-second quote-finding form for accurate merchant account comparison. 

What is Handepay?

Founded in 2006, Handepay is a merchant account provider based in Merseyside. It offers a range of ways for your business to accept card payments – whether it’s from your website, on the phone, or over the counter.

Handepay is what’s known as an Independent Service Organisation (ISO). To skip the boring stuff, this essentially means that the company works with banks to get the best merchant rates for small businesses.

And when we say the best, we mean the best. Handepay’s customers save an average of 36% on their merchant account costs. But more on that later – first, let’s see what it can offer your business.

✔ Take payments in-store

Handepay offers a range of PDQ card machines for taking face-to-face payments. Whether your small business sells solely from the shop counter or needs a less static way of taking payments, Handepay has you sorted.

Countertop

Handepay’s countertop card machine is basically what it says on the tin. It’s a durable, reliable device that sits on your countertop – letting you take lots of card payments, while moving very few muscles.

Portable

Handepay’s portable card machine is great if you run a restaurant or bar. It’s small and mobile, and lets your spritely staff take the sale to the customer.

In our opinion, it’s one of the best credit card machines for small businesses… full stop!

Mobile

Handepay’s mobile card machine has an in-built SIM for connecting to the internet. That means you can take it anywhere that you do business – making it great for market stalls or for tradespeople.

✔ Take payments over the phone

Do you take a lot of payments without the cardholder being present? If so, you’ll want Handepay’s virtual terminal.

This is a hosted web page where you can enter your customer’s card details to take secure payments. It offers more choice and flexibility for your customer, and serves as a simpler, quicker way of getting paid for you.

✔ Take payments online

Handepay is one of the best payment gateway providers for taking payments online. It boasts superb integration with all major shopping carts, and accepts cards from all the big brands. PCI compliance is all taken care of, too, and all the security features you’d expect are included.

Handepay’s ecommerce solution also comes with an online business management dashboard. Both visually striking and simple to use, it provides real-time reporting on your online sales. You’ll get insights and data that let you widen your customer base, and – crucially – drive your business’ growth.

Handepay reviews

With an absolutely cracking Trustpilot score of 4.9/5, trying to find a bad word against Handepay is hard work. Of a total of 7,461 reviews (at the time of writing), a whopping 94% are five stars. A further 4% are four stars, with only 1% of reviewers slapping Handepay with a single star. Impressive.

That’s not to say Handepay escaped all criticism – this is the internet, after all.

The most common complaints are about Handepay’s long contracts. Some reviewers also found their contracts were auto-renewing, and that the notice periods were too long to get out. A handful of customers also criticised big early termination fees when trying to get out of a contract.

How much salt you take this with is up to you. Our advice? Always read a contract in full before signing. Make sure you know exactly what the terms are – how much will it cost to cancel? Will it auto-renew? What’s the notice period?

Handepay customer support

So, what kind of service can you expect if you sign up with Handepay? Well, 24/7 UK-based customer support, for one thing..

There’s no pushy, commission-only salespeople – just a friendly team, passionate about bringing affordable merchant services to small businesses. Have a read of what one of their customers had to say in a recent comment:

Handepay fees

It’s the question on everybody’s lips – how much will Handepay cost me?

Well, to be honest, we don’t know exactly. While its ecommerce solutions offer transparent pricing, its merchant account fees and PDQ rental costs are a little less clear cut. Take a look:

It’s no free payment gateway, sure – but it’s still extremely affordable.

While some aspects of its pricing could be clearer, what we do know is that Handepay’s rates are still some of the lowest in the UK. How do we know? Well, Handepay is so confident that it’s the cheapest option out there, that it’ll pay you £1,000 if it can’t save you money. Would you make that kind of promise if you knew you could be beaten for price?

Better still, Handepay offers other fun ways to cash in. They’ll pay you if you refer a friend, and will cover your costs when you make the switch from another merchant account provider.

Handepay also cuts away a whole host of those pesky fees that can end up costing you a fortune. It promises:

• No authorisation fees
• No joining fees
• No PCI DSS compliance and non-compliance fees
• No minimum monthly service charge (MMSC)
• No online statement fees

Next steps

It’s hard to look past Handepay as an effective, affordable solution for small businesses. It boasts low, simple rates, and is the clear favourite of the people.

However, it might not be right for every business out there. A different mobile card reader could work out cheaper if your sales volume is low, and there are other merchant account providers bringing big benefits to the table.

To start comparing quotes and get the best deal, let us help. Simply fill in our short webform, and we’ll match you with quotes from top suppliers like Handepay.