Editorial policy

Editorial independence

We do not accept payment, sponsorship, free hardware, or affiliate-tier preference in exchange for a review verdict, ranking position, or "best of" inclusion. Where a payment processor or acquirer offers any of these, the offer is logged internally and disclosed on the relevant review.

How a terminal review is written

1. The terminal is purchased or borrowed. We do not accept review units that come with conditions attached.
2. The terminal is set up using the public sign-up flow. Setup time is measured.
3. Test transactions cover chip-and-PIN, contactless, refund, partial refund, declined transaction handling and offline mode.
4. Pricing is recorded against the publicly advertised rate sheet and against the true effective rate after standard fees.
5. The review is signed and dated. Material changes are logged in the page footer.

Sources we use

• Manufacturer and acquirer product pages and rate sheets.
• FCA Register for any party regulated as a payment institution or e-money issuer.
• PCI Security Standards Council for compliance status.
• Trustpilot and Google reviews, weighted to the last 12 months.
• Trade-association data (UK Finance) for context on industry-wide trends.
• Our own test transactions and timing data.

Updates

Terminal reviews are revisited at least every six months, or sooner if the manufacturer ships a hardware update, the acquirer changes pricing, or there is a material complaints flow. Trade landers update when our preferred terminal for that trade changes.

Corrections

Email editorial@acceptcard.co.uk with the page URL and the correction. Material errors are corrected, dated and logged.

High-risk vertical disclosure

Some of the content on the site covers high-risk merchant categories: CBD, vape, adult, firearms, gambling, supplements. We disclose the category on every page that covers it and route only to acquirers that publicly accept the category. We do not publish high-risk routing for categories that are illegal in the UK.

What we will not do

• Accept paid placements on "best of" rankings or trade landers.
• Run AI-generated reviews without a named author signing off.
• Quote a "from" rate without the standard fees and the typical effective rate alongside it.
• Recommend a switch from one acquirer to another without a clear cost or service basis.