How we test terminals and acquirers

Terminal testing protocol

1. The terminal is acquired through the public sign-up flow. No special review-unit treatment.
2. Setup is timed from "open the box" to "first successful transaction".
3. Test transactions cover: chip-and-PIN, contactless under £100, contactless over £100, refund (full and partial), declined transaction handling, offline / weak-signal mode, end-of-day batch settlement.
4. Hardware notes: build quality, screen, button feel, battery life under load, charging behaviour, durability indicators.
5. Software notes: app reliability, settlement reporting, refund flow, dispute handling, CRM integrations claimed and tested.

Acquirer scoring

1. True effective rate. Headline rate plus all standard fees (PCI, terminal rental, chargeback, monthly minimum, statement fee) for a representative SMB profile.
2. Contract terms. Length, exit fees, automatic renewal, notice period required.
3. Settlement speed. Days from transaction to bank credit.
4. Sector acceptance. Which trades are explicitly welcomed, which require additional underwriting, which are declined outright.
5. Customer track record. Trustpilot and Google reviews weighted to the last 12 months. FCA complaints data where the acquirer is a regulated payment institution.

"Best for [trade]" rankings

For a per-trade lander we weight criteria specifically. For example, "best card machine for restaurants" weights split-bill support and table-side terminals; "best for mobile traders" weights battery life and mobile-data resilience; "best for high-risk merchants" weights category acceptance and dispute-handling depth. The weights are published at the foot of every "best for" listicle.

High-risk vertical methodology

For high-risk categories (CBD, vape, adult, firearms, gambling) we score on: explicit category acceptance in the acquirer's published criteria, chargeback ratio tolerance, settlement-reserve policy, monthly volume cap, and dispute-handling support. We only list acquirers that publicly accept the category; we do not "test the limits" of mainstream acquirer underwriting on the reader's behalf.

Re-test cadence

Active terminal reviews are revisited at least every six months, or sooner on:

• A hardware revision shipping (e.g. new firmware, new model variant).
• An acquirer pricing change.
• A material complaints flow on Trustpilot or industry forums.
• A regulatory change affecting payments (Strong Customer Authentication updates, PSR rulings, PCI standard revisions).

Conflict checks

Before publishing, the author confirms no commercial conversation has influenced the verdict, no payment or in-kind benefit was offered or accepted, and the methodology weights for any listicle the review feeds were set before the candidate pool was scored.

How we are funded

AcceptCard does not charge applicants. We earn commission from acquirers and brokers on completed introductions through our lead form at /get-quotes/. That commission is paid by the acquirer, not by you, and does not change the price you are quoted.

Editorial scoring is independent. Reviews and best-of recommendations are set against the methodology criteria above. An acquirer being on the introducer panel does not influence the score awarded to the terminal or the merchant-account verdict. The acquirer panel is selected on whether they actually onboard UK SMBs in the categories we cover, not on commission rate.

Read the full commercial disclosure on the editorial policy and how we are funded pages.