Card payments
for market traders.
Different pitch every week, no mains power, no wifi and a customer who’s decided in four seconds whether to buy. What a stall needs from a payments provider is mostly for it to be there when you switch it on.
- Card takings a month
- £3,200
- Average sale
- £12
- Payments a month
- 267
- Card fees (1.4% + 10p)
- £71.50
- Plan fee
- £0.00
- Total a month
- £71.50
An effective rate of 2.23% all in. The card rate is the same on every plan. Starter. Nothing on Pro that a stall needs. Illustrative — put your own numbers in below.
Three things market traders keep telling us.
Nothing to charge overnight
Tap to Pay runs on your phone. One battery to worry about instead of two, and nothing left plugged in at home on the one morning you’re up at four.
Works on mobile data
No pitch has reliable wifi. Payments go over 4G or 5G like anything else on your phone.
Seasons go quiet, and that’s fine
The free Starter plan costs nothing in January. You’re not paying a subscription for months where you barely trade, which is exactly what a monthly plan punishes you for.
Start from a real basket, not a round number.
Set up for market traders: £3,200 a month at a £12 average sale, all taken face to face. Drag any of it.
All at the counter or on a phone
All UK and EEA cards
An effective rate of 2.23% on £3,200 across roughly 267 payments.
- Percentage fees (Stripe's rate)
- £44.80
- Fixed fees per payment
- £26.70
- Plan fee
- £0.00
- Total cost
- £71.50
The card fees above are the same on every plan. Changing plan changes only the plan fee: Starter £0 · Pro £19 · Scale £79.
What market traders ask
What is the cheapest way for a market trader to take card payments?
For most market traders the cheapest option is a free pay-as-you-go plan and Tap to Pay on a phone rather than a card reader. Cheekypayments' Starter plan costs £0 a month and charges Stripe's published rate of 1.4% + 10p per in-person payment on UK and EEA cards, so a stall taking £3,200 a month pays about £71.50 in fees and nothing in the quiet months. No plan charges a lower rate, so there is nothing to move up to unless you want the software.
How much does it cost a market stall to take card payments?
Every Cheekypayments plan charges Stripe's published rate of 1.4% + 10p per in-person payment on UK and EEA cards. For a typical market stall taking £3,200 a month across roughly 267 sales at an average of £12, that is about £71.50 in card fees. On the Starter plan (£0 a month) the total is about £71.50 — an effective rate of 2.23%.
Can market traders take card payments without a card machine?
Yes. Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android turns a phone you already own into a contactless card reader, accepting Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay with no extra hardware. It is included on every Cheekypayments plan, including the free one. A card reader is available for £29 as a one-off purchase if you would rather have a separate machine, or a traditional countertop machine on your own Verofy account.
How quickly does a market stall get the money?
Payouts run daily once your account is verified. How quickly a given sale lands depends on your account's schedule. It is the same on every plan. Money taken on a card is settled to your own bank account rather than held in a separate balance you have to withdraw from.
Trading by this afternoon.
No long contract. Cancel whenever you like. Start on the free plan and move up when you want the software, not to chase a better rate.
Get startedComparing providers? See how we stack up — including where the others win.