Tyl Review: High security, low fees and next-day payouts

Tyl by Natwest is a payment processing service run by Natwest Bank. With low transaction fees of 1.39% +5p (compared to the UK average of 1.75%) and card machines that start at £13.99 per month, it’s a trusted and affordable card machine provider for small UK businesses.

A broad range of customer service options and robust security credentials only strengthen that claim, though ultimately it does have a few shortcomings, such as the fact that it requires a 12-month contract, which may tempt you elsewhere.

Read on for a full-length discussion of what Tyl by Natwest can offer your UK business compared to other merchant accounts on the market.

How Much Does Tyl by Natwest Cost?

Tyl by NatWest offers some of the cheapest ways to take card payments on the UK market. Here are its prices in short before we dive into the details.

How much do Tyl by NatWest’s card machines cost?

Tyl by NatWest is an affordable way to start taking card payments, with its cheapest card machine costing just £13.99 per month, much less than takepayments’ £25 per month and Worldpay’s £17.50. When you purchase, you’ll be tied into a minimum 12-month contract for leasing the equipment.

These ongoing fees can add up, however. So, while leasing equipment means consistent product updates and protection, you’ll also be spending more than purchasing a cheap card reader outright from low-cost providers such as Square (£19 + VAT).

What are Tyl by NatWest’s transaction fees?

It also has low fixed transaction fees, at just 1.39% + 5p for personal UK and European transactions. For most businesses, this is cheaper than SumUp’s 1.69% but pricier than Revolut’s 0.8% + 2p.

That said, Tyl by Natwest charges the same fees for in-person, online, and over the phone transactions, which is a rarity in the industry. Most competitors charge higher fees for “card-not-present” transactions, with SumUp’s 1.69% in-person transaction fee jumping up to 2.5% for online transactions, for example.

Does Tyl by NatWest offer custom transaction fees?

Tyl by NatWest does offer custom fees to businesses with more than £50,000 in annual card transaction turnover. That’s a lower threshold than the likes of Worldpay, which sets this at £75,000, and Tyl doesn’t charge any monthly service fees like Worldpay either.

How much does it cost to take online and over-the-phone payments with Tyl by NatWest?

With Tyl, you’ll need to pay an extra £14.95 + VAT per month fee for its online payment gateway, which includes online, over-the-phone, and pay-by-link transactions.

With some other merchant account providers, like SumUp, you’ll get an online payment gateway for free. That said, Tyl currently waives this fee for the first 6 months.

Does Tyl by NatWest have any hidden fees?

Tyl processes Amex cards but charges a variable custom transaction fee on both of its plans to do so. If your business accepts them, you should watch out for the transaction fee Tyl quotes you.

Tyl also charges custom authorisation fees on its ‘Over £50K’ plan, which is due every time a transaction gets approved or declined.

Some businesses on this plan will also be charged an extra PCI compliance fee, which costs from £4 + VAT per month. However, Tyl doesn’t charge you when processing refunds on either of its plans.

For clarity, there are no additional charges for the following items:

• Card-not-present payments (such as sales over the phone)
• Payments made online or via a payment link
• Cancelling your contract
• International card payments
• Refunds

What Card Machines Does Tyl by Natwest Offer?

In terms of hardware, Tyl provides three card machines and four options for taking payments overall. Let’s go through the features and usability of each so you can best understand what options you would have as a Tyl by NatWest customer.

1. PAX A80: Countertop device

Price: £13.99 per month

The PAX A80 is Tyl’s cheapest card machine, and the only countertop device it offers. It’s a traditional, no-frills card machine, with a button PIN pad, Wifi and Ethernet connection.

PAX A80 key features

• Traditional design: Wide bright screen and button PIN pad, allowing for use when wearing gloves
• Connectivity: Wifi and Ethernet
• Payments: Chip and PIN, and contactless payments
• Battery life: No battery charging needed if stays plugged in
• Weight: 405g

What do we think of the PAX A80?

At £13.99 per month, the PAX A80 is one of the cheapest card machine rentals on the market. By contrast, takepayments charges over £25 per month for its card machines. What it lacks in portability, it makes up for in simplicity, with its easy-to-read bright touchscreen and traditional PIN pad, meaning customers won’t have trouble interacting with it.

That said, if you need a card machine that moves with you, or require one with some basic EPOS features, you’re better off with Tyl by Natwest’s other, more expensive card machines.

2. PAX A50: Pocket EPOS

Price: £14.99 per month

The PAX A50 is a smaller and lighter-weight piece of hardware offered by Tyl. It is generally more lightweight on the features front too, though it is the only Tyl hardware to have Wi-Fi, 4G and Bluetooth connectivity options. Overall, we reckon it’s the best choice of Tyl’s hardware for on-the-go business operations. Here are its key features before we detail exactly what we like about the PAX A50.

PAX A50 key features

• Compact design: Small and portable, ideal for on-the-go transactions
• Connectivity: 4G (SIM-included) and Wi-Fi connectivity for payments. Also pairs with your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth
• Versatile payments: Accepts chip & PIN and contactless payments
• Long battery life: Designed for extended use without frequent charging
• Weight: 161g

What do we think of the PAX A50?

The PAX A50 is the best Tyl device for on-the-go payments. That’s because it offers Wi-Fi, 4G and Bluetooth connectivity all in a small and lightweight model reminiscent of a smartphone. It’s still a decent size too, with a 4.5in full-colour display that has a sleek, modern interface – albeit the likes of Square and SumUp offer even smaller screenless models if you prefer.

Still, it doesn’t come with on-device reporting or any inventory/employee management. Customers can get receipts via email instead, but that could be an unnecessary step for certain businesses in terms of usability.

3. PAX A920 Pro: Handheld EPOS

Price: £19.99 per month

The PAX A920 Pro is Tyl’s most expensive card machine, but it offers a wide breadth of features, including Wifi and 4G connectivity, and a built-in receipt printer.

PAX A920 Pro features

• Sturdy design: Portable device with touchscreen and built-in receipt printer, ideal for table service
• Connectivity: Wifi and 4G (SIM included)
• Payments: Accepts chip & PIN and contactless payments
• Long battery life: Designed for all-day use without the need for recharging
• Weight: 390g

What do we think of the PAX A920 Pro?

The PAX A920 Pro is similar to the PAX A50 when it comes to features. Both card machines are portable, have a touchscreen display, and offer Wifi and 4G connectivity. That said, the PAX A920 Pro goes a step further than the A50 by coming with a built-in printer, which means you offer printed receipts to customers.

That said, it doesn’t connect to other devices via Bluetooth, something the PAX A50 can do, and at 390g it’s quite bulky. If printed receipts aren’t a necessity for your business, the A50 is a sleeker, cheaper option than the A920, at £14.99 compared to £19.99.

What Are Tyl by Natwest’s Software Features Like?

Now we’ve covered the hardware you can use to take payments with Tyl by NatWest, it’s worth turning our attention to the features of a Tyl merchant account. Let’s go through a few broad categories so that you can understand exactly what you are getting with a Tyl account.

Payment options

Tyl by NatWest supports all credit and debit card payments from Mastercard, Visa and American Express. You’ll also be able to take contactless payments such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, too. And that’s across all its hardware devices.

Even better, you have Tap to Pay support for both Android and iPhone when using a smartphone device to take payment to avoid purchasing additional hardware. Simply put, very few other providers can offer all of this, with only Square and Zettle matching this on the UK market according to our research.

Payout timeframe

You’ll get payments into your account the “next business day”, according to Tyl. This means no weekend payouts, and you’ll have no customisable deposit schedules either, but the next business day is speedy in our books. Most other providers take between one and three business days to process and payout your business income.

Reporting

You get decent reporting tools with Tyl, too – although we’ve seen more detailed and extensive options elsewhere.

We found you can use its free Tyl portal to access reports. Here you can filter by card type and create specific item reports, too. However, you won’t be able to look at discount reports or employee-specific reports, unfortunately.

For more advanced reporting tools that cover those latter two options and more, we recommend the likes of Worldpay, EPOS Now, SumUp, Barclaycard and Tide.

EPOS integration

Unfortunately, Tyl doesn’t offer a native EPOS platform.

With its card machines, you’ll only be able to input a price for payment rather than have inventory to click on. You won’t be able to integrate with any other EPOS systems either.

If you want native EPOS platform functionality, there are plenty of options. Top-rated options such as Square, Zettle, Clover, Worldpay, EPOS Now and takepayments are good places to start.

Offline functionality

Handily, Tyl’s software can work offline via its hardware options should you lose connectivity. You can enable or disable this feature on each device you use, with devices able to take offline payments for up to seven days at a time. You can also set payment limitations for when you are in offline mode if that’s preferable.

Tyl mobile app

With an application working across iOS and Android, Tyl offers solid functionality for on-the-go merchants.

The NatWest Tap to Pay app can be used to take payment using your smartphone directly. You’ll have an inbuilt analytics platform that summarises all transactions by day, week or month, as well as a section to view all transactions completed via Tap to Pay.

You can also link your existing Tyl card machines to the Tap to Pay app to use them hand-in-hand. You’ll need to call NatWest to set this up and have your merchant account number to hand when doing so.

Security

Tyl, supported by UK banking giant NatWest, is one of the most secure merchant accounts on the UK market It is PCI compliant and has an ISO 27001 certification, meaning it has implemented an information security management system (ISMS) that meets international best practices.

We found that, when a transaction is successfully authenticated by its 3D Secure security system, any liability to pay a related chargeback request passes to the cardholder’s bank (or similar). In other words, you’ll be protected against these sorts of claims.

How Does Tyl by NatWest Compare to its Competitors?

While we’ve offered comparisons between providers throughout this review, sometimes it’s easier to compare each merchant account provider side-by-side. Here’s a quick table comparing our top-rated merchant accounts on the UK market.

Our market research found the best-in-class merchant services for UK businesses are:

1. takepayments
2. Worldpay

How We Reviewed Tyl by Natwest