Written by Tatiana Lebreton Reviewed by Oliver Simpson Updated on 2 April 2025 On this page Barclaycard Review Summary Barclaycard Pricing Barclaycard Card Machines Barclaycard Key Features Barclaycard Customer Support What Kind of Business Is Barclaycard Best for? Barclaycard vs Competitors How We Reviewed Barclaycard Verdict FAQs Expand All providers have been reviewed and tested by our Research team. By requesting a quote, we can match you with a potential supplier, and we may earn a small commission for this referral Barclaycard is a payment processing services provider operated by Barclays, making it a great option for small to medium businesses that already bank with Barclays.It offers three different card machines and its Smartpay Touch machine made it onto our list of the best card machines for small businesses, thanks to its EPOS features and easy operation.What sets Barclaycard apart from other providers is that it offers both contract-based and contract-free options and a low fixed transaction fee of 1.6% or custom fees depending on business card turnover. This makes it suitable for a variety of businesses, from established stores to casual vendors.If you’re shopping around for a provider and would like some help, you can use our free quote tool, and get matched with merchant services providers. Our network of trusted suppliers will then contact you with tailored quotes for you to compare. Barclaycard Review SummaryBarclaycard is a good choice of payment processor for businesses that already bank with Barclays and want to benefit from the bank’s strong security measures.Barclaycard offers a range of card machines and contracts, including a zero-contract, pay-as-you-go option. It also has low fixed transaction fees of 1.6% for businesses with under £100,000 in annual card turnover, and custom fees for businesses that earn above. These factors make it suitable for a wide variety of businesses, from established retail stores or cafes, to seasonal sellers, to tradespeople.Here’s a quick summary: Barclaycard 4.6 Fees 1.6% or custom Get Quotes Suitable for Businesses who bank with Barclays and need to take in-person payments Owners that want to minimise upfront costs Businesses that want active fraud monitoring Not suitable for Merchants who don't want to bank with Barclays Owners that want to integrate a full EPOS till system Businesses that need offline payments Pricing See more See less Card machine nameCard machine costsTransaction feeMonthly account fee Barclaycard Flex £15/month + VAT 1.6% or custom None Smartpay Anywhere £29 + VAT (one-off cost) 1.6% or custom None Smartpay Touch £29/month + VAT 1.6% or custom None Barclaycard PricingBarclaycard’s pricing is built around its card machines. It offers three card machines, two of which come with contracts and monthly rental fees, and one of which is contract-free and can be purchased upfront:Card machineHardware priceTransaction feeContract lengthBarclaycard Flex£15 + VAT/month1.6% or custom18 monthsSmartpay Touch£29 + VAT/month1.6% or customZero contractSmartpay Anywhere£29 + VAT one-off fee1.6% or custom12 monthsAll businesses that receive less than £100,000 in annual card turnover pay a fixed in-person transaction fee of 1.6%. Businesses that earn above that amount get access to custom transaction fees, which will likely be lower than the advertised fixed fee.Barclaycard’s fixed transaction fee is below the national average of 1.75%, and less than what other competitors with fixed fees charge, such as Square (1.75%) or SumUp (1.69%). However, competitor Tyl by NatWest charges an even lower fee of 1.39% + £0.05.When it comes to card machines, Barclaycard’s pricing falls somewhere in the middle. When we look at rental fees, Barclaycard’s cheapest card machine, the £15 per month Flex, costs less per month than Worldpay’s cheapest machine (£20 per month), but more than Tyl by NatWest’s (£9.99 per month). The only card machine Barclaycard sells upfront, the £29 Smartpay Anywhere, costs less than a lot of competitors. SumUp’s cheapest card machine costs £34, while Revolut’s costs £49.Does Barclaycard have any hidden fees?Barclaycard has a few hidden fees. These include:PCI compliance: Barclaycard charges between £4.80 and £15 + VAT per month.Account fee: Pay-as-you-go businesses are likely to pay nothing, while those on a contract could be subject to a small fee.Added features: Businesses that choose to use other payment processing services, such as an online payment gateway or virtual terminal, are likely to pay monthly fees and higher transaction fees than they would for in-person payments.These hidden fees are quite standard for a mainly contract-based provider, and competitors takepayments and Worldpay charge similar fees.There are also things you don’t pay for with Barclaycard. For example, Barclaycard doesn’t charge contract cancellation fees, and it covers up to £3,000 of your exit fees when you switch to Barclaycard from another provider. Barclaycard Card MachinesBarclaycard offers three card machines, all of which come with Wi-Fi and 4G connectivity, meaning they can be used within an establishment and on the go. It’s rare for a provider to offer 4G connectivity on all its card machines (SumUp and Tyl only offer it on one), making Barclaycard well-suited to businesses that operate outside of Wi-Fi networks.Two of the card machines, the Barclaycard Flex and the Smartpay Touch, come with monthly rental fees, ranging from £15 to £29 per month + VAT, while the Smartpay Anywhere can be purchased upfront for £29 + VAT.The Barclaycard FlexPrice: £15/month + VATContract length: 18 monthsConnectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 4GThe Barclaycard Flex is a versatile card machine that can be used at the counter and on the move. Source: BarclaycardThe Barclaycard Flex is the cheapest contract-based, rental card machine Barclaycard offers. However, it also comes with the longest contract, requiring businesses to commit for 18 months.It’s a traditional card machine with a large PIN pad that can accept both contactless and chip and PIN payments and has a built-in receipt printer.Unlike Barclaycard’s other card machines, the Flex doesn’t connect to Barclaycard’s online portal, or allow for product listings. It’s purely for taking payments and is designed to integrate with third-party EPOS systems.The Smartpay TouchPrice: £29/month + VATContract length: 12 monthsConnectivity: Wi-Fi and 4GWe tested the Barclaycard Smartpay Touch mobile card reader and enjoyed its use of vivid product imagery. Source: BarclaycardThe Smartpay Touch is Barclaycard’s most expensive card reader, at £29 per month. It has a large touchscreen, a built-in receipt printer, and accepts contactless payments, as well as chip and PIN.What sets the Smartpay Touch apart from the Flex is that it’s more than a card machine. It acts as a mini handheld EPOS device, and businesses can connect to the Barclaycard online portal, create product listings, manage stock, and even manage appointments directly from the Smartpay Touch. Sales reports can also be accessed from the device.Because of its EPOS features, the Smartpay Touch is a good option for small independent retailers, cafes, or service providers that don’t want to invest in a full EPOS system, but still need basic product or service management tools. Paying £29 per month for the Smartpay Touch will generally be cheaper than paying for EPOS software and buying a countertop hardware set-up. Our experience using the Smartpay Touch We tested Barclaycard’s Smartpay Touch EPOS card machine to see if it was worth the money.In general, we found it easy to use and navigate and appreciated that we were able to categorise products, which sped up order processing by making them easy to find.We also found the card machine relatively light and easy to hold, despite its size, which wasn’t the case for all the large card machines we tested (Square and Dojo equivalents were less ergonomic). This quality makes it well suited to both counter service and table service.However, there were aspects we didn’t like about the Smartpay Touch. For one, we found the refund process a little convoluted. There were a lot of steps to complete, including selecting a refund reason, and noting whether the refund was partial or full. This made us worry that already unhappy customers might lose patience.Additionally, we found the Smartpay Touch’s touchscreen a little unresponsive, especially compared to competitors like SumUp or Square. This meant we often had to click twice on a function, and slowed down our work.The Smartpay AnywherePrice: £29 + VAT (one-off fee)Contract length: Zero contractConnectivity: Wi-Fi and 4GSmartpay Anywhere is Barclaycard's most compact card machine, ideal for on-the-go payments. Source: BarclaycardThe Smartpay Anywhere is the only one of Barclaycard’s card machines that doesn’t come with a contract or monthly rental fees. Instead, businesses can purchase it up front from £29 + VAT, which is less than a lot of competitors. SumUp’s cheapest card machine costs £34 + VAT, for example.It’s a very compact card machine with a button PIN pad. It doesn’t have a built-in receipt printer, unlike Barclaycard’s other two card machines, but it can accept both contactless and chip and PIN payments. Plus, unlike the Barclaycard Flex, the Smartpay Anywhere connects to Barclaycard’s online portal and allows businesses to list products.The Smartpay Anywhere’s compact nature and 4G connectivity make it a great option for on-the-go selling, while the lack of contract or monthly fees makes it an attractive option for casual or irregular sellers. Ideal candidates include tradespeople, seasonal or market vendors, or new businesses that require flexibility. Barclaycard Key FeaturesIn this section, we’ll go over the software features you get access to when using Barclaycard to take payments.Payment optionsAll Barclaycard card machines accept contactless and chip and pin payments, and support a variety of card networks, including Visa, Mastercard, and Amex. They can also accept payments made with digital wallets, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.However, unlike rivals Tyl by NatWest or Square, Barclaycard doesn’t offer tap-to-pay on the mobile app. These apps allow merchants to turn their smartphones into contactless card machines, and are popular with casual sellers.Besides card machines, Barclaycard offers other payment technology, including an online payment gateway, a virtual terminal, and an invoicing tool. However, these are separate products from the card machine packages, and Barclaycard gives very little detail on each product’s features or price, requiring businesses to submit enquiries for information.If you prefer a provider that’s upfront about all its payment processing products, we recommend Square or Worldpay. You can also see our recommendations for the best online payment systems if your business is ecommerce focused.EPOS integrationBarclaycard offers a handheld EPOS device, the Smartpay Touch, which comes with basic EPOS features such as product listings. However, it doesn’t offer a fully-fledged native EPOS system, including hardware and software.The good news is that Barclaycard card machines can integrate with third-party EPOS systems, and Barclaycard can assist businesses with the integration.However, if you’d like to opt for the same provider for both payment processing and EPOS, plenty of the top EPOS providers offer both services, including Square, Shopify, and Lightspeed.ReportingThe reporting features you get access to with Barclaycard depend on the card machine you choose. The cheapest option, the Barclaycard Flex, doesn’t come with any reporting tools since it’s designed to integrate with third-party EPOS systems.However, the Smartpay Touch and Smartpay Anywhere both come with an array of reporting tools, including daily sales reports, reports on best-selling items and employee performance, and reports on discount success. Barclaycard offers more reporting tools than competitors Tyl by NatWest or Stripe; however, takepayments, Worldpay, and Square offer similar features.Security and complianceSince Barclaycard is operated by Barclays, one of the UK’s largest banks, it’s a highly secure and compliant payment processing service.The provider is fully PCI compliant, as all payment processing providers should be, and has an ISO 27001 certificate, which means Barclaycard meets some of the highest international data security standards. That said, Barclaycard does charge between £4.80 and £15 per month for businesses to remain PCI compliant, whereas competitors Square and Tyl by NatWest offer this service for free.On the upside, Barclaycard has excellent fraud prevention measures, with a dedicated fraud prevention team that monitors all transactions 24/7, meaning suspicious activity is quickly flagged. Barclaycard Customer SupportBarclaycard’s customer support could be improved a little. While it offers a customer support phone line and email address, live support is only available from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.Most Barclaycard competitors offer live customer support on the weekend as well, such as takepayments and Tyl by NatWest, while some even offer 24/7 support, such as Worldpay. This works out better for retailers and other service workers, whose busiest times are usually on the weekends. What Kind of Business Is Barclaycard Best for?Barclaycard is best for small to medium businesses that already bank with Barclays and want to use the same trusted provider for their payment processing needs.Since Barclaycard offers both contract-based and contract-free card machine plans, as well as fixed and custom transaction fees, it’s suitable for a variety of in-person sellers, from new startups to seasonal vendors, to established cafes or stores.That said, we wouldn’t recommend Barclaycard to merchants looking for an all-in-one solution to taking payments, since Barclaycard doesn’t offer a native EPOS system. Competitors that do offer all-in-one solutions include Square, Clover, and takepayments.Barclaycard also isn’t the best option for businesses looking for a quick way to set up multiple payment channels, from online stores to over-the-phone payments, since Barclaycard doesn’t provide details of these services and requires a quote and contract. An easier way to start selling online or over the phone is with Square, Tyl by NatWest, or Worldpay. Barclaycard vs CompetitorsWhile we’ve offered comparisons between Barclaycard and other providers throughout this review, sometimes a side-by-side comparison is easier. Here’s a quick table comparing Barclaycard and its top competitors: Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Barclaycard takepayments Worldpay Clover Square Tyl by NatWest Monthly Fee Custom (from £15/month) Monthly Fee Custom (£0-£20/month) Monthly Fee Custom (£15-£40/month depending on contract) Monthly Fee From £0/month Monthly Fee None Monthly Fee None Hardware Cost From £15/month + VAT Hardware Cost From £25 + VAT/month Hardware Cost From £20 + VAT/month Hardware Cost Contact for quote Hardware Cost From £19 + VAT Hardware Cost From £9.99/month Transaction fee 1.60% or bespoke Transaction fee Custom (0.3%-2.5% depending on card and sales volume) Transaction fee Custom (0.75% to 3% depending on card and transaction volume) Transaction fee Custom (as low as 0.2%) Transaction fee 1.75% in-person1.4% + £0.25 online2.5% keyed-in and invoices Transaction fee 1.39% +£0.05 -1.99% +£0.05 or custom rates Native EPOS system? Native EPOS system? Native EPOS system? Native EPOS system? Native EPOS system? Native EPOS system? Contract length 12 months Contract length 12 months Contract length 18 months Contract length Zero contract and up to 4-year contract options Contract length Zero contract Contract length Zero contract and 12-month options Invoicing tool Invoicing tool Invoicing tool Invoicing tool Invoicing tool Invoicing tool How We Reviewed BarclaycardTo bring you our reviews, we tested and researched 18 payment services providers, assessing them across five main areas of investigation, and 23 subcategories. These included ease of use, the quality and feel of hardware, and the price of products and services.Here’s what we looked at:Hardware: We looked at the size, weight, and portability of the card machines they offer, and assessed their connectivity, interface, receipt printing, and battery life.Software: We tallied up how many payment types and methods each provider accepts, looked at payout times, reporting and security features, EPOS functionality, and what systems it integrates with.Pricing: We compared monthly fees, card machine costs, transaction fees and contract lengths against the features of each payment services provider, to determine the value for money of each.Ease of use: We had several different average users test each card machine and payment processing system to see how intuitive each one was to use, and how quickly everyday tasks could be completed.Help and support: We assessed providers based on how many different channels of support they offered, and how available and responsive the support team was.We then gave each provider an overall score based on how well they fared in the above assessment categories. Verdict Barclaycard offers businesses flexibility, thanks to its range of contract-based and contract-free card machine rental plans. Its low fixed transaction fee of 1.6% and its custom fees for sellers with a high annual card turnover make it suitable for both new and established businesses.It’s an especially good option for businesses that already bank with Barclays, and want to use a trusted banking service as their payment processing provider.If you’re not sure if Barclaycard is ideal for your business, use our free quote tool. Through it, we can match you with trusted suppliers that will then contact you with custom quotes. Our site is reader-supported. Some featured providers are our partners, so we may earn a commission if you make a purchase through our site. This is at no extra cost to our readers, and this doesn’t affect the independence of our reviews. Whether or not we have a partnership with a company does not affect our rating and review of the service. FAQs How do I raise a merchant dispute on Barclaycard? You can raise a merchant dispute on Barclaycard by contacting its Disputes Team on 0800 008 008 or by emailing the case to GCPDisputes@barclaycard.co.uk. If you choose the latter, you must include your surname and the last 12 digits of your card number in the email subject line. How long does a merchant have to respond to a credit card dispute? Merchants have up to 45 days to respond to credit card disputes, after which merchants could be liable to pay chargeback fees. Written by: Tatiana Lebreton Senior Grow Online & Business Software Expert Tatiana is Expert Market's resident payments and online growth expert, specialising in (E)POS and merchant accounts, as well as website builders. Reviewed by: Oliver Simpson Senior Research Executive After three years in operational B2B data analysis, Oliver became a business insight specialist in 2022 and now focuses full-time on understanding small business preferences and needs. He blends his quantitative skills, forged by his experience working as a law enforcement researcher, with qualitative exploration, to ensure robust and nuanced results.