Retail Merchant Services Review

Retail Merchant Services logo

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Retail Merchant Services scores a 4.7/5 overall in our research, recognising it as the best choice for low transaction fees on card payments. Simply put, it is a top merchant account for a wide range of businesses.

Our independent research team scored Retail Merchant Services (RMS) across a range of categories, including features, customer support, and price. While RMS performs well in our research, read on to find out if this provider is suited to your business.

If you’re interested in comparing Retail Merchant Services against other payment providers, you can use our free quote tool. With a few brief details about your business, we’ll match you up with trusted suppliers that will contact you with obligation-free quotes.

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Retail Merchant Services

Score
4.7
Best For

Low transaction fees on card payments

How much does Retail Merchant Services cost?

Retail Merchant Services’ transaction fees are the lowest for card payments, charging 0.4% for debit cards and 0.8% for credit cards, while its online transaction fees are 0.79% +10p. Overall, we found it to be the cheapest way to take card payments among the providers we researched.

Its minimum monthly account fee is £10, beaten only by Worldpay’s minimum fee of £9.95. This 5p difference isn’t enough to knock RMS from its top spot in the pricing category in our research, scoring a 5/5. Unfortunately, RMS doesn’t disclose its hardware fees, however, based on our research, the average cost of hardware is around £15 per month.

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Retail Merchant Services

Monthly Fee

From £10 + VAT/month

Transaction fee
  • Bespoke in person
  • 0.79% +10p online

RMS’ closest competitor for pricing is takepayments, scoring a 4.1/5 for pricing. While it’s not as cheap as RMS, takepayments is fairly affordable when compared with providers in our research, plus, it performs better overall. takepayments scores better for features  because it offers more integrations and reporting capabilities than RMS, however, RMS is still a cheaper provider. So, if your business has space in the budget for a stronger overall provider, then takepayments could be a better choice for your business.

Read our takepayments review for more information.

You can compare the cost of other payment providers using our free comparison tool. Our tool will match you up with trusted providers that will contact you with obligation-free quotes.

The pros and cons of Retail Merchant Services

Pros

  • Low transaction fees
  • Accepts multiple forms of payment

Cons

  • Hardware costs undisclosed
  • Not PCI compliant

Pro –  low transaction fees 

RMS offers the lowest transaction fees for card payments in our research, so it’s no surprise it has the highest pricing score (5/5). RMS allows for bespoke pricing for each customer, so you might even be able to negotiate lower fees.

The next cheapest transaction fees belongs to Worldpay, which scores a 3.95/5 for price in our research. While its transaction fees are higher than RMS, its fund transfer time is 30 minutes, much faster than RMS’ time of three to five working days. Worldpay is a good fit for small businesses or startups that want the cash flow, however, if you’re more concerned about keeping costs down, RMS will be the better choice.

Pro –  accepts multiple forms of payment

Retail Merchant Services scores a 5/5 for taking payments because it accepts card, online, mail, and checkout link transactions. This is great for businesses that have online stores, or want to provide multiple ways for customers to pay. While Worldpay also offers the same amount of payment methods, RMS’ transaction fees are much cheaper and well suited to small businesses.

Con –  hardware costs undisclosed 

Retail Merchant Services’ hardware costs aren’t publicly available, making it difficult to give an accurate judgement on whether or not this is the right provider for your business. They typically provide Ingenico card machines. We will say that the average monthly reader fee is around £15 and, with RMS offering the lowest card transaction fees, it’s still one of the more affordable options.

Con –  Not PCI compliant 

Based on our research, you have to complete the compliance process yourself, so we’ve deemed RMS as not being PCI compliant. Other providers, such as Dojo, only require you to read two documents and answer two questions. The hassle of becoming and staying compliant with PCI is a pain, however, RMS is a much better provider overall when compared with Dojo as it’s cheaper, has more features, and accepts payments online.

Retail Merchant Services’ key features explained

Reporting and integrations 

RMS offers several reporting capabilities, including real-time data insights as well as wastage and shrinkage monitoring. While RMS has good reporting options, takepayments offers more, plus, it also has 16 integrations compared with RMS’ one integration. While takepayments has better features than RMS, it’s more expensive, so if want to keep costs down, RMS is a better fit.

Fund transfer time 

Retail Merchant Services’ fund transfer time is three to five working days, which isn’t unusual for payment providers, but it’s a lot slower than some of the other providers in our research. Worldpay transfers funds within 30 minutes, which is super speedy and great for small businesses, or businesses that want consistent cash flow. However, Worldpay can’t process online payments, which is a problem for businesses with ecommerce stores, whereas RMS allows for online payments.

What kind of business is Retail Merchant Services best for?

Small businesses

Retail Merchant Services is good for small businesses because its card transaction fees and minimum monthly account fees are low. It’s also a great comprehensive provider, scoring a 4.7/5 in our research, offering multiple forms of payment methods, in-depth reporting, and it accepts multiple currencies.

How does Retail Merchant Services compare with its competitors?

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Retail Merchant Services

takepayments

Worldpay

Score
4.7
Score
4.8
Score
4.7
Best For

Low transaction fees on card payments

Best For

Best overall

Best For

Integrations

Monthly Fee

From £10 + VAT/month

Monthly Fee

Bespoke

Monthly Fee

From £19.95 + VAT

Transaction fee
  • Bespoke in person
  • 0.79% +10p online
Transaction fee

Custom (e.g. 1% + 2p-2.75% + 2p for £50-£100k turnover; avg transaction £0-£50)

Transaction fee

Fixed fees: 1.5% or 1.3% +20p

OR custom fees

Price 

Retail Merchant Services offers the lowest card transaction fees out of all the providers we looked at. Its minimum monthly fee is also fairly low, so it’s a great choice for providers looking to keep costs down. It doesn’t disclose its hardware fees, which can be frustrating and we did note in our market-wide merchant account comparison.

While its card transaction fees are higher than that of RMS, its features are comprehensive, such as having over 16 integrations and it accepts over 170 currencies. If you want the cheapest option, RMS is a good fit because its fees are low and it’s rated well overall (4.7/5).

Features 

Retail Merchant Services scores a 4.1/5 for features, the third highest score in our research. RMS offers several reporting capabilities, accepts over 100 currencies, and has one integration (CounterPay). takepayments scores the best for features (5/5) and offers 16 integrations and a similar number of reporting options as RMS, and it accepts over 170 currencies, making it a good option for businesses looking to scale. While takepayments performs better in this area, RMS is still a cheaper option.

Does Retail Merchant Services have good customer reviews?

Retail Merchant Services has a customer score of 3.5/5 in our research. While there are positive reviews about the customer service, there are some complaints about the cancellation fees. RMS can charge around £1,000 if improper notice is given to terminate a contract, so this is something to consider.

Customer review

“Very happy with rate, speed of deposits – even on Sunday! – and Ben Dowling has been really helpful in setting up and any questions immediately answered. Very impressed!!” (sic)

Sarah Monsoon,
Trustpilot - 5 April 2022
Customer review

“I’ve written numerous emails to RMS without response, I cancelled my card machine contract with them as the machine was faulty and paid the final fee. Now 3 months later they claim not to have received the terminal which they had collected by DPD and are demanding £399 plus vat, plus a further £500 plus for termination fee that has already been paid. Now the threat of legal action without further communication, bit unsure how that would work, terrible company to deal with.” (sic)

Tony Johnson,
Trustpilot - 14 September 2022
Verdict

We recommend Retail Merchant Services for businesses that want low transaction fees, especially small businesses or startups, as transaction fees are typically the most recurring fees for payment providers.

You will have to complete the compliance process yourself, so if you want to avoid this hassle, takepayments is a similar competitor that is PCI compliant. RMS’s fund transfer times are not the fastest at three to five working days, so, if this is important for your business, Worldpay may be a better option as it transfers funds within 30 minutes.

Overall, Retail Merchant Services is a good provider with affordable fees, but if you still want to look at other options, you can use our free comparison tool. With a few brief details about your business, we will match you with trusted suppliers. You’ll then be contacted by these suppliers with obligation-free quotes.

Our Methodology

Our research team deep-dived into 11 different payment providers, splitting them into two: traditional and mobile. Retail Merchant Services falls under the traditional payment providers, coming second out of the six we compared.

We scored each provider against the following categories:

  • Price –  we looked at the various fees associated with each provider such as transaction, account, and hardware fees.
  • Payment options –  this took into account the payment options the provider offered such as a card machine, ecommerce, and payment links.
  • Features –  we looked at the number and comprehensiveness of the features offered such as invoicing, integrations, and reporting.
  • Customer score –  this takes into account the average of online customer reviews and scores.

We combined these scores to provide an average score for each provider.

FAQs

What does Retail Merchant Services do?
Retail Merchant Services is a payment provider that allows you to take and process payments. The funds taken are typically transferred to your business bank account within three to five business days. You can process card, online, and checkout link transactions with RMS.
Is RMS payment secure?
Yes, RMS is secure as it supports 3D secure authentication in its online payment gateway solution. It also carries out IP address, AVS, and CV2 checks. It’s not PCI compliant, however, as you’ll need to complete this process yourself.
How do I cancel my RMS contract?
You’ll need to contact RMS via email or post informing them of your intent to cancel your contract. You will need to provide 30 days’ notice, which begins once you’ve received an email from RMS confirming you’re cancelling and you respond to this.

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Written by:
Zara Chechi
Zara is a Payments Expert, specialising in writing about Point of Sale systems. With a Law Degree from City University of London, she has used her legally-honed research and analytical skills to develop expertise in the Business Services world. Featured in FinTech Magazine, she quickly became an expert in payroll, POS systems, and merchant accounts.
Reviewed by:
Ruairi uses his 3+ years of research experience to uncover insights which can help Expert Market provide the best business solutions for their users. He has done this by meeting with business owners to find out what is important to them and what challenges they face on a daily basis. Ruairi specialises in tools that can be used to grow your business and has done research for a wide range of categories on Expert Market, such as EPOS, Website Builders, and Merchant Accounts.