When a customer uses a debit or credit card to purchase from you in person, this is considered “card present”.

Card present has cheaper rates because it is lower risk. You see the customer and you can verify the identity. Due to the customer needing to enter a pin code, there is less risk of fraud. As a result the banks charge a lower fee as there is a less risk to cover.

Transactions that are over the phone or online, for example, are classified as "card not present". These transactions carry a higher risk since fraudsters may use stolen or lost cards to make purchases. As a result the banks charge a higher fee as there is a more risk to cover.

The difference between "card present" and "card NOT present", could be around a 1% increase.

At Slick our payment partner Stripe charges a transaction processing fee of 2.17% + 20p plus VAT. You can read all about it here

This is 26% cheaper than PayPal charge for the same online processing as they currently charge 2.9% + 30p.

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