When you’re trying to pay for something in a shop, one of the big pains that you get, especially in smaller establishments, is a card reader charge. 

 

Basically, a lot of businesses, to make up for the lack of footfall when it comes to card payments, will have a charge on using the card, which is never normally more than 50p. This means that they make back a little bit of money, and it helps them to justify the cost of having the card reader in the shop.

 

Want to get around this? Don’t worry, we can help. Here’s a few tips and tricks.

 

Restrict Card Use

 

Ultimately, one of the best ways to make sure that you avoid high card reader charges is to make sure that you restrict card use wherever possible.

 

There are many establishments that have a minimum card payment in place to make sure the people don’t use the cards for small amounts, but to be honest, if you can afford to pay with cash, it’s probably a good idea to do this.

 

Yes, paying with cash means that you often don’t wind up subject to a high card reader charge, and it means that you can save your card used for something else.

 

Make it Count

 

Ultimately, what you are going to want to do is to make sure that you make it count when you use your card payment. Avoiding a high card reader charge can often be achieved by limiting them out of times you use the card, therefore, make it count. 

 

By thinking ahead just a little bit, you can save a lot of money when it comes to card payments. If you buy items for multiple days all at once, then you don’t have to come back and pay the same card charge again. It’s all about being smart with your card.

 

 

Consider Raising Minimum Spends

 

This one is more for the business owners, but the customers themselves could also petition for this to happen. If you raise the minimum spend of a card to such a point where there is no card charge payment, you are subverting the card payment charge altogether. 

 

It just means that you can very easily change what you have to pay in order to make sure that you don’t have to charge. So if you pay a couple of extra pounds as a minimum spend, but you avoid the card charge payment, it works out.

 

In conclusion, there are a lot of different things that you probably need to think about, and multiple different options that you have to take. It’s all about taking the time to experiment with what’s on offer, and finding the ultimate option for you. 

 

Reducing the card payment that you have to pay is not easy, but you can do it if you take the time to experiment with what’s on offer. Unfortunately, card charge payments are often a small irritation and necessary evil, but it means that you can use your card in more places, so it’s arguably worth it in some instances.