Ever since starting my own business I have been looking for a way to take payments by card, without having the monthly expense and contractual obligation of operating a Chip & PIN reader from a Business Banking account. Six months ago I came across iZettle; a relatively new startup that promised a mobile card payment solution without monthly cost.

When I first investigated the solution from iZettle, the only payment method on offer was a Chip & Signature reader. This has a number of shortfalls, such as the inability to accept VISA payments through the signature reader, requiring the customer to have an internet enabled phone to process the VISA payment. With the promise of the technology improving I signed up anyway, and last month iZettle released their Wireless Chip & PIN reader with full support for VISA and Mastercard payments. With this new device, I am pleased to report that all concerns I had over the shortcomings of the solution have been laid to rest.

Below is my review of what I believe is a game-changing product for anyone running a small business, with detailed information on the how the process works from the perspective of the customer and seller.

Who is it for?

iZettle is one of those interesting products that has two clear target markets. The first (and most obvious) is the small business provider who wants to begin offering card payment options to his/her customers. These users will apply for a ‘Business Account’

The other target market is for home users who want to be able to take card payments for things like car-boots and other uses that dont really fall under the ‘home business’ front (though technically if you’re taking payments doesn’t that class you a business?). These users will apply for a ‘Personal Account’

The difference between the two accounts is the amount you can take per transaction and total amount per day. The differences are detailed further on.

For the business target market, many people have voiced their opinion that iZettle (and it’s competitors) has a high cost per Transaction (2.75%) where card terminals from other banking providers have a lower cost of less than 2%. The disadvantage with these larger business-oriented banking terminals is that they have a monthly rental fee for the terminal, and often come with a minimum contract term of 1 year and a minimum turnover per month. iZettle has no monthly fee, no minimum term lock in, and no minimum turnover requirement. A straight forward charge of 2.75% and a one off cost of £100 (+VAT) are the only outgoings you will ever see for this solution. To me this says that if you are a company that relies on cash and invoice/bank payment transactions, but wish to offer a card service in the side to capture those customers whom you might otherwise loose, then this solution is for you. You also have the advantage of being able to run a service with no cost of upkeep. After you have paid out for the card reader, you do not have to worry about taking a minimum amount to cover the cost of the service.

If your company relies heavily on Credit card transactions and have an annual turnover large enough to justify the annual cost of a card terminal, then you might be better off going with a more corporate solution.

Cost comparison

As I explained above, when you compare iZettle to established Point of Sale (POS) solutions from larger business banking companies, then the per-card rates can seem a little high. A number of these POS solutions also charge a fixed amount on top of the per-transaction rate. For example: a debit card transaction with one might cost only 2%, but a charge of 40p per transaction is applied on top. Credit card payments from VISA and MasterCard might only charge at 2% but American Express might be 3.5%. On top of all this, there could be a monthly rental charge to keep the Chip & PIN reader, and a minimum monthly total transaction value that has to be met. While iZettle would not be the most cost effective solution for those who are turning over £1000+ in credit / debit card transactions per month, however for the smaller business doing less than this, iZettle is perfect. No monthly cost and no minimum  transaction value per month means that if you dont use iZettle, then you simply dont pay anything. The 2.75% fixed fee per transaction helps for Micro transactions too, as there is no fixed cost on top of the percentage.

The Competition

Since Square launched in the US, a number of companies have tried bringing mobile payment solutions to the UK. Most of these began (like Square) as a swipe card solution or as a Chip and Signature solution. In the last two months, the market has exploded with companies offering mobile payment solutions with a wireless Chip & PIN reader. One such example is Payleven (who appear to me to be iZettle’s major rival).  Payleven were slightly faster out of the gate marketing their Chip and PIN reader, however iZettle is already an established brand in the UK (having their devices for sale in EE stores around the country), and offer a more complete payment solution when it comes to the types of card accepted. Additionally their App is far more developed than the rival Payleven App, which is currently only working on only 4 Android devices (though their team are reported to be working on increasing support).

	iZettle	Payleven	PayPay Here	Adyen	Intuit Pay	WorldPay
Solution Type	App + Bluetooth Chip / PIN Reader	App + Bluetooth Chip / PIN Reader	App + Bluetooth Chip / PIN Reader	App + Bluetooth Chip / PIN Reader	App + Bluetooth Chip / PIN Reader	App + Bluetooth Chip / PIN Reader
Connection Method	Bluetooth > Phone Internet Connection	Bluetooth > Phone Internet Connection	Bluetooth > Phone Internet Connection	Bluetooth > Phone Internet Connection	Bluetooth > Phone Internet Connection	Bluetooth > Phone Internet Connection
Upfront Cost (One Off)	£99.99 + VAT	£89.99 + VAT	£99.99 inc. VAT	£99.99 + VAT	£29.99 + VAT	£59.99 inc.VAT
Rental	£0	£0		£0	£0	£0 / £5 / £10
Minimum Per Month	£0	£0		£10	£0	£0
Charge per Debit Card transaction	2.75%	2.75%	2.75%	See Below +6p	2.75%	75p / 50p / 0p
Charge per Credit Card transaction	2.75%	2.75%	2.75%	See Below +0.60%	2.75%	2.95% / 2% / 0%
Cards Supported
VISA Debit	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes 14p	Yes	Yes
VISA Credit	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes 1.37%	Yes	Yes
VISA Electron	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes 14p	Yes	Yes
V Pay	Yes	Yes	No	Yes 14p	Unknown	Unknown
Mastercard	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes 1.40%	Yes	Yes
Maestro	Yes	Yes	Yes	No 13p	Yes	No
Diners Club	Chip/Signature Reader only	No	No	No	No	No
American Express	Yes	No	No	Yes 3.95%	No	No
Device Compatibility
iOS Compatible	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Android Compatible	Wide range of phones / tablets	Wide range of phones	Potential wide range	Yes	Limited devices	Yes
Service Features
Telephone Support (UK)	No	Yes	No	Limited	Yes	Yes
Card Not Present Payments	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Product Catalog	iOS only	No	Unknown
Gratuity Payment Options	No	No	Unknown		Yes
Discount Options	No	No	Unknown		Yes
VAT Options	Yes	No	Unknown
Requires PCI Compliance	No	No	Unknown	No	Yes
Notes			Mag-Swipe / manual transactions processed at 3.40% + 20p		Upfront cost currently promotional offer. Regular price £99.99 + VAT	Pay as you go / Pay monthly / All you can Eat

 Information correct as of March 2013

As you can see, iZettle comes across as one of the more complete Mobile payment solutions, offering payment on all major card types and some of the less widely accepted ones.
Worldpay offer a solution with lower / no rates for a £5/£10 per month charge, however they currently do not appear to accept such a wide range of card types.

The iZettle technology – The Chip & PIN reader

The iZettle Chip & PIN Reader device is a black acrylic unit 9.5 x 7 x 1.75 CM (H x W x D). It has a 3.5CM OLED display and 13 buttons on its face, plus a Micro USB plug for charging / diagnostic log access, a reset button, a power button, a charging LED indicator, and two recessed metal contacts which I presume are for charging using a base station. The reader features a chip reader along the bottom of the reader (the cards clip in securely) as well as a magnetic swipe reader across the top of the unit. The Chip & PIN unit itself is manufactured by Miura Systems, and is branded iZettle.

The reader is identical to those devices provided by Worldpay, Payleven and a number of other Mobile Payment Solution providers. The Miura Chip and PIN devices have specific firmware installed on them (presumably to encrypt communication between the Reader and the App) that mean the readers only function with the App provided by the company you purchase the reader from. An iZettle Reader will not work with the Payleven App, or vice versa.

The reader seems well made, however its piano black finish is ‘very’ prone to scratching (as I expect is the screen). Purchasers of the unit will want to find a little protective case for the unit as quickly as possible.

Battery life is reported to support up to 150 transactions on a single charge. You can charge the unit using the included MicroUSB cable, and the reader can be used while it is charging.

My only concern with the unit is that its looks differ significantly from other Chip & PIN terminals used in businesses. This could potentially put the more security-savvy people off the unit for now as they will be unfamiliar with it, and might regard it with suspicion (especially if they see it is linked to your phone).

Other than these minor points, the reader is very well made and incredibly well sized. It is portable device that could very easily fit into your business life, slipping into your bag briefcase or pocket.

Security

I admit that I know little about Card Payment security, however the iZettle reports that it complies with the minimum regulations, which certainly seem to be enough to support MasterCard and VISA Payments.

The following is an excerpt from iZettle on security.

iZettle is just as secure as other card terminals. The service is EMV approved and complies with PCI DSS regulations. No sensitive data is ever stored on the mobile device, and all data traffic is encrypted.

Another area that iZettle seem to have covered is with Data Protection. The seller is prompted to enter a customers email address so that an email receipt can be sent to them. After the entry has been completed and submitted, the email address is not made available to the seller. This protects the customer by preventing any nefarious sellers from harvesting this data or signing up customers to unsolicited email shots.

Working with the iZettle Solution

Setting up the iZettle Chip & PIN reader

Once you push the power button, it takes around 45 seconds for the Chip & PIN reader to start up and reach the ‘Welcome’ screen. At this point you can either pair the unit with your smartphone / tablet, or start the iZettle App (which automatically establishes a Bluetooth link to the unit) for it to be used.

To pair / re-pair the unit with your smartphone or tablet, power on the reader by pressing the power button. Once the reader has started up and the iZettle logo has been replaced by the ‘Welcome’ text, hold down the Green Tick (O) button for 5 seconds and the Bluetooth icon will start to flash. This makes the unit discoverable by other Bluetooth devices. At this point you can pair your reader just like you would pair a Bluetooth Headset. You can cancel this pair / re-pair action after you have made the unit discoverable by pressing the Red X (X) button. This will not delete the previous pairing. You can only have one pairing on the Reader and cannot switch between two phones that are paired to it. You must pair it to a new tablet/phone every time you wish to change.

It is worth mentioning that the Chip & PIN Reader is not linked to a single iZettle account. You pair the reader with your phone or tablet, and the App on there links to your account. You could loan your reader to friend with iZettle and they could use the reader with their own private or business iZettle account.

Taking a Card Payment with the iZettle Chip & PIN reader

Once you have paired the unit to your phone or tablet, start the iZettle App and your Reader will automatically establish a Bluetooth link to the Chip & PIN unit (On Android, your phone/tablet Bluetooth logo will not indicate any established Bluetooth connection). Now you are ready to take a payment.

1. With the iZettle App open, the seller types the amount they wish to charge into the App Entry screen
   • Optionally enter a description of the product
   • Optionally take a photo of the product or select one from your Gallery on the phone / tablet
   • VAT can optionally be included during the payment at 5% or 20%
2. Ask the customer to insert their card
3. Once the card is inserted, the Sellers App will read ‘Card OK’ and the Chip & PIN reader will report ‘Waiting for amount…’
4. In the App, the seller presses the ‘Charge’ button. The App will process the payment and send the information to the Chip & PIN reader.
5. Once the App has sent the chargable amount to the Chip & PIN reader, the Chip and PIN reader will request PIN entry from the customer.
   • The Chip & PIN reader will display the following to the customer on the PIN Entry screen: Type of card inserted, Amount to be charged, PIN Entry request
   • During the PIN Entry process, the customer can press the Red X (X) button to cancel the transaction, the Yellow Arrow button (<) to clear the last number entered on the PIN, or the Green Tick (O) button to confirm the transaction and PIN entry.
   • During the PIN Entry process, the seller has the option to cancel the transaction from the App
   • During the PIN entry, the Seller App displays four * icons. These icons will highlight with every key-press the customer makes.
   • Upon confirmation of the PIN, the reader will report ‘PIN OK’ to the customer.
6. Once the PIN entry has been completed by the customer, the sellers device will process the card payment. It will report either ‘Approved’ or ‘Rejected’, with the Chip & PIN reader reporting either ‘Approved – Remove Card’ or ‘Declined’ to the customer as appropriate.
   • When the customer removes their card, the Chip & PIN reader reports ‘Thank You’.
7. When the payment is approved, the seller is given the option to enter an email address for an e-receipt to be sent, or this step can be skipped.
   • After a transaction has been completed, the seller can return to the Payment History screen to (re)send a receipt.
   • The customers email address is not stored nor accessible to the seller (staff or master account). More about this later.
8. Lastly, the App will display your company logo with a green tick, followed by ‘Thank You!’ and the total amount paid, showing that the payment has been completed successfully.

You can now process a new payment.

Multiple Products, Single transaction

There is a shortfall in the current revision of the App if you are selling multiple products or services in a single transaction. The current lack of the Product Catalog and the Android version of the iZettle App means there is no way to create an itemised receipt for the customer. This feature is due to be added to the Android App around the March / April, but until then a single description field will have to suffice. The Product Catalog has already been implemented on the iOS (Apple) version of the iZettle App. You can add products from your Product Catalog and they will be itemised on your receipt. Unfortunately the product catalog does not help if you wish to sell multiple adhoc items/services. You cannot enter a description per item along with a value per item. You are forced into using a single Description field with no method to itemise individual items.

Bugs

• The reader will automatically go to sleep by turning off the display if it is not used for a minute or two. Simply press a button to wake it back up. In testing, if you cancel the transaction from the App before the customer has entered their PIN, the Chip & PIN reader will not immediately cancel the PIN entry request. It will reset after about 20 seconds.
• In testing I could not get the unit to sleep while on the ‘Insert/swipe card’ screen (paired with the app). Even if the phone went to sleep, as long as the bluetooth connection was maintained, the Chip & PIN reader would not sleep. This could be a problem if you are using it on and off during the whole day, though a passive Bluetooth connection shouldn’t draw too much power. This could be fixed in a future firmware / app update though.

 

Transaction limits

iZettle’s Chip & PIN solution has certain transaction limits imposed on it. I am unsure whether this is typical for all Chip & PIN solutions, however it is certainly the case for Mobile Payments using a Chip and PIN solution, or indeed any mobile solution.

iZettle’s limits are imposed based on the type of account you have (Personal or Business) and whether you’re using the current Chip & PIN Solution, the current solution with the magnetic swipe reader, or the previous solution based on the Chip & Signature solution. While I have not covered the Chip & Signature solution in my review, I feel it is important to highlight the differences as many customers have asked the question on iZettle’s Facebook page.

The following information is summarised from the iZettle FAQ on How much money can I accept? and How much do I pay to use iZettle?

Business Accounts

Device	Chip & PIN		Chip & Signature		No Device
Method	Chip	Mag Swipe	Chip	VISA SMS	Manual Entry	Cash
Charge	2.75%	2.75%	2.75%	2.75%	£0.10 + 3.5%	0%
Daily Transaction Limit	£25,000	£100	£15,000	£2,000	£100	None
Minimum Limit (per transaction)	£1	£1	£1	£1	£1	None
Maximum Limit (per transaction)	£10,000	£100	£2,500	£500	£100	None

Private Accounts

Device	Chip & PIN		Chip & Signature		No Device
Method	Chip	Mag Swipe	Chip	VISA SMS	Manual Entry	Cash
Charge	2.75%	2.75%	2.75%	2.75%	£0.10 + 3.5%	0%
Daily Transaction Limit	£3,000	£100	£3,000	£500	£100	None
Minimum Limit (per transaction)	£1	£1	£1	£1	£1	None
Maximum Limit (per transaction)	£1,500	£100	£1,500	£150	£100	None

Alternative Payment Methods

The app allows you to take payments through Card via the card reader or by entering the details manually (there are delays with fund transfers from transactions done this way), or you can record cash payments using the app. This gives you a decent Point Of Sale record system for taking note of your card and cash payments. I will not go into detail about these methods as the screenshots sum them up nicely, and the process should not deviate too far from the Chip & PIN payment procedure. The option of ‘Taking a VISA Payment’ I have not covered as it is only relevant if you are still using the older iZettle Chip & Signature reader.

Customer Receipts

Receipts can be optionally sent from the App at time of payment, or from the Payment History screen in the App. If the seller has already entered an email address for the customer, it will still prompt for the email address entry if the seller chooses to resend the receipt. This allows for multiple receipts to be sent should the customer require it.

The customer receipts are sent as an email which include your company name and logo, the date and time of the transaction, the description of the item (if entered), the picture of the item (if entered) and the amount charged for the item with a total amount below the item list.  The receipt also includes a small unobtrusive banner advertising the iZettle service. This could be seen as useful as the customer could then find out a bit more about the payment scheme you use, however some business owners may find this a slightly unprofessional approach.

If a customer wishes to email the company they have received the receipt from, then the Name of the Company (shown in bold blue text above the address) is a mailto hyperlink that starts a new email to the address that was specified in the Master account (Staff account email addresses are never revealed to the customer). Unfortunately a customer cannot simply reply to the email receipt to contact the company as it is sent from the iZettle email address hello@izettle.com, with your company name in the From field. The ‘reply-to’ address is set to hello@izettle.com and not the email address given in your Master account  This could confuse a customer who quickly wishes to follow up on a receipt.

In the email, the customer is given a link to ‘View detailed receipt’. This will take the customer to the iZettle web site, and gives a more detailed breakdown of the transaction. This includes The Name and Address of the company, a company logo, Telephone and Email address as well as a link to the companies website. A map is displayed showing the location of where the transaction took place. A cost breakdown of the transaction appears here, including the amount of VAT (if applicable), the details of the card used (only the last four digits visible), and various reference numbers.

• Staff account email addresses are not displayed or used anywhere on receipts or available to the customer.
• I would recommend registering iZettle to a central account that is used to send out payment information (e.g: store@<companyname>.<tld>). This address is available to customers to reply to in their receipt.

Customer Bank Statement

A completed transaction will appear on the customers bank statement in a few working days. When I tested the unit, the following appeared on my statement. The last four digits (pixelated in the image below) are the last four digits from the card used to pay. We can assume that CD stands for Card or Card, Debit. The company name appears before this but is truncated, and the IZ before that indicated iZettle.

Other App features

The app includes a small number of other features, including in-built help and FAQ screens. Also included are Payment Histories and Reports.

Payment History

The app contains a full Payment History screen, where you can view a full list of your transactions. You can also search your payments by Amount, Reference number or by the last 4 digits of the card that was used for Payment. When you drill down into an individual payment, you can see the Status of a payment, the last 4 digits of the card number, a reference number, TVR and AID number, a summary of the product(s) sold, and a map showing where the transaction took place. You can choose to send a receipt from here, or even process a refund (within the pre-allotted time period).

Reports

The app also features the ability to generate reports by day or by month. The report can then be emailed from the app to any address of your choosing. This attaches the report as a PDF file instead of forcing you to go through the web interface.

 

iZettle Web Portal

When you sign up to iZettle you are given access to their web portal. This is the method to administer your account, delegate access to Staff, manage changes to your company details, and to pull off sales figures and reports. You can view your payments taken, and deposits made to your bank account. You can also manage your Product Catalog.

• The iZettle Web Portal is not available to Staff accounts.

Reporting

The reporting functionality of the iZettle Web Portal is straight forward. You can view reports on sales by Day, Week or Month, and download these figures in an Excel spreadsheet by clicking the button below the report window you have requested. When viewing payments, you can drill down into each individual payment to display an itemised view of the payment (similar to that which the customer receives by email). The customers email address is shown masked, with only the first letter and provider displayed.

• There is currently no way to Search payments through the Web Portal
• You cannot send a receipt to a new email address, only resend the receipt to the first email address (as entered during the transaction process).
• You have the option to print individual receipts, but not the summary of the Day / Week / Month unless you export to Excel first.

Product Catalog

The Product Catalog is a quick and easy method of building up your Point of Sale solution to enable very quick processing of items when processing a transaction. You can create a Product in the catalog, assign a picture to it and a Value. You can also create variants of a product; so you can have sub products that each have the same main description but can have different values and sub descriptions assigned to them.

• Your product catalog is cached in the App on your phone/tablet. This means bandwidth requirements for the app are kept to the minimum.
• When creating Product Variants through the web portal, each variant uses the main Product picture.
• For sellers who pre-sell products and rely on shipping the item to a customer, you will need to create a Shipping item (possibly with variants) to handle this.
  • There is also no Shipping calculator, so if you charge a base rate then extra per weight/product, you will have to calculate this manually.

 

Receiving your money from iZettle

Payments made to you are deposited to your nominated account seven banking days after transactions are made. The following is from the iZettle FAQ on When do I get my money?

Private account
If the transactions are made with the Chip & PIN reader:
A maximum of £1,000 is available on your bank account seven banking days after the transactions were made.

Business account
If the transactions are made with the Chip & PIN reader:
A maximum of £25,000 is available on your bank account seven banking days after the transactions were made.

If the transactions are for more than £1,000/£25,000, then another maximum of £1,000/£25,000 will be deposited to you the bank day after the first deposit was made. This will go on until all of your money has been deposited.

Note that the money is deposited to you four banking days after the transaction was made, it is then available in your bank account within three banking days. This means that the money is available in your bank account within seven banking days.

Manual transactions take longer to complete, with a maximum of £25 available on your bank account seven banking days after the transactions were made. The remainder will be deposited approximately 10 banking days later.​ It is unlikely that a seller will need to use this method unless the card Chip and magnetic swipe are both damaged. In this instance I would recommend asking for another card.

(The above does not apply to the Chip & Signature reader)

Improvements I would like to see

• Product Catalog for Android devices (iZettle have reported this feature is Coming soon)
• Desktop application so that a computer-based Point of Sale terminal could be easily used – this is important for sellers who rely on a laptop, and could lead to desktop based Point of Sale units for businesses with fixed locations.
• A slightly more useful Web Portal, with some options added that are in the App but not in the Web Interface
• Improvement of the Deposits screen on the Web Portal so you can itemise which Payments are being paid to you in each deposit.
• The ability to enter multiple adhoc items (multiple descriptions + photos) each with their own individual price.
• A section to the product catalog that allows you to create a group of ‘options’ that are available to certain products. e.g: For a canvas, you might have the option of a Glossy Finish that would add a £5 surcharge to the price of a canvas.
• For those business who are doing pre-sales, a basic shipping cost calculator would be very useful. E.g: If you process 3 canvases for delivery to a customer, the first canvas would charge a base rate of £10 shipping, then £3 per extra canvas.
• Ability to customise receipts
• Change of the ‘Reply to’ Address in Email receipts so that customers can reply straight back to the company instead of replying to ‘hello@izettle.com’
• Ability to have an Address Book of sorts so that business with regular customers or an existing customer database can quickly and easily retrieve email addresses from it. (this might not have been implemented due to Data Protection and the ability to store information / purchase habits for customers)

Want to sign up to iZettle?

If you have enjoyed this review and/or have decided to sign up for iZettle, then please support me by using this link to create your account. Alternatively you can use the offer code S7V2SH during sign-up.
Using this link will get you a £10 voucher toward free transactions.

Links

• Sign up for iZettle
• iZettle GB Homepage
• iZettle Facebook Page
• iZettle Android App (Google Play)
• iZettle iOS App (Apple App Store)

Updates

I will continue to update this review as the product improves. If there is a particular area you would like me to cover in more detail or a feature you feel I have missed out, please leave me a Comment below and I will do what I can.

05/05/13 – Added Intuit (based on a request from Jonathan Crossley) and Ayden to the comparison table. Added a brief ‘Feature’ list to the comparison table to better differentiate providers / services.

26/04/13 – Updated the price comparison table to reflect the current pricing of the iZettle and Payleven Chip & Pin Units – These were £49.99 + VAT during their promotional periods.

12/04/13 – Transaction Limits and Account Comparison table added. Minor formatting changes

11/04/13 – Information on Security added from the iZettle App Store information. Minor corrections

07/04/13 – Minor corrections made based on feedback from iZettle

 

Disclaimer

All screenshots are taken from the Android version of the iZettle App, using a Samsung Galaxy Note

The account used in this review is a ‘Business’ account. Private accounts may perform slightly differently than described above.

This review is not sponsored or commissioned by iZettle or any of their affiliated companies, however you can help support me by using my Sponsored Link to sign up to iZettle. You will receive a £10 voucher toward free transactions.