SumUp Ireland review: hassle-free way to take card payments

Our opinion: still one of the best

In Ireland, SumUp is no doubt one of the leading options for mobile card payments. But with Square, Revolut and Worldpay having entered the Irish market, SumUp does have more competition now.

Small-business merchants will find SumUp’s simple fee structure and app just what they need for accepting cards in the most user-friendly way possible. The card machines are good piece of engineering that look good and fit in a pocket.

“I love how pretty SumUp’s card readers are, but I did find a few shortcomings with Solo. On its own, the battery life wasn’t great when I tested it, but the printer attachment can top it up on the go if power is low.”

– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, MobileTransaction

The complimentary business account with next-day payouts is important for many merchants in need of a fast cashflow. We’ve spoken to some businesses saying how slow payouts are a deal-breaker. If you went with Square, fast payouts cost extra.

Overall, SumUp is a very low-risk, easy payment solution for anyone who just wants to take payments without hassle.

Photo: SumUp

SumUp Solo Lite (pictured) replaces the old SumUp Air.

The payment process itself is simple: firstly, enter the transaction amount in the SumUp App or add products from the product menu. The customer inserts their card into the reader and confirms the payment with their PIN on the card reader keypad or taps a contactless card or phone on the Solo Lite display.

When the payment has gone through, you can send an email or text receipt to the customer.

SumUp Solo Lite has a very long battery life: over 1000 transactions from a full charge. That’s twice as long as its predecessor SumUp Air that only lasted 500 transactions.

Image: MobileTransaction

SumUp Solo and Printer next to SumUp Solo in a basic countertop stand.

Fees: predictable, simle

SumUp’s rate is currently 1.69% per transaction and the card terminals cost €49–€139 + VAT through this link (with free delivery). The terminal has a 30-day-money-back guarantee from the day of purchase.

There are no monthly fees, no contractual commitment and no setup fee.

App features and reporting

Whether you use the app-based SumUp Solo Lite reader or now, merchants can al access the handy SumUp App. It has essential features for accepting and managing payments – and a bit more.

For example, you can add products to a product library for an easier checkout experience as you can click on these to add to the shopping cart. Alternatively, enter the sales total directly in the app when you take the payment.

If you were granted access to Payment Links, the payment methods will (apart from cash and card) show payment link, SMS link and QR code as payment options – plus SumUp Gift Cards if you have sold any for redemption. Email invoices can be sent and managed from the app by all SumUp users.

Tipping can be switched on in the app, where the customer can choose the tip amount from a few suggested percentage options.

You can create multiple staff accounts in the app, defining whether they are allowed to process refunds and view all transactions in the app. If you need to have more than one person accepting card payments at a time, it is possible to link more than one card reader to the main SumUp account.

SumUp’s online dashboard provides an overview of important sales statistics. You can also access more sales data and export an entire sales history – or history of a particular day, week or month – to a CSV/Excel file.

Payout reports are automatically emailed to you for every settlement in your bank account (if this setting is switched on), listing the associated transactions.

When ready to expand your checkout features, it is possible to upgrade the software to a more feature-rich SumUp POS system built around your requirements.

Receipt printers and hardware

Receipts can be sent by email or text message, but paper receipts can be printed through compatible printer.

In the case of the Solo Lite reader, receipt printers connect with your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth and cost between €210-€330 + VAT.

What about customer service?

To contact customer support, messaging chat is encouraged, but you can phone them between 8am and 7pm on weekdays and 8am-5pm on weekends, or email any time. The support team is unavailable in the evening past opening hours. The helpline is generally responsive, but non-urgent email queries can take a few days for a response.

The online Support Centre answers the majority of user questions. Apart from that, the product is designed to be so simple to use that very little input is needed from the customer service team.

Who is SumUp suitable for?

SumUp is a great option for merchants and small businesses needing a single mobile card reader, as opposed to multiple readers and staff accounts. This could be market stalls, small shops, cafés, taxi drivers, fundraisers, tradespeople and other professionals.

For lower-volume traders and businesses, the flat rate is competitive. If monthly card sales exceed €5000, it may be worth getting a quote from a traditional terminal provider to compare. Just bear in mind the additional monthly fees, contractual lock-in and minimum transaction volumes that other providers often require.

SumUp is for registered businesses and sole traders only, meaning only bank accounts in your business, sole trader or organisation’s name are accepted.

If you’re travelling to trade shows, for example, SumUp offers the flexibility of using it abroad – as long as you’ve alerted customer service, and only if you’re going to one of the other countries SumUp operates in.