My parents owned a fish and chip shop for ten years, only got a card machine the last two years (2017-2019). In addition to the percentage charge on each transaction, they had to choose to either buy or hire a card machine. Buying one can cost £500-800. Renting can have an upfront cost of £100-150 and then monthly fees which my parents paid £30 for, which you are locked into a contact for like a phone contract, and terminating the contract early has hefty fees. Some you need a minimum amount of transactions a month otherwise, you guessed it, more fees. If you’re a small business with not a lot of custom, it’s more trouble than it’s worth.

Customers just think of the tiny transaction fee and think ‘oh that’s nothing’, not seeing any of the other costs.