Card reader / mobile POS · United Kingdom
Barclaycard Payments vs PayPal (Zettle) in United Kingdom: the share of card sales each one takes
At £5,000 of card sales a month, Barclaycard Payments costs 1.62% of everything taken and PayPal (Zettle) costs 1.77% — a difference of £270 over three years.
The advertised rates are 1.60% (no flat fee stated) and 1.75% (no flat fee stated), the same order as the effective figures.
Side by side
Both columns use the cheapest plan each provider publishes for this market, with the fixed costs it publishes alongside the rate.
| Barclaycard Payments | PayPal (Zettle) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest published plan | Barclaycard Anywhere (pay as you go) | Zettle Reader 2 |
| In person | 1.60% (no flat fee stated) | 1.75% (no flat fee stated) |
| Online or keyed | not published | 3.40% |
| Monthly fee | none | none |
| Hardware | £29 once | £29 once |
| Minimum monthly charge | none stated | none stated |
| Contract | not stated | not stated |
| Effective rate at £1,000 a month | 1.68% | 1.83% |
| Effective rate at £2,000 a month | 1.64% | 1.79% |
| Effective rate at £5,000 a month | 1.62% | 1.77% |
| Effective rate at £10,000 a month | 1.61% | 1.76% |
| Effective rate at £25,000 a month | 1.60% | 1.75% |
| Effective rate at £50,000 a month | 1.60% | 1.75% |
| Three-year cost at £5,000 a month | £2,909 | £3,179 |
| Owner | Barclays | PayPal |
UK providers do not publish on the same basis. Monthly fees and hardware are printed exactly as published, and where the provider states the basis we print it. At 20% VAT an ex-VAT fee is 1.2 times higher on the invoice, so an ex-VAT figure and an inc-VAT figure are not comparable as printed. We do not convert between them.
How that is worked out
The average sale is an assumption of this site, not a published figure: $25.00 in the United States and £20.00 in the United Kingdom. It decides how heavily a per-transaction fee lands, so the calculator lets you change it. Interchange, chargebacks, refunds, currency conversion, sales tax and VAT are not in any figure on this site, because the pricing page does not price them for a given shop. Every figure here is a floor. The full method is at Method.
Where does the answer change?
The ranking above holds only under the conditions listed here.
- Size does not change the ranking here. Barclaycard Payments is cheaper as a share of card sales at every volume we compute, so the question is not how busy you are.
- Neither carries a monthly fee on these plans, so a quiet month costs nothing on either side.
- Do not decide yet if £270 over three years is less than what switching would cost you — neither provider publishes what leaving involves, and chargebacks, refunds and foreign-card surcharges are in neither figure and could change the order.
Who this is not for
This compares published prices and nothing else. It is not a judgment about hardware, apps or support, and neither product has been used by us. If the two figures are close, this page will not decide it for you and should not.
Sources
- Barclaycard Payments pricing page. checked 2026-08-25
- PayPal (Zettle) pricing page. checked 2026-08-25
Related
- Barclaycard Payments fees in full
- PayPal (Zettle) fees in full
- Other providers near Barclaycard Payments
- Put your own takings in
Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from providers' published pricing pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.