Taxi Driver Online

This is a very long and comprehensive review of Zettle, but particularly noticed this:



https://www.mobiletransaction.org/izettle-review-uk/

Not sure if that's my particular problem, because even if I don't repeat the pairing process it will eventually get back to reacting almost immediately, so although I think it's an issue with the connection between the app and the card reader, I'm not sure if repeating the pairing process helps, and obviously doing that several times a day is just too much fannying about, and really not feasible after a two-minute taxi run.

I have been using a new card reader, I find it better than my zettle, it comes with a free reader.
https://lopay.com/
Check it out

Thanks for that - keep meaning to look into a back up or replacment for Zettle, but with Christmas and lockdown (up here), just never got round to it.

That one certainly looks good on paper - charges almost half that of Zettle and a free card reader (assuming you transact approx £100 a week for first six months).

But keep on meaning to say that I never really made any progress with my Zettle card reader. It's maybe a bit more reliable than when I was complaining, but certainly not perfect.

But if the 'press [card reader] power button' comes up on the app, I now just ignore that, because pressing the power button on the card reader seems to make things worse - the apps tends to connect eventually anyway.

After Sumup went down on a Saturday evening a couple of weeks back (it was down when I started at 6pm and came back online around 19:30) I decided to look around for a another system to act as a back-up.

Decided to give Lopay a try. Signed up on a Sunday evening, I also ordered (you have to pay postage - about £7) the card reader. The reader showed as being out for delivery with UPS on the Friday, but the driver must have decided to finish early as delivery was then rescheduled for the Monday.

Used it for the first time this weekend. Had the payout option set to Next-day (which is next working day) @ 0.99% commission. All monies due from Friday,Saturday and Sunday was paid into my bank @ 9:45am today, whereas with Sumup it would have been late Tuesday. Also with Sumup every now and then it would be split over 2 payments where you would get all the transactions over £9 paid in on the Tuesday and all the <£9 paid on the Wednesday.

The commission %'s are for Uk personal Mastercard and Visa cards. Amex, corporate and international cards are 1.79% (+ 1% on instant payouts).

The reader is dumb, in that it requires bluetooth to connect to the app on your phone where you enter the amount. The speed in fast and on over 30 transactions I had no issues. Battery life seems good, no sign of battery dying during a 12hour shift. You don't need the card reader. You can just use your phone (presumably it needs a phone with NFC), send a code to text/email, or QRCode

My Sumup is the 3G machine, so total stand-alone from your phone.

There is no web interface, so you need to use the app to get transaction reports etc.

They are also doing a referral scheme. Refer a friend and you both get £1000 free of commission. You only get yours when the other person has put their £1000 through.

So after 1 weekend of use I think I'll stick to using Lopay and keep Sumup as the backup.

I've had an izettle for years now, and typical of many in our trade can't be arsed to change.

However I do like the quicker payouts you describe and the lower %.

So maybe I might give it a go as a backup.

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IDFIMH

Just remember that the lower commission is only for Personal Mastercard and Visa. Corporate and international and I assume Amex are all at the 1.79% and an extra 1% if you use instant payout.

So if most of your customers are business men or international travellers you may not be any better off. Up here in Blackpool I don't have to really worry about that.

Commission for Personal Mastercard and Visa.
Weekly (Thursday) - 0.79%*
Next working day - 0.99%*
Instant - 1.79%*

When Sumup went down it was still possible to send a payment link to the customer for them to make payment.

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Grandad,

Same here, although obviously Cerberus makes a change sound quite attractive.

But my iZettle certainly a lot more reliable than it was for the first couple of years I had it.

One issue I often have is a delay when my phone is set as a wi-fi hotspot (tethering), but as long as I remember to disable that while working...

Not much use when your passenger is a technophobe or OAP with just a dumb phone.


My current setup is Main phone with hotspot turned on to allow my Ipad and Sumup and occasionally customers to connect. It also runs my spreadsheet where I keep track of each job. Connects via Bluetooth to car stereo, but the Bluetooth keeps failing on this phone at regular intervals, so I have to turn Bluetooth off and back on. I should really try a factory reset.

Due to the Bluetooth issue, I have the Lopay reader connected via Bluetooth to my old phone which connects via the hotspot on the main phone.

No speed issues with this setup, just as quick as the Sumup , which is also set to connect to my main phone via the hotspot. Both systems are miles quicker than the old traditional style credit card terminals, that would take minutes from powering on to be in a ready to use state.

My phone with the iZettle app is connected to the car's bluetooth as well, so not sure if that might in some way interfere with the phone's bluetooth connection to the iZettle reader.

But I'm pretty sure if the phone also has the wi-fi hotspot enabled then that seems to make the iZettle card reader slower or more hesitant to connect to the phone's app (which of course is via bluetooth), so I try to keep the phone's hotspot disabled so the card reader is more reliable

But as is so often the case with technology - when you try to make these things do too much at the same time then it can cause conflicts and crashes

depending on the vehicle YES IT DOES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the Ford system is especially troublesome as it is almost impossible to disconnect and get it linked to the card reader

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Lopay’s rates are the lowest on the market. But you can go one step further and get £1000 of fee-f ree transactions if you sign up with the Code PHAT1000.

Been having problems with my Zettle reader, won’t connect automatically and I then have to push the start button several times to get it to work.( I don’t rate ‘tap to pay’ it doesn’t work a lot of the time and I think it looks amateurish) Tried all the usual, reset, forget card reader, etc. still not working. Called Zettle support , they told me to do the same! He eventually conceded that I needed a new reader!! Sent me a link, £70.99 for a new one Just ordered a new lopay reader. The other drivers seem to rate it and I like the payout options.

X-ray, that's one problem I've always had with mine - the app sometimes instructs you to press the power button, even if you've just used the reader half an hour ago. Then you leave it overnight, and it connects automatically within a couple of seconds...

But I started to just ignore the instruction, and press the back button on the app, and try again, and it works, so no need to press the power button at all. Although sometimes pressing the power button does work, which at other times it seems to make things worse

I should have really tried another system by now, and always thought it would be a good idea to have a back up anyway. Might look again after Christmas, when I think they do cheaper deals as there's not much business at that time of year...

And obviously the pricing thing is all about tempting new customers, and if you need another reader you have to pay the full price.

And which is doubly insulting if you're needing to buy a new reader because the old one is faulty, rather than just expanding your business, or whatever...

I usually get there in the end with mine, but if it does go totally belly up then think I'll be following you to another provider

Certainly not paying £70 for another Zettle reader considering the problems I've had with mine...

I think I have had my i-zettle for about 7 years now so I'm not sure it owes me anything. Thankfully it works exactly as it did when I first got it. Doubt any other electronic gadget I have will last as long as that.

However when it dies I think I will go to one of the others with a better rate and/or a faster payout.

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IDFIMH