Problems with Zettle card reader systems (versus Sumup)

[Ynot]

OK - not directly theatre, except that Zettle (formerly iZettle) is the system that we currently have behind our bars and box office for taking card payments.

Historically it's been fine with no major niggles, but a few months ago we did start to get connection problems occasionally between the readers and the iPads set up to get the payments. And I found out this evening that a 4-night show run last week had major issues with connection drop-outs etc. 

Now, Zettle was taken over by PayPal a while back and I believe that problems have occurred mainly since then. However, rather than attack the problem by taking it up with their support techs, the theatre board decided to cut and run, investing not an insignificant figure in new iPads, new readers, monthly software costs and other attachments from SUMUP. I'm currently off-piste with the board so have had no direct input into those decisions, but I'm trying to establish whether this is something wider spread than just our venue.

So - does anyone else have experience with Zettle and if so have you noticed any problems, maybe getting worse of late?

And as an aside, does anyone's venue use SUMUP and how doe s that stack up in the reliability stakes...?

[richard_cooper]

Whilst we don't currently use Sumup, I'm looking at it as the costs of our "traditional" card solution are just too high as more and more sales move online. We've one machine that some months doesn't take enough to cover its leasing cost. I'm also interested in anyone's experience. 

One of our customers uses Sumup for programme sales donations etc. and they say they've been very happy with it. Personally I'd go with the self contained machines that have direct wifi/GSM connections rather than relying on another device for connectivity, but obviously cost more.

Whilst I don't use these newer style of payment processors for in person sales, even our old school system has had more problems recently, including an outage that required them to send out new simm cards for all the terminals, and so lasted 3 days.

[kgallen]

We use SumUp, although we are a small amateur venue not of your size. It's a pretty basic system. We've not had any reliability issues and one of the reasons we bought SumUp was the terminals are WiFi and 3G built-in so we can use them for various card sales outside and it gives us a level of connectivity redundancy. They seem reliable enough but pretty slow and pretty basic functionality - no sales "categories" just plain payment of an amount. The website is pretty limp too. The hall we use, use Square for other events including the bar and ticket sales. That seems to have much more functionality and whilst WiFi only (in the terminals, sure you could hotspot to a phone) I've not heard them report any major issues and that gets a lot of throughput.

Sorry, probably more "round about" info than a direct answer to your question.

Edited August 4, 2022 by kgallen

[Ynot]

5 hours ago, kgallen said:

- no sales "categories" just plain payment of an amount. 

This bit is interesting...

The reason we went for iZetlle in the first place was that it was very easy to set up with categories of purchase - so that box office could have an individual item for each show coming in, with sub-divisions for different ticket pricing, so that any takings received could be attributed to the relevant companies.

Are you saying that Sumup def does NOT have that facility?

[kgallen]

4 hours ago, Ynot said:

Are you saying that Sumup def does NOT have that facility?

On the terminal I haven't found it and I think there is only one "series" of terminals - we have printer ones and non-printer ones. We bought the first direct from SumUp (that was a big mistake, they're incompetent at logistics) but the second from ToolStation. We have this type: https://www.toolstation.com/sumup-3g-wifi-card-reader-payment-kit/p56532

On website sales you can set up categories because that's how we do our merch etc but I don't see that on the terminals. The terminals we have have a fairly small and basic monochrome dot matrix display. Compare against the Square terminals where I know the hall have set up categories for beers, wines, tickets and the like and the screen is touch and a bit like you'd get on a low grade smartphone. I see none of that on SumUp. But happy to be told I'm being a wally and didn't look hard enough (but hopefully I'm not that daft...).

Note with SumUp you're not allowed to do sales that are "future business":

"The delay between processing a card transaction and handing out the product/service should be no longer than 90 days. If the delay is more than 90 days, your business falls into the category of "Future business" (e.g. selling concert tickets, when not through box offices)"

https://help.sumup.com/en-GB/articles/3G8ZHjdgFZjmKWOmDWS52m-restricted-businesses

Edited August 4, 2022 by kgallen

[Ynot]

Hmmm... (tm)

Looked over the Sumup web site earlier and they do look as though they can manage itemised business using one of their options, linked to the iPad (which is what my venue has invested in). 

However, a tad concerned about the 90 day thing... Although may not be a huge issue as most of our ticket sales go via Ticketsource, and I'd hazard very few over the counter via this system - though it IS possible.

I wonder if the same stricture applied to Zettle...

[callumb]

As a former Zettle/ Paypal employee who did some testing between us and competitors the SumUp machines are worse... Also we broke one just knocking off a desk onto a carpeted floor... Not a good look. Their readers are poor for those with low or poor visibility as they are just a sheet of glass with no defined buttons. The Zettle app is far more comprehensive in features and more to come! The only thing that SumUp has for it is the cost but if you are putting a decent card volume though then Zettle could match it or beat it if you ask! Especially if you're a registered charity! 

The issues you have been experiencing sound like an issue with the tablet than the readers themselves. If you have more up to date iPads you might find the issues disappear! Although what readers are you using? What colour is the wee flag? Green or Blue? 

 

*theses are my own personal thoughts on the readers and services while I was employed with Zettle/ Paypal for a while I am no longer working for them and the above is my own personal judgement after testing. 

[Junior8]

I'll just add that Mrs J8 was introduced to SUMUP the other day working a volunteer cash desk and found it very quick to learn and very  easy to use. I bought ice creams the other day at an event from a van using this system and a small tablet and it was working as fast as cash for him. 

Edited August 5, 2022 by Junior8

[ImagineerTom]

Card payments for not present and in advance (ie tickets) can be tricky but for front of house type sales we use MyPos.com

self contained terminals for £30 including data sim, adding multiple to a single account is easy, but the account can also be sub divided and individual units pointed to different accounts (ie some terminals for bar sales, others used for Merch so revenue splits easier to calculate) - their customer support can be a bit distant but 2 years in we’ve only ever had one problem.