The SumUp card reader, for contactless payments

SumUp has been designed to make accepting, refunding and processing payments simple. Its card readers accept debit, credit and contactless payments and its new remote payment options, including Payment Links, Invoices and Online Store, allow business owners to take payments safely and securely.

There are no monthly fees or contracts for SumUp’s products and features, just a simple fixed percentage fee of 1.69% when accepting a transaction, and as of date of publication, a one-off payment of only £19 for the Air card reader, or £69 for the 3G reader. SumUp aims to democratise payments. It has two million customers, and counting.

Thanks to Starling’s new integration with SumUp it will be even easier for small business customers to keep track of their earnings.

Our integration with SumUp

If you’re a Starling business customer using SumUp for payments and you choose to set up our integration, you’ll be able to see a summary receipt for all your incoming SumUp payouts in the Starling app. For example, if you process £2,100 through SumUp in one week, you’ll be able to see details of what this £2,100 is made up of when this income is transferred to Starling.

The SumUp breakdown in the Starling app includes:

• Total value of payout
• Number of transactions in payout
• Total fees and taxes in payout
• Total tips in payout
• Summary by day if payout covers multiple days

Like all our integrations, our connection with SumUp is enabled by open APIs. The granular detail of the payout breakdown is designed to give customers improved visibility over sales and revenue.

Two apps, working together

“I do everything on my SumUp app - manage refunds, manage transactions, send invoices - it’s so straightforward and easy,” says Charl Ackerman, founder of The Barbery.

Charl, 41, set up his barber shop in Southwark two years ago. He manages his business finances with Starling. “We offer a traditional barbering service but with a very strong emphasis on hair and scalp health and sustainability. We also offer facials,” he says.

All the products used are organic and biodynamic, meaning that no pesticides or fertilisers are used and no animals are harmed when making or testing the products. Packaging consists of amber glass, aluminium or recycled or recyclable plastic.

“What I want to achieve is not only give clients an exceptional haircut or shave - which gives them a new look and makes them feel better - but to lower their heart rate and forget about stresses of work and general life,” he says.

While he encourages his clients to switch off, Charl has to stay on top of payments, invoices, bills and salaries for his four barbers. SumUp and Starling have been invaluable digital tools to help him manage the business finances and safely re-open The Barbery after lockdown - customers can make contactless payments with the SumUp card reader and also use remote payment options.

“SumUp is great. Not only does it look smart on our desk but again, it’s very straightforward,” he says. “One of the things I really like is that I can pick up the phone and speak to someone who will answer my questions.”

When it comes to Starling, having clear visibility of payments saves him a lot of time. He particularly likes that, when you click on a name in the Payments section of the app, we outline how much was sent to that payee in the past.

Our new integration with SumUp adds additional clarity when it comes to finding and checking transactions. “Someone chased me for a payment but I was sure I’d paid them,” says Charl. “Rather than downloading a statement or looking through a huge list of transactions, I was able to open Starling and check in a matter of seconds. It’s very easy to find the information you need.”

Signing up through the Starling Marketplace

If you already use SumUp for your payments, you can connect your existing account by finding SumUp in the Starling Business Marketplace under ‘Payments’ and following the on-screen instructions. The entire process can be completed on your phone.

If you’re new to SumUp, you can sign up via Starling’s Marketplace and then complete the connection set up process to enjoy the integration features. They’ll run you through setting up an account, which with your permission, will then be linked to Starling.

Costs and benefits

There are no monthly fees or contracts when you sign up to SumUp, just the initial cost of the card reader, that’s £19 for the Air card terminal or £69 for the 3G. After that, you’ll be charged a flat rate of 1.69% per sale. Any business that processes over £25,000 of transactions per month can contact SumUp directly to negotiate a cheaper rate.

The benefit of using both SumUp and Starling is that you can manage everything from your phone, without having to log on to a laptop or go into a bank branch. We use the best technology and employ a team of knowledgeable, friendly people to help. Our aim is clear: making money management simpler so that you can focus your energy on running your business.