Cycle Shop Card Payment & EPOS Costs

Separate shop sales from card turnover

Bikes, repairs, clothing and accessories may share one sales report while being paid for through several routes. A payment provider needs the activity it will process, rather than the shop’s total revenue.

Cyclescheme describes certificate redemption through a retailer account leading to payment to the retailer. Its online guidance also identifies Cyclescheme as a checkout payment option. Where a certificate is settled through that route without passing through your card processor, keep its value outside that processor’s card volume.

Apply the same check to other schemes and finance arrangements. Use the actual settlement process and your own contract; do not assume that every scheme works identically.

A fictional cycle-shop example

A shop records £30,000 of purchases paid in full during the month: £18,000 through its card provider, £8,000 in separately settled Cycle to Work certificates and £4,000 in direct bank transfers.

Now suppose the new arrangement adds £20 a month in fixed charges. The remaining monthly difference is £16 before any other cost changes. An additional £240 in switching costs would use up fifteen months of that difference if the same activity repeated.

These are fictional figures, not quotations or customer results. They use the same VAT basis and exclude refunds, per-payment fees, minimum charges, seasonality and other costs. The payback illustration assumes the monthly difference stays constant.

A complete comparison needs actual payment counts and all relevant charges. Use the statement-reading guide to find the inputs.

Account for repairs, deposits and collection

A high-value bike sale and several small repair payments can create the same turnover but different processing costs when a fee applies to each payment. Use transactions processed, rather than bikes sold or workshop jobs completed.

If a customer pays a £100 card deposit and later a £900 card balance, that is £1,000 across two payments. Recording the full invoice again at collection would overstate the amount processed.

Check how your system handles estimates, work authorisation, parts, labour, deposits, outstanding balances and refunds. When a service booking is prepaid online, collecting the repaired bike is not another payment unless a balance or additional charge is paid.

For remote payments, confirm whether the supplier supports an appropriate payment link or online checkout. Do not place customer card details into ordinary email, enquiry forms or workshop notes.

Keep the specialist functions that earn their place

Ask the EPOS supplier to demonstrate representative tasks before changing systems. A short demonstration using your workflow is more useful than a generic feature list.

• Track a bicycle, variant and serial number through stock and sale.
• Book a workshop job, allocate parts and collect a deposit and balance.
• Record certificate and finance payments without treating them as ordinary card receipts.
• Keep website orders, click-and-collect and shop stock in agreement.
• Handle returns and produce reports that reconcile with each settlement route.
• Export stock, customer-order and accounting data when you need it.

Include migration, training, support and any paid connections in the budget. Ask whether the card provider can change while the EPOS remains.

Give every supplier the same brief

Provide card sales and counts for each relevant channel, typical transaction values and a realistic view of quieter months. Identify high-value transactions, deposits and the systems that must remain connected.

Request written rates for the payment types you actually accept, plus hardware, software, support, minimum charges and exit terms. Keep scheme commissions and finance costs visible in the wider shop budget, but do not assume a cheaper card tariff changes those agreements.

Use the seasonal calculator when sales vary across the year. The tools compare entered costs; they do not reconcile scheme settlements, calculate finance charges or choose a provider.

Cycle-shop questions

Keep researching

Provider directory · Quotation worksheet · Seasonal cost calculator · More business-sector guides