Seasonal Card Payment Cost Calculator
See what your payment setup costs across a full trading year, with separate figures for busy and quiet months. Compare a second arrangement using the same sales.
Give quiet months their proper weight
Enter twelve individual months to see the annual cost of your payment setup. Use actual monthly cost totals, estimate a simple tariff, or compare one of each. The annual cost per £100 is calculated from total costs and total sales.
Your annual comparison
| Cost measure | Arrangement A | Arrangement B |
|---|
| Month | Card sales | A cost | A per £100 | B cost | B per £100 | A minus B |
|---|
These results depend on your entries and the method below. They are not a provider quotation, guaranteed saving or cash-flow forecast. Check the required services and written agreement before deciding.
Downloading or printing does not send your figures to us. A review request is separate; this report is not attached automatically.
How the seasonal calculation works
Monthly totals: add each month’s entered costs. Use this route for real bills, different card categories, changing fees, promotions or a detailed supplier quotation you have already calculated.
Simple tariff: calculate the percentage fee and fee per paid transaction, round processing to pence, apply the entered monthly processing minimum, then add the other fixed monthly costs.
Monthly cost = higher of (calculated processing or processing minimum) + other fixed monthly costs
The simple tariff assumes the same rate, per-payment charge, minimum and fixed costs for all twelve months. Its minimum applies only to percentage and per-payment processing, including zero-sales months. Confirm this matches the contract. If different charges count towards the minimum, or the minimum is waived in some months, use monthly totals instead.
Recurring annual total: add the twelve monthly costs and the extra annual charges once. Add entered future one-off costs separately to show the first-year total. Annual fees already included in a month must not be entered again.
Recurring annual cost per £100 = annual recurring costs ÷ annual card sales × 100
The tool does not average the twelve monthly percentages. A month with no card sales still contributes its costs, but has no meaningful cost-per-£100 figure. If the whole year has no card sales, the annual ratio is also unavailable.
What this tool does and does not model
Use the same gross processed card sales for both arrangements. The simple tariff uses one percentage rate for that scope, so it does not automatically handle changing card mix, separate channels, refunds, chargebacks, authorisation attempts or currency conversion. Put separately calculated costs into monthly-total mode if needed.
One-off costs are not assigned to a particular month. The tool therefore does not forecast invoice dates, settlement cash flow or an exact switching break-even date. It does not predict future sales, verify quotations or select a provider.
The main calculator remains available for a representative-month comparison and its longer comparison periods. This separate tool is for a twelve-month seasonal view. See the main calculator’s method.
Useful for seasonal businesses
Use your own records for pubs and bars, golf clubs, hotels, bookshops and cycle shops. If you use estimates, label them and try both stronger and weaker trading assumptions.
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