EE has partnered with iZettle to become the first UK network operator to sell mPayment readers for small businesses in its 297 re-designed stores.

The mini card reader works with the free iZettle app, turning iPhones, iPads and any Android device running version 2.1 or more into a payment terminal.

The reader, which plugs in to the headphone jack, costs £20 and will be sold with a £20 voucher that can be put towards iZettle transaction fees.

iZettle charges 2.75 per cent of each payment. Merchants can accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Diners Club payments. Users do not have to sign up or pay monthly subscription fees.

Overdue payments

According to an EE customer survey, UK plumbers, electricians and builders are owed around £283m – £5,000 each – by their customers. Tradespeople spend an average of 36 days every year chasing overdue payments, costing an estimated £125m a year. 66 per cent of small firms said they already own a smartphone.

82 per cent of consumers surveyed said they would like the option to pay tradespeople by card. 45 per cent of small firms have been put off taking card payments because of costs associated with it and 71 per cent say they would offer it if there was a low cost, low hassle way of doing so.
iZettle says that it is already used by 75,000 small businesses and individuals in six countries around the world. The service has been trialled in beta in the UK with 4,000 users over the past six months.

The device is also apparently for sale on EE’s telesales channel. We are yet to track down the channel number of this…