Which Card Machines Have No Authorisation Fees?
Card machines with flat-rate or blended pricing charge no separate authorisation fee. SumUp (1.69%), Square (1.75%) and Zettle (1.75%) charge one percentage and nothing else per transaction, and blended acquirer deals fold the authorisation cost into a single all-in rate.
Traditional acquirer pricing adds an authorisation fee of 3p-4.5p per transaction on top of the headline rate. At 620 transactions a month that is 620 × 3p = £18.60 to 620 × 4.5p = £27.90 a month: £223.20 to £334.80 a year that never appears in the quoted percentage.
Rates checked: August 2026
What an authorisation fee actually is
Every time a customer taps or inserts a card, the terminal contacts the bank to ask whether the payment can go ahead. On traditional unbundled acquirer pricing, that request is billed as a few pence, separately from the percentage merchant service charge. The fee applies each time the terminal requests approval, whether or not the sale completes.
Individually the pennies are invisible; across hundreds of transactions a month they quietly add a few tenths of a percent to your real cost of taking cards. Our full authorisation fees explainer works through where they appear on a statement and who they hurt most.
The three pricing models, and which charge it
| Pricing model | How it is priced | Separate authorisation fee? |
|---|---|---|
| Standard acquirer pricing | Merchant service charge % plus itemised extras (authorisation pence, PCI, minimum monthly charges, rental) | Yes, typically 3p-4.5p per transaction |
| Blended acquirer pricing | One all-in percentage quoted for your business, with the authorisation cost included in the rate | No, built into the single % |
| Pay-as-you-go flat rate | Published flat rate, identical for everyone: SumUp 1.69%, Square 1.75%, Zettle 1.75%; no monthly fees | No, the flat rate is the whole price |
Authorisation pence are the range on the acquirer price lists we track, checked August 2026. Bespoke deals vary; always confirm the per-transaction pence in a written quote.
How to check whether you are paying it
Take one monthly merchant statement and find the charges section. A separate authorisation fee shows up as its own line, usually a transaction count multiplied by a pence figure, for example 620 transactions × 3p = £18.60. If your statement shows only one blended percentage and fixed fees, you are not paying a separate authorisation fee.
Our statement-reading guide walks through a full statement line by line, and the hidden fees guide covers everything else that sits outside the headline rate.
What authorisation fees add at your volume
The arithmetic is transaction count × pence, so what matters is how many payments you take, not how big they are. At the 3p-4.5p range we track:
| Transactions / month | At 3p | At 4.5p | Cost per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300 | 300 × 3p = £9.00/month | 300 × 4.5p = £13.50/month | £108.00-£162.00 |
| 620 | 620 × 3p = £18.60/month | 620 × 4.5p = £27.90/month | £223.20-£334.80 |
| 1,500 | 1,500 × 3p = £45.00/month | 1,500 × 4.5p = £67.50/month | £540.00-£810.00 |
The middle row is the café from our statement-reading worked example: 620 transactions on £12,400 of turnover. Its authorisation pennies alone add 0.15% to 0.23% to the effective rate, one reason a contracted 1.49% turned out to be a true 1.87% in that example.
How to get a setup with no authorisation fees
Under roughly £4,000-£5,000 a month: go flat rate
A pay-as-you-go reader (SumUp at 1.69%, Square or Zettle at 1.75%) charges one published percentage with no monthly fees and no authorisation pennies. At low volume the flat rate usually beats negotiated pricing anyway once fixed fees are counted, so removing authorisation fees costs you nothing.
Above that: ask for blended, all-in pricing
At higher volumes negotiated acquirer pricing (typically 1.2%-1.9% plus modest fixed fees) beats a flat 1.75%, so the move is not back to PAYG. It is to insist the quote is blended: one all-in percentage with the authorisation cost included, and the per-transaction pence at zero in writing. Because acquirer pricing is negotiable, a written competing quote is the lever that makes that happen.
Common Questions
Which card machines have no authorisation fees?
Two kinds. Pay-as-you-go flat-rate readers (SumUp at 1.69%, Square and Zettle at 1.75%) charge one percentage per transaction with no separate authorisation pennies at all. And acquirer deals on blended pricing roll the authorisation cost into a single all-in percentage, so no per-transaction pence appears on the statement. Only traditional unbundled acquirer pricing adds a separate authorisation fee on top of the headline rate.
How much do card machine authorisation fees cost?
On the acquirer price lists we track, authorisation fees run from about 3p to 4.5p per transaction. At 620 transactions a month that is £18.60 to £27.90 a month (620 × 3p = £18.60; 620 × 4.5p = £27.90), or £223.20 to £334.80 a year, and none of it appears in the headline rate you were quoted.
Are authorisation fees charged on transactions that do not complete?
The fee is charged each time the terminal contacts the bank for approval, whether or not the sale completes. That is why businesses with lots of small transactions feel authorisation pennies hardest: every tap generates an authorisation request.
How do I check whether I am paying authorisation fees?
Look for a line labelled authorisation fees (or auth fees) in the charges section of your monthly merchant statement, usually shown as a count of transactions multiplied by a pence figure. If your statement only shows a single blended percentage, you are not paying a separate authorisation fee. Our statement-reading guide walks through a full worked example line by line.
Can I negotiate authorisation fees away?
Often, yes. Acquirer pricing is bespoke, so you can ask for a blended all-in rate with the authorisation cost included, or for the per-transaction pence to be reduced or zeroed against a written competing quote. Below roughly £4,000-£5,000 a month of card turnover the simpler route is a flat-rate reader, which has no authorisation fees by design.
MerchantSwitch is a free comparison service; we are paid by providers when we successfully match a business. We are an introducer, not a lender or acquirer, and we are not regulated by the FCA.
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