Taking card payments at community events

How to create a SumUp or PayPal Business account and take card payments

Card payment basics
SumUp and Zettle pros and cons
Using SumUp: step by step
Using Zettle: step by step

Card payment basics

In order to take card payments at your events you will need:

An account with a card payment provider such as SumUp or Zettle (PayPal)
An app installed on your mobile phone or tablet
A card reader or a mobile phone/tablet that is suitable for ‘Tap to Pay’

You will have to pay a charge for the card payment provider to process the payments. The charges are usually a percentage of the transaction amount.

For example, SumUp charge 1.69% per transaction, and Zettle charge 1.75% (as at October 2024).

You can buy a card reader from the payment provider (these cost around £50). If you are a community group in Brighton & Hove, you can hire a Zettle or SumUp card reader from the Resource Centre for £2.

If you have a suitable mobile phone or tablet, you don’t need a card reader – you can take payments using ‘Tap to Pay’, where the person taps their card directly on your phone.

The card payment providers do not have special accounts for community groups, so your options are:

Set up a ‘sole trader’ or ‘individual seller’ account, if your group is not a registered charity or a limited company
If you are a registered charity, set up a charity account
If you are a limited company, set up a business account

This information sheet is aimed at small community groups that are not registered charities or limited companies, so the information here is about setting up a ‘sole trader’ account.

This will be in the name of one member of your group, but you can use a group email address and connect it to the group bank account.

SumUp and Zettle pros and cons

There are many different card payment companies. SumUp and Zettle are the two we have researched for this information sheet, but you could also choose others. The issues are likely to be similar with all of them.

	SumUp	Zettle
Pros	Slightly lower transaction charge	Account can be logged in on more than one device at the same time
	SumUp Business account comes with a Mastercard, so you can access your funds without transferring to a bank account	Group bank account can be added when setting up the account
	Easy to create online payment links (higher transaction charge for these)
	£5,000 in card payments can be taken before your ID must be verified
Cons	Need to email them to change bank account name to the group’s account, so there could be a delay in getting set up	ID verification required at initial setup of the account

Using SumUp: step by step

Step 1: email address and password

Go to https://sumup.me
Click on the link to Register
Enter your email address and create a password
The password must have at least 8 characters. The website will prompt you to create a stronger password if it is too easy to guess.
Tick the box to accept the terms and conditions and click Next

Step 2: confirm your email address

Go to your own email inbox and click the verification link they have sent you
You’ll be sent to the login screen, where you can log in with the password you just created

Step 3: choose a Sole trader account

Choose Sole trader from the list of business types
Don’t choose Club or society, unless you are a registered charity or limited company.
Choose Other from the list of business categories
Under Other, you can choose Membership organisation

Step 4: Business details

Fill in the name and description of your group. You need to give a phone number you have access to here, as they will send you a verification code by text

Step 5: Personal details

Enter your name and date of birth
Enter your home address. There is also an option to add a different business or trading address

Step 6: Sales estimate

Estimate how much you expect to take in card payments per month

Step 7: bank account

Choose where you want your money deposited
In the first instance, choose SumUp Business account here. We recommend adding your group’s bank account later, but this will take a few days to complete. (see Step 9)
They will send you a Mastercard in the post, so you can spend money from the SumUp business account. This account will be in the name of the individual group member who has set up the SumUp account. We recommend that you set up an internal system of two group members authorising each transaction from the account.
More information on the SumUp Business account can be found at: https://help.sumup.com/en-GB/articles/4RnVqiWwOcTio8ifF60URc

Step 8: confirm and verify phone number

Review your information and choose Confirm
Verify your phone number by entering a code they send you by text

Step 9: contact support to add your group’s bank account

In order to connect the SumUp account with your group’s bank account, you will need to:

Email [email protected] and attach a recent bank statement. Ask for this account to be added to your SumUp account

Step 10: use the SumUp app on your phone

Download the free SumUp app from the Apple store or the Google Playstore
Log in using the email address and password you created at Step 1

Card reader

If you have a card reader, you will need to pair your phone to the card reader using Bluetooth. Click the icon in the top right corner of the app to go into the Profile settings.
Under Payment methods, click Card reader
Connect to your card reader, following the instructions on the screen

Tap to Pay

You can also set up ‘Tap to Pay’ on your phone to take payments without a card reader.
In the Profile section, under Payment methods, click ‘Tap to Pay’. This is available on Android phones running version 11 or later, or iphones with iOS 16.4 onward. It is not available on iPads. You may need to enable NFC in your phone’s settings. The app will give you instructions how to do this.

Taking payments

You can create items in the app, such as raffle tickets, or you can just go to the Checkout screen to take a payment of any amount.
If you sell items, then you will get a report after the event of how much you took for each different item.
If you want more than one volunteer to take card payments at your event, you will need to add Employee profiles for each volunteer in advance. This can be done in the app or at sumup.me. Each person will log in to their own profile with their own email address and password.
To add employees, go into the Profile section of the app and scroll down to Your team. Click on Employees. Click the button to Add team member and follow the instructions.

Step 11: creating payment links

You can create one-off or reusable payment links with your SumUp account. These can be sent to specific people by email or text, or you can print out a QR code to display at your event.

The link can either be for a payment of a fixed amount, or you can leave the amount open for the person paying you to fill in.

When someone follows the link, they are taken to a secure web page where they can enter their card details to pay you.

To create a payment link:

Log in to your account at sumup.me or open the app
Find Payment Links in the main menu
Click the button to Create Payment Link
Choose whether you want the link for a fixed amount or open
Add a description of the link (eg Donation, or Room hire fee)
Choose whether the link will be reusable or not – if you want a general donation link, make it reusable. If you are asking someone for a specific amount they owe you, leave the reusable setting switched off.
Check the other options and when you are happy, click to Create the payment link
Copy the link and paste it into your email, or put it on your website
There is also the option to create a QR code for your payment links, which you can print out for people to scan with their phones

NB you will be charged a higher percentage fee for these payments than for card payments taken in person on a card reader or with ‘Tap to Pay’.

Using Zettle: step by step

Zettle is owned by PayPal. If you do not already have a Zettle account, you will need to set up a PayPal Business account in order to take card payments with the Zettle app.