Take Card Payments Without a Card Terminal

A card terminal is one more thing: rented or bought, charged overnight, carried to the table, and paid for every month whether or not it takes a payment.

For a growing share of customers, the device that could do the same job is already in their pocket. This page explains how taking payment from a customer's phone works, what it costs, and — just as importantly — where it does not fit yet.

How it works

With Mosey Pay, the customer confirms the payment on their own phone, against a card they have already saved in the Mosey app. There are three ways to start it:

• A code. The customer reads out their Mosey code. You enter it with the amount, and they approve on their phone.
• A QR code. You enter the amount and a QR code appears. The customer scans it and approves.
• Customer-started. The customer begins the payment and you enter the bill.

Before anything is charged, the till shows the customer's first name, so staff can check they are charging the right person. The card is charged through Stripe and the money goes to your connected account.

What it costs

• 1.5% of the payment
• Stripe's card fee, passed through at cost with no markup
• No monthly fee and no hardware
• No customer booking fee on Mosey Pay
• 0% on tips, which reach you in full

On a €20 lunch, Mosey's commission is 30 cent. A café taking €2,500 a week through Mosey Pay pays €37.50 in commission, against the monthly rental and per-transaction fees many terminals carry, and the regulars paying that way have their loyalty recorded without anyone lifting a stamp.

Loyalty, without a card to stamp

Every successful Mosey Pay payment records a loyalty visit automatically. There is no stamp card, no app for staff to open, and nothing to remember in the queue. The customer can see their progress on their phone while still at your counter — which is the moment a loyalty programme actually works.

Where it does not fit, yet

It is worth being straightforward about the limits:

• The customer needs the Mosey app with a card saved. Somebody walking in for the first time will usually not have it.
• So most venues keep a terminal for everybody else, and use Mosey Pay for the regulars who do have the app.
• Contactless tap-to-pay from a bare card needs a card reader; Mosey Pay is phone-to-phone.

That combination is where the saving comes from: the regulars — often the bulk of a café's trade — pay through Mosey at 1.5% with loyalty recorded, and the terminal handles the rest.

Is it secure?

The customer's card is saved with Stripe, not with you and not on the phone in your hand. Staff never see or type a card number, and nothing is stored on your till. The customer approves each payment themselves, on their own phone, so a mistyped amount is caught by the person paying before it is charged.

That is also why the till shows the customer's first name before you send: it is a check that the right person is being charged, not a way to look anybody up.

What changes at the counter

Very little, which is the point. The customer says they will pay with Mosey, you enter the amount, they approve, and the till confirms. There is no receipt roll to change, no terminal to find behind the coffee machine, and no battery to have forgotten to charge. On a busy morning that is a few seconds saved per customer, every customer.

Who it suits best

• Cafés and coffee shops, where the same people come in several times a week
• Food trucks and market stalls, where every device is one more thing to carry and charge
• Pop-ups and events, where a terminal is a hire cost for a few days
• Any venue with a loyalty programme, because the payment and the loyalty visit become one step

Tips and splitting

Tips added through Mosey Pay carry 0% commission and reach you in full. For a table that wants to pay separately, each person with the app can pay their own share from their own phone, and each payment counts as their own loyalty visit, so nobody has to do the arithmetic at the table or wait for a terminal to come round twice.

Getting set up

1. Connect Stripe from Business Info, so payments reach your bank.
2. Turn on Mosey Pay for your venue.
3. Show staff the three ways to start a payment, and let them try each on their own phone.
4. Tell your regulars. A sign at the counter is enough: Pay with Mosey and your loyalty counts automatically.
5. Start a loyalty programme, if you have not, so the payment has a reason to be used.

Refunds and records

Every Mosey Pay payment appears in your dashboard, and you can refund one from there. Refunds are your decision; Mosey processes them on your behalf. Commission is deducted at the point of sale, so there is no invoice to settle at the end of the month.

What it connects to

• Take payments in store with Mosey Pay
• How to start a loyalty scheme for your café
• The Mosey Till: point of sale in your browser
• Payouts and getting paid
• What Mosey costs — every rate on one page