Card machines for small businesses.
Chosen around how you actually take payments, set up before they reach you, and supported by one person afterwards. We ship configured anywhere in the UK and set it up with you on the phone. In the East Midlands we come out and fit it — those towns are here.
Which Square card machine suits you?
Square makes four devices we fit regularly, and the right one is decided by where the payment actually happens rather than by the spec sheet.
Why go through Atlas rather than direct.
A statement review first, honest advice across providers, setup guided by a real person, and support that doesn’t change hands. Most businesses choose a card machine on the headline rate and live with everything around it. We start somewhere else.
We start with how you trade
Where the payment happens decides most of it: one counter, the table, the chair, a van. We ask before we recommend anything, and the answer is often smaller than people expect.
Honest about the hardware
Every product page says when that device is the wrong answer. If a cheaper machine suits you better, that is the one we will tell you to get.
One person afterwards
The same person who set it up answers the phone when something goes wrong, not a ticket queue. You can see installs we have done on our work page.
What usually suits each trade.
We fit the same hardware across very different businesses, and the pattern is fairly consistent.
- Cafés and coffee shops — a counter till with modifiers, because a complicated order is a couple of taps
- Restaurants — table service, courses that fire in order, and a clean ticket at the pass
- Pubs and bars — speed at the bar and tabs that survive a busy Friday
- Takeaways and chip shops — priced menu on the screen and a card machine that keeps up
- Shops and retail — a product list built before the kit arrives, with stock counts that mean something
- Barbers and salons — bookings and payment on the same system
- Market and street food traders — something portable that holds signal
- Trades and home services — payment taken at the job, not chased afterwards
Processing, settlement and what happens after.
How the processing works
Square is the payment processor as well as the hardware supplier, so the terminal, the reporting and the money all sit on one account. There is no separate acquirer to set up and no second contract to read. We supply, configure and support it — Atlas is an independent supplier, not Square.
Getting your money
Your payments are processed securely through Square, with your takings paid directly into your nominated business bank account. We’ll explain your available settlement options, help you get everything configured and make sure you understand when to expect your money.
Installation and support afterwards
Across the East Midlands we come out, fit it on your counter, build your menu or product list and train whoever is on shift. Everywhere else in the UK we ship it configured and set it up with you on the phone. Either way you get one named person afterwards on a local number.
Towns we cover in person → · EPOS systems → · Business funding →
What a card machine really costs.
The rate you were sold is one line on the statement. What you actually pay depends on everything around it, and on how your customers pay.
The rate is one line
Hardware rental, PCI fees, monthly minimums, statement charges and notice periods all sit alongside it. Add up every line on a statement and divide by your card turnover, and you have your real cost.
How you trade changes the answer
On lots of small sales, the fixed part of each transaction fee can matter more than the percentage. On fewer, larger sales it is the other way round. The right setup depends on which you are.
Send us a statement
We will work out what you are really paying and tell you plainly if you are better off where you are. If you are switching, our guide to changing provider without closing covers how it works.
Where we supply.
England · 32 cities
Not sure which you need?
Send a recent statement and we will work out your real effective rate, tell you what we would fit, and say plainly if you are better off where you are.
Get a quote