Card machine for Alcohol, Beer and Wine Retailers

Fast contactless payments for the evening rush, competitive rates on your daily volume, and reliable terminals that handle the busiest sessions.

Common challenges

  • Friday and Saturday evening rush needs fast contactless
  • High daily transaction count makes per-transaction fees add up
  • Mix of low-value (single cans) and higher-value (cases, premium wines) purchases
  • Terminal needs to be reliable through long opening hours
  • Age verification slows things down enough without a slow card machine too
  • Want better rates than the current provider but don't know where to start

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Recommended solutions

PAX A800

Portable/countertop Android terminal with 5.7-inch touchscreen and Payment & POS functionality. Built-in Wi-Fi & 4G connectivity, along with thermal printing. Includes merchant branding on-screen, an intuitive over-the-phone payment flow, on-board POS features, and is configurable for full POS integration.

  • 5.7-inch HD touchscreen
  • Built-in printer
  • Wi-Fi & 4G
  • Contactless, Chip & Pin, over-the-phone
  • Fast contactless transacting
  • Integrates with its provider's own POS only
  • Android POS and payments
Contract
negotiable

PAX A920

Portable/countertop Android terminal with 4.9-inch touchscreen, built-in Wi-Fi & 4G connectivity, and thermal printing. Its form-factor means it's ideal when payments need to be taken away from the counter. Easily handles over-the-phone payments, and is configurable for full POS integration with many third-party POS systems.

  • 4.9-inch HD touchscreen
  • Built-in printer
  • Wi-Fi and 4G connectivity
  • Contactless, Chip & Pin, over-the-phone
  • Can be integrated with multiple POS systems
  • Android payment-only terminal
Contract
negotiable

Why off-licences choose uno

Off-licences and wine merchants have a unique trading pattern - steady daytime trade, a sharp spike on Friday and Saturday evenings, and a wide spread of transaction values from a single can of lager to a case of premium wine.

Your card machine needs to be fast enough for the evening queue, reliable enough for long opening hours, and your rates need to make sense across a broad range of basket sizes.

Speed at the counter

The PAX A800 processes contactless within 3 seconds. When there’s a queue of customers at 7pm on a Friday, that speed matters - every second of delay costs you customers who walk to the next shop.

Rates across your range

A bottle of beer at £2.50 and a case of wine at £80 sit very differently against your transaction rate. We compare providers to find pricing that works across your whole product range - not just the average.

Reliable through long hours

Many off-licences trade 12+ hours a day, seven days a week. Terminal reliability isn’t optional - one crash during the evening rush can cost you a night’s takings. We recommend proven hardware that handles the volume.

Second terminal for busy periods

If Friday and Saturday evenings mean a second till point, we can set up multiple terminals on the same account at competitive rates.

What you get from uno

  • A fast, reliable terminal for high-volume counter sales
  • Rates compared across providers for your daily volume and basket range
  • Multi-terminal options for busy periods
  • On-site installation and UK-based support

Common questions from off-licence and wine merchants owners

Friday and Saturday evenings are our busiest - can the terminal handle the surge?

The terminals we supply are designed for sustained high-frequency use. A busy off-licence processing a transaction every 30 seconds for three hours straight won't see any slowdown. Contactless processing in under a second keeps the queue moving even when every customer in the neighbourhood arrives between 6pm and 9pm.

Does using a card machine affect age verification?

No. Age verification is your responsibility as the retailer - it happens before you ring up the sale, not at the payment stage. The card machine processes the payment once you've completed the sale. Think 25, Challenge 25, or whatever policy you operate is entirely unaffected by the payment method.

We're starting to do local alcohol deliveries - can I take payment at the door?

Yes. A portable terminal with 4G connectivity lets your delivery driver take card payment on the doorstep. Safer than carrying cash, faster than invoicing, and the customer gets a receipt on the spot. You'll need to handle age verification at the door as you would for any alcohol delivery.

General questions about uno
Which card machine is right for my business?

The right card machine depends on how the business trades. A fine-dining restaurant in Covent Garden, a market trader at Glasgow's Barras and a pub beside Cardiff Arms Park take payments in completely different ways, and no single machine suits all three. uno starts by understanding how a business actually operates, and only then recommends - from a range of providers rather than from one.

Do all the card machines uno recommends take contactless?

Yes, every one of them. Apple Pay, Google Pay and contactless cards are accepted as standard on every machine uno recommends; contactless is how most UK customers now pay, and every machine features it as standard.

Will I be able to take 'over-the-phone' payments?

For most merchants, yes - available on-screen along with contactless and Chip & Pin. The small minority of high-risk business-types that are not offered over-the-phone payments by default are the exception - for the vast majority, 'over-the-phone' payments will be offered as standard.

How can we process refunds?

From the card machine, in a few taps. Refund a sale on the same day and it is cancelled outright, with the money never leaving the customer's account; refund it after the provider's daily cut-off and the customer's bank typically takes 3-5 days to return it. Every machine uno recommends handles both, and the difference is only in how quickly the customer sees the money.

Is PCI compliance as much of a chore as it is with my current provider?

With several of the providers uno works with the merchant does nothing at all, because the provider handles PCI on their behalf; with the others it is a few minutes once a year. Nobody uno works with makes it complicated, and uno tells a merchant which they are getting before anything is signed.

How long does it take to get set up?

Most businesses are up and running within a few days. uno handles the installation and configuration, then walks the merchant and their staff through everything.

Ready to choose the right card machine?

We make the effort to understand how you operate, and only then recommend the solution that's right for your business - not the provider's.

Get Started 07395 451520