Card machine for your coffee shop

Fast contactless payments that keep your queue moving - with competitive rates that make sense for £3 coffees.

Common challenges

  • Transaction fees wiping out margins on low-value sales
  • Slow payment processing holding up the queue
  • Need tipping functionality for counter service
  • Current provider's rates crept up without notice
  • Want something simple the whole team can use

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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 coffee shops choose uno

Coffee shops live and die by speed. When there’s a queue out the door at 8am, every second counts - and every penny on transaction fees matters when your average sale is under a fiver.

Speed at the counter

Contactless payments process within 3 seconds. No fumbling with Chip & Pin for a flat white. Tap, done, next customer.

Rates that work for small transactions

Per-transaction fees hit harder when your average sale is £3–£5. We compare rates across providers to find the most competitive deal for high-volume, low-value transactions.

Tipping made easy

On-screen tipping prompts let customers add a tip naturally at the point of payment - no awkward jar on the counter needed.

What you get from uno

  • A fast terminal suited to high-volume coffee shop trading
  • Competitive rates compared across providers
  • Tipping functionality built in
  • On-site setup and staff walkthrough

Common questions from coffee shop owners

Can the card machine keep up with a busy morning coffee rush?

Contactless transactions take literally a few seconds. When you've got a queue of commuters at 8am all buying a flat white and a pastry, every one of those seconds at the till adds up. The terminals we'd recommend would be optimal for exactly this kind of sustained, rapid-fire processing.

Are card machine costs worth it when most of my sales are under £5?

Yes - because the alternative is losing customers entirely. Fewer and fewer people carry cash, and a customer who walks past because you're cash-only is a sale you never see again. The cost of turning away card-paying customers is far higher than the processing fee.

I've got limited counter space in my café - how big are the terminals?

The terminals we supply are compact by design and can sit neatly beside a till or on a narrow counter. Many of the card machines we recommend are handheld and doesn't need counter space at all - they can charge on a cradle placed anywhere, and work wherever they're needed.

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