Pricing gets careful attention. Materials get ordered to the exact metre. And then, at the very last step, plenty of trades businesses hand the customer a sort code and account number and hope for the best. That gap matters more than it looks. How a customer pays is not a footnote to the job, it is the last piece of the service, and the easier you make it, the faster the money moves and the fewer awkward follow-ups you ever have to send. Here is what each method actually offers, and the combination that works best for trades. Cash Still useful, never enough on its own. Cash settles instantly with no fees and no waiting, which is real value, but the practical drawbacks pile up. Customers increasingly do not carry it, since contactless now accounts for the overwhelming majority of eligible UK in-store card payments. Cash also has to be physically banked, carries a theft and loss risk sitting in the van overnight, and leaves a thinner paper trail if a dispute ever arises. Treat cash as a welcome option for the customer who prefers it, not a plan. A trades business relying on cash alone is quietly asking every customer to work around them, and plenty will simply go elsewhere rather than find a cash machine. Bank Transfer The default for a lot of trades, and understandably so: no fees, no equipment, money arrives directly. The catch is that bank transfer asks the customer to do the work. They have to open their banking app, find your details, type them correctly and remember to actually do it, often after you have already left. That gap between “I’ll transfer it” and the money landing is exactly where a large share of late payments are born, not through dishonesty but through a task that got deprioritised the moment you drove away. Bank transfer works best paired with something that removes the remembering, which is exactly what a payment link does. Card Machines The single biggest shift in trades payments over recent years has been how cheap and simple mobile card readers have become. A basic reader taking chip, contactless and mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay now costs from around £19 in hardware, with a flat rate typically around 1.5 to 1.75 percent per transaction and no monthly fee on many providers, next-business-day payouts included. The advantage over bank transfer is simple: the payment happens while you are still standing there. No remembering, no chasing, no invoice sitting in a pile. For anyone still assuming card machines are expensive or complicated, the market has moved a long way from the bulky terminal on a monthly contract. Mobile card reader. A separate physical reader that pairs with your phone. The standard choice for most mobile trades, weather resistant and reliable without draining your phone battery. Tap to pay on phone. Your phone’s own NFC chip becomes the reader, no hardware needed. Handy as a backup, but it depends entirely on your phone’s battery and is best suited to smaller amounts. If you take payment on site with any regularity, a proper mobile reader earns back its £19 to £50 cost within the first job or two it saves you from chasing. Payment Links The newest tool in the kit, and the best answer to two problems bank transfer and card readers do not solve well: deposits and remote payment. A payment link is a simple, secure link sent by text or email. The customer taps it, pays by card or digital wallet, and the money is confirmed immediately, with no card machine needed and no bank details typed out on trust. This is what makes taking a deposit before you have even started painless: send the link when the quote is accepted, and the booking is secured before a single tool leaves the van. The same link works for the final balance, sent the moment the job finishes, so payment does not depend on the customer being physically present or remembering your account number later that evening. Building the Setup That Actually Works The businesses that get paid fastest rarely rely on one method. They offer two or three, and quietly make the easiest one the one they lead with. The practical combination. A card reader in the van for anything paid on the spot, a payment link for deposits and any invoice sent after you have left, and bank transfer or cash kept available for the customers who genuinely prefer them. How to offer it without friction. “That’s £850 total. Easiest way to pay is by card, I’ve got the reader here, or I can text you a payment link if you’d rather sort it in a moment.” Naming the easy option first, without removing choice, moves most customers towards it. Put it on the invoice. List every method you accept on the invoice itself, with the payment link built in if you use one. Do not make the customer ask what their options are. This is also where fees deserve a fair mention. Card processing costs roughly 1.5 to 1.75 percent per transaction. On an £800 job that is around £12 to £14. Set against the value of being paid on the day instead of chasing a bank transfer for two weeks, most trades find that a trade worth making without hesitation. Security and Records Matter Too Card and digital payments create an automatic, timestamped record for every transaction, which protects both sides if a dispute ever arises about what was paid and when. Cash leaves no such trail unless you manually log it, and lost or stolen cash is simply gone. If a card machine or payment platform also feeds transaction data straight into your accounting, that is admin removed as a side effect of just getting paid, not an extra task. Frequently Asked Questions Do I need a card machine if I already take bank transfers? Not strictly, but the two solve different problems. Bank transfer costs nothing but relies on the customer remembering. A card reader gets you paid there and then. Most trades find the small transaction fee worth it for the certainty. Are payment links safe for customers to use? Yes, reputable providers process them through the same secure, encrypted card networks as a physical card machine, with fraud protection built in. It is generally safer for a customer than reading card details out over the phone. What is the cheapest way to start taking card payments? Tap to pay directly on your phone, using its built in NFC chip, costs nothing in hardware. It is a sensible starting point or backup, though a dedicated mobile reader is worth the small outlay if you take card payments regularly. Should I stop accepting cash altogether? No need. Some customers, particularly older ones, still prefer it and it costs nothing to accept. The goal is simply not relying on cash as your only option, since a growing share of customers no longer carry it at all. Make Getting Paid the Easy Part The job is the hard part. Getting paid for it should not be. A card reader for on the day, a payment link for deposits and anything sent after you leave, bank details available for anyone who prefers them, and the easy option always offered first: that combination gets trades paid faster with less admin and almost no chasing. If setting up new payment methods, sending links and keeping the invoicing side organised feels like one more thing on the list, that is precisely what VA4Trades handles. Get in touch and we will get the right payment setup running so the money moves as fast as the work does.