Acquiring for Business: How to Choose the Best Option

When you open a café, launch an online store, or start providing consulting services as a sole trader, the first technical issue you face is accepting payments. The days when cash was the main means of turnover are long gone. Modern customers are used to tapping their smartphone, smartwatch or card on a terminal, or making a purchase online in just one click. For you as a business owner, this means that not offering cashless payment options can result in lost customers and revenue.

I often see beginners getting confused by terminology, bank fees and technical details. So, let’s take a detailed look at what acquiring is, how it works, what types are available and what you should consider to avoid paying more than necessary.

Acquiring is a technological and financial process that allows your business to accept cashless payments for goods or services using bank cards and contactless devices. It is not simply having a “box” at the checkout, but a complex infrastructure involving several parties: your business, the acquiring bank (the bank that services your payment terminal), the issuing bank (which issued your customer’s card), and international payment systems such as Visa or Mastercard.

How does acquiring work during a regular purchase?

1. Authorisation. Your customer taps their card or smartphone on the device or enters their payment details on a website. The information is instantly encrypted and sent to the acquiring bank.
2. Verification. The request is routed through the payment system to the issuing bank. It checks whether the card is active, whether there are sufficient funds and whether the transaction appears fraudulent.
3. Confirmation. The issuing bank reserves (blocks) the transaction amount and sends an approval code back. The terminal prints a receipt or the website displays a successful payment message. The entire process takes just 2–3 seconds.

For you as a business owner, the process ends later, when the funds, minus the acquiring fee, are credited to your business account. The key benefits of acquiring services include automation, faster service, reduced risks associated with counterfeit banknotes and a potentially higher average transaction value, as customers find it easier to pay by card or smartphone.

Depending on how you interact with your customers, you will need different technological solutions. I divide them into three main categories, each with its own specifics, technical requirements and financial conditions.

This is the classic option for physical points of sale. If you have an offline shop, restaurant, beauty salon or car service centre, merchant acquiring is what you need. It involves installing physical equipment directly at the point of sale, through which customers make payments. It is the most reliable and familiar solution for traditional retail.

If your sales platform is a website, mobile app or large marketplace, internet acquiring is the right choice. There is no physical hardware involved. Instead, a specialised software interface (payment gateway) is integrated into your website. Customers enter their card details or use quick payment methods such as Apple Pay or Google Pay directly in their browser.

What if you do not have a full website and your sales are made through Instagram, Telegram or Viber? In these cases, simplified online acquiring is an ideal solution. You can generate special payment links or QR codes in your payment service account and send them to customers via messenger. The customer follows the link and pays just as securely as they would on a major marketplace.

When it comes to choosing equipment for an offline location, business owners often face some terminology confusion. In everyday conversation, the terms “payment terminal” and “POS terminal” are often used interchangeably, although technically a POS terminal is a type of payment terminal. You do not need to choose between them, because these are simply different names for the device that reads payment cards.

But the really important question you will have to answer is: what exactly should you choose for your business — a traditional physical (hardware) terminal or its modern alternative, a mobile terminal on a smartphone (a software POS terminal (SoftPOS) or Tap to Phone technology)?

A classic hardware device is a separate piece of equipment that is usually provided by the bank on a rental basis or purchased outright (modern models run on Android, have touchscreen displays and can also function as a cash register thanks to built-in PRRO functionality). New technologies, on the other hand, allow you to eliminate additional devices altogether and turn your own smartphone into a payment tool using Tap to Phone technology.

To make the choice easier, I suggest comparing the scenarios in which each option is used:

Before you start accepting payments, you will need to formally establish a relationship with a financial institution. The legal basis for this cooperation is an acquiring agreement. This is a standard document that defines the rights and obligations of both parties, the timeframes for crediting funds and, most importantly, the cost of the service.

The main financial indicator you need to pay attention to is the acquiring fee. It consists of several components:

• Interchange — the interbank fee paid by the acquiring bank to the issuing bank. It is regulated by payment systems and legislation.
• Payment system margin — a small percentage retained by Visa or Mastercard.
• Bank margin — the financial institution’s own fee for providing the service.

Depending on the bank, type of business and transaction volumes, the acquiring fee for merchant acquiring is usually around 1.2–2.0% of the transaction amount, while internet acquiring may be slightly more expensive. In addition to the percentage charged on sales, the bank may charge a fixed monthly service fee or a rental fee for a physical POS terminal.

I strongly recommend reading the fine print of the agreement carefully: check whether there are penalties for low transaction volumes or additional fees for transferring funds to accounts held with other banks.

You should clearly understand that the money a customer pays by card at your checkout does not reach your account instantly. It goes through a clearing process. Acquiring settlements usually take from several hours to two business days, depending on the terms of the agreement.

The standard process looks like this:

1. Today’s transactions are accumulated.
2. The bank processes them overnight.
3. On the next business day, the bank credits the funds to your current sole trader or company account.

Keep in mind that if a customer pays on a Saturday, most banks will transfer the funds only on Monday or Tuesday. If a transaction takes place on a weekend, the settlement timeframe depends on the specific bank and the terms of the acquiring agreement.

To choose reliable acquiring in Ukraine and avoid making the wrong decision, I recommend evaluating a potential financial partner according to 5 key criteria:

1. Total cost. Consider not only the transaction fee, but also the terminal subscription or rental fee, connection costs and the cost of opening and maintaining your current account.
2. Speed of settlement. The shorter the time between a customer making a payment and the money appearing in your account, the better for your liquidity.
3. 24/7 technical support. If your restaurant’s terminal goes down on Saturday evening, the support team should solve the problem within minutes rather than asking you to wait until Monday.
4. Ease of integration. For a website, it is important to have ready-made plugins for your CMS; for offline businesses, consider how quickly the equipment can be delivered and configured.
5. Additional functionality. Look for features such as fiscalisation (built-in PRRO), card tipping support and a convenient dashboard with sales analytics.

There is no one-size-fits-all acquiring solution. A large supermarket needs a reliable merchant acquiring system integrated with its POS and cash register system. A café owner may only need a compact Android terminal with built-in cash register functionality. And a small sole trader selling handmade products through social media may be perfectly fine with payment links on their smartphone.


Translation into English was created with the help of artificial intelligence.