Tyl Review: High security, low fees and next-day payouts

Tyl by Natwest is one of the few merchant account and card reader providers offered by a big, British bank.

With low, fixed transaction fees and affordable, highly usable hardware options for a variety of business cases, Tyl makes a strong claim to be one of the best contract-based merchant accounts on the market.

Wide customer service options and robust security credentials only strengthen that claim, though ultimately it does have a few shortcomings that may tempt you elsewhere. Read on for a full-length discussion of what Tyl by Natwest can offer your UK business compared to other merchant accounts on the market.

Tyl by NatWest Review: Summary

In short, Tyl by NatWest is an excellent merchant account provider for businesses that already bank with NatWest or are planning to switch over. In other words, you need a NatWest bank account for it to be operational as a merchant account.

But it’s more than just a safe choice for NatWest customers. It offers the cheapest fixed rates out of the contract-based merchant accounts we’ve researched, making it an affordable option for new or small businesses.

If you are in a rush, here’s a summary of the types of business we think it could suit.

Tyl by NatWest Review: Pricing, Hidden Costs and Transaction Fees

Tyl by NatWest offers some of the cheapest ways to take card payments on the UK market. Here are its prices in short before we dive into the details.

Tyl by NatWest’s hardware costs

Tyl by NatWest is an affordable way to start taking card payments, with its cheapest card machine costing just £9.99 per month, much less than takepayments’ £25 per month and Worldpay’s £17.50. When you purchase, you’ll be tied into a minimum 12-month contract for leasing the equipment.

These ongoing fees can add up, however. So, while leasing equipment means consistent product updates and protection, you’ll also be spending more than purchasing a cheap card reader outright from low-cost providers such as Square (£19 + VAT).

Tyl by NatWest’s transaction fees

It also has low fixed transaction fees, at just 1.39% + 5p for personal UK and European transactions. For most businesses, this is cheaper than SumUp’s 1.69% but pricier than Revolut’s 0.8% + 2p.

Unusually, these fees apply to both in-person and card-not-present transactions. Card-not-present fees at fixed rates are often over 2% with most merchant account providers, including SumUp, which charges 2.5%.

Does Tyl by NatWest offer custom transaction fees?

As stated in the table above, Tyl by NatWest does offer custom fees to businesses with more than £50,000 in annual card transaction turnover. That’s a lower threshold than the likes of Worldpay, which sets this at £75,000, and Tyl doesn’t charge any monthly service fees like Worldpay either.

Tyl by NatWest’s online payment gateway costs

With Tyl, you’ll need to pay an extra £14.95 + VAT per month fee for its online payment gateway. With some other merchant account providers, like SumUp, you’ll get an online payment gateway for free. That said, Tyl currently waives this fee for the first 12 months on all its plans.

Does Tyl by NatWest have any hidden fees?

Tyl processes Amex cards but charges a variable custom transaction fee on both of its plans to do so. If your business accepts them, you should watch out for the transaction fee Tyl quotes you.

Tyl also charges custom authorisation fees on its ‘Over £50K’ plan, which is due every time a transaction gets approved or declined. It also charges an extra PCI compliance fee on this plan: it costs £4 + VAT per month, per physical or online store. However, Tyl doesn’t charge you when processing refunds on either of its plans.

For clarity, there are no additional charges for the following items:

• Card-not-present payments (such as sales over the phone)
• Payments made online or via a payment link
• Cancelling your contract
• International card payments
• Refunds

Tyl by NatWest Review: Hardware

In terms of hardware, Tyl provides three card machines and four options for taking payments overall. Let’s go through the features and usability of each so you can best understand what options you would have as a Tyl by NatWest customer.

1. Clover Flex: All-in-one POS

Price: £16.99 per month

Built by Clover, a merchant account provider that is regularly at the top of our lists for its outstanding hardware, Tyl by NatWest’s ‘All-in-one POS’ device is its most feature-rich, and as the name suggests, is the only option with a built-in POS system to order your inventory. Here are its highlights before we dive into our thoughts.

Clover Flex key features

• Integrated touchscreen display: Responsive and user-friendly interface for quick navigation that is 6in in size
• Built-in receipt printer: Prints receipts instantly after transactions
• Multiple payment methods: Accepts chip & PIN, contactless, and mobile wallet payments
• Business management tools: Software for sales tracking, inventory management, and customer data
• Connectivity: Supports Wi-Fi and 4G connections (SIM-card included)
• Weight: 550g

What do we think about the Clover Flex?

In our usability testing of the Clover Flex, we enjoyed using its large 6in glass screen both physically and due to its overall functionality. Users considered it among the most usable with many commenting on the reassuring visual and audio feedback when paying on the device, and the comparative ease of processing a refund compared to providers like Tide.

We also loved its ability to print receipts directly from the device (or send them as emails or texts) and get end-of-day reporting directly on the device (as well as the Tyl portal).

It’s great that it offers both 4G and Wi-Fi connectivity depending on the availability of an internet connection, although it lacks ethernet connectivity. In that sense, you may find better tabletop options on the market.

Users also weren’t overly impressed with the experience of chip and pin payment. When inserting a card to pay, multiple users commented on how it felt as if their card could snap on the way in. Still, no cards were broken in our testing period even if less friction wouldn’t go amiss.

Battery life wasn’t the longest we had tested either, though 8 hours from one charge and lightning charging when on its base should still be strong enough for most business cases.

2. PAX A50: Pocket POS

Price: £9.99 per month

Dubbed the ‘Pocket POS’ by Tyl, the PAX A50 is a smaller and lighter-weight piece of hardware offered by Tyl. It is generally more lightweight on the features front too, though it is the only Tyl hardware to have Wi-Fi, 4G and Bluetooth connectivity options. Overall, we reckon it’s the best choice of Tyl’s hardware for on-the-go business operations. Here are its key features before we detail exactly what we like about the PAX A50.

PAX A50 key features

• Compact design: Small and portable, ideal for on-the-go transactions
• Connectivity: 4G (SIM-included) and Wi-Fi connectivity for payments. Also pairs with your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth
• Versatile payments: Accepts chip & PIN and contactless payments
• Long battery life: Designed for extended use without frequent charging
• Weight: 161g

What do we think of the PAX A50?

The PAX A50 is the best Tyl device for on-the-go payments. That’s because it offers Wi-Fi, 4G and Bluetooth connectivity all in a small and lightweight model reminiscent of a smartphone. It’s still a decent size too, with a 4.5in full-colour display that has a sleek, modern interface – albeit the likes of Square and SumUp offer even smaller screenless models if you prefer.

Still, it does have fewer features than the Clover Flex, lacking the ability to add tips, cashback, print/text receipts, on-device reporting or any inventory/employee management. Customers can get receipts via email instead, but that could be an unnecessary step for certain businesses in terms of usability.

3. Ingenico Move 3500: Portable POS

Price: £19.99 per month

Tyl also offers the Ingenico Move 3500, which it dubs its ‘Portable’ option. It sits in between the PAX A50 and the Clover Flex in terms of weight and features. Here’s what it could offer your business.

Ingenico Move 3500 key features:

• Wireless connectivity: Operates via Wi-Fi only
• Payment flexibility: Accepts both chip & PIN and contactless payments
• Mobility: Designed to be carried around your premises for tableside payments
• Durable build: Robust design suitable for busy environments
• Weight: 320g

What do we think about the Ingenico Move 3500?

The Ingenico Move 3500 is in the style of traditional card machines, with a dimmer screen than Tyl’s other options but offering an embossed pin pad that the others don’t provide. We believe this can appeal to older customers, in particular, who prefer the haptics of buttons rather than touch-screen devices. It’s also a comfortable weight to carry around but with enough oomph to instil confidence that this is a durable machine to stand the test of time.

In terms of features, it’s something of a mixed bag. You’ll get many of the same payment features as the Clover Flex, such as pre-authorisation, phone payments, gratuity options and cash back (unlike the PAX A50), as well as receipt printing built-in. You also have on-machine, end-of-day reporting, too.

However, you won’t have virtual receipt sending or any business tools on the device itself for inventory/employee management. You’ll need to use the Tyl portal for that, like the PAX A50. It also only has Wi-Fi connectivity, which won’t be ideal for mobile businesses – the PAX A50 is better in this regard. And all of this costs more money than any other Tyl device at £19.99 per month – a significant spend of £240 per annum.

Tyl by NatWest Review: Software Features

Now we’ve covered the hardware you can use to take payments with Tyl by NatWest, it’s worth turning our attention to the features of a Tyl merchant account. Let’s go through a few broad categories so that you can understand exactly what you are getting with a Tyl account.

Payment options

Tyl by NatWest supports all credit and debit card payments from Mastercard, Visa and American Express. You’ll also be able to take contactless payments such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, too. And that’s across all its hardware devices.

Even better, you have Tap to Pay support for both Android and iPhone when using a smartphone device to take payment to avoid purchasing additional hardware. Simply put, very few other providers can offer all of this, with only Square and Zettle matching this on the UK market according to our research.

Payout timeframe

You’ll get payments into your account the “next business day”, according to Tyl. This means no weekend payouts, and you’ll have no customisable deposit schedules either, but the next business day is speedy in our books. Most other providers take between one and three business days to process and payout your business income.

Reporting

You get decent reporting tools with Tyl, too – although we’ve seen more detailed and extensive options elsewhere.

We found you can use its free Tyl portal to access reports. Here you can filter by card type and create specific item reports, too. However, you won’t be able to look at discount reports or employee-specific reports, unfortunately.

For more advanced reporting tools that cover those latter two options and more, we recommend the likes of Worldpay, EPOS Now, SumUp, Barclaycard and Tide.

POS integration

Unfortunately, Tyl doesn’t offer a native POS platform. If you want any inventory control, you have to use the Clover Flex device, which it offers for £16.99 per month. This allows you to control inventory on the device itself as well as via the Clover Flex Inventory and Register apps.

With any of its other hardware, you’ll only be able to input a price for payment rather than have inventory to click on. You won’t be able to integrate with any other POS systems either.

If you want native POS platform functionality, there are plenty of options. Top-rated options such as Square, Zettle, Clover, Worldpay, EPOS Now and takepayments are good places to start.

Offline functionality

Handily, Tyl’s software can work offline via its hardware options should you lose connectivity. You can enable or disable this feature on each device you use, with devices able to take offline payments for up to seven days at a time. You can also set payment limitations for when you are in offline mode if that’s preferable.

Tyl mobile app

With an application working across iOS and Android, Tyl offers solid functionality for on-the-go merchants.

The NatWest Tap to Pay app can be used to take payment using your smartphone directly. You’ll have an inbuilt analytics platform that summarises all transactions by day, week or month, as well as a section to view all transactions completed via Tap to Pay.

You can also link your existing Tyl card machines to the Tap to Pay app to use them hand-in-hand. You’ll need to call NatWest to set this up and have your merchant account number to hand when doing so.

Security

Tyl, supported by UK banking giant NatWest, is one of the most secure merchant accounts on the UK market It is PCI compliant and has an ISO 27001 certification, meaning it has implemented an information security management system (ISMS) that meets international best practices.

We found that, when a transaction is successfully authenticated by its 3D Secure security system, any liability to pay a related chargeback request passes to the cardholder’s bank (or similar). In other words, you’ll be protected against these sorts of claims.

How Does Tyl by NatWest Compare to its Competitors?

While we’ve offered comparisons between providers throughout this review, sometimes it’s easier to compare each merchant account provider side-by-side. Here’s a quick table comparing our top-rated merchant accounts on the UK market.

How We Reviewed Tyl by Natwest