Millions of UK businesses still take orders by phone, yet most card payment providers simply don't support it. Here's what MOTO payments are, what they cost, and which providers actually offer them.
Somewhere in Britain right now, a florist is jotting down a card number on a Post-it note.
A bespoke furniture maker is asking a customer to read out their long card number while she types it into a spreadsheet. A photography studio is invoicing a wedding client and hoping they'll manage to pay online before the deposit deadline.
None of this needs to happen. Mail Order and Telephone Order payments, almost universally shortened to MOTO, have existed for decades. They are regulated, secure, and available to UK businesses through a handful of providers. The trouble is that most of the card payment companies you've heard advertised loudly on podcasts and social media simply don't offer MOTO at all. And the ones that do often bury it behind a separate application, a separate account, and pricing that takes a forensic accountant to decode.
This article covers everything a UK business owner needs to know about MOTO payments: what they are, how they work, what they cost, and which providers genuinely support them.
MOTO stands for Mail Order and Telephone Order. It refers to any card payment taken when the cardholder is not physically present to tap, insert, or swipe their card. The merchant collects the card details verbally over the phone, via a form, or through the post, then processes the payment manually.
Because the card is not physically present, MOTO transactions fall into the broader category of Card Not Present (CNP) payments. This is an important distinction because it affects both security responsibility and pricing.
When a customer physically taps their card or phone at your terminal, the bank and the card network share much of the fraud liability. When you process a MOTO payment, the liability for fraudulent transactions shifts more heavily toward you, the merchant. This is why MOTO payments carry a small rate premium over face-to-face transactions, and why providers require some due diligence before enabling MOTO on your account.
It is also why entering card details into a standard card machine without MOTO authorisation is not just technically incorrect but potentially a breach of your card acceptance terms. The Post-it note approach carries real financial and compliance risk.
The list is longer than you might expect.
Trade and B2B suppliers who confirm orders over the phone before delivery. Photography studios and creative businesses taking booking deposits from clients who aren't in the room. Independent retailers who offer a personal shopping service for regular customers. Small hospitality businesses taking reservations with card guarantees. Healthcare and therapy practices billing for appointments after the fact. Bespoke and craft businesses where the product is discussed, agreed, and paid for in a single phone conversation.
According to UK Finance's Payment Markets Summary, telephone and mail order payments continue to account for a meaningful slice of remote card transaction volume in the UK, particularly in sectors where a human conversation is part of the sales process. These are not legacy transactions. They are relationship transactions.
The mechanics are straightforward.
Your customer calls you. You discuss the order. You agree on the amount. You ask for their long card number, expiry date, and the card security code (CVV/CVC). You enter those details into a MOTO-enabled terminal or virtual terminal. The transaction is authorised or declined in real time. A receipt can be sent to the customer by email.
No card reader required at that moment. No link payment chasing. No waiting for someone to log onto a payment portal. Just a conversation that ends with a completed transaction.
Some providers route MOTO through a virtual terminal, which is a browser-based interface where you type in the card details. Others, like Teya, allow MOTO entry directly through the physical Pro terminal, which means you don't need to manage a separate login, a separate device, or a separate piece of software.
This is where clarity matters, because the pricing across the UK market is genuinely inconsistent.
MOTO rates are always slightly higher than face-to-face rates, for the fraud liability reasons explained above. The question is how much higher, and whether the premium is reasonable.
With Teya, MOTO capability on the Pro terminal carries a surcharge of +0.5% on unblended (interchange++) pricing or +1.0% on blended pricing. These figures sit on top of your existing transaction rate. So if you're on a blended rate of, say, 1.49%, your effective MOTO rate would be 2.49% on those transactions.
That is a transparent, predictable premium. You know exactly what you're paying for MOTO and why.
There is no separate monthly fee for MOTO access, no separate terminal, and no separate dashboard. Your in-person transactions and your MOTO transactions are visible in the same reporting interface.
This is the part of the conversation the major providers tend not to advertise loudly.
SumUp does not offer MOTO payments. Their proposition is built around face-to-face card acceptance, and their Terms of Service explicitly exclude card-not-present telephone orders processed through their hardware. If you're a SumUp merchant taking phone orders today, you are likely outside your accepted use terms.
Square does not support MOTO as a defined payment type in the UK. Square UK does offer a virtual terminal for invoice and keyed-entry payments in some configurations, but it is not marketed or positioned as a MOTO solution, and their terms of service do not clearly sanction telephone order processing under a standard merchant account. Merchants requiring genuine MOTO capability should seek written confirmation from Square before relying on it.
Zettle by PayPal does not offer MOTO payments. Like SumUp, Zettle is focused on in-person and digital payment flows. Telephone order processing is not within their standard product offering.
Dojo offers limited MOTO capability, but it is not a standard feature available out of the box. Accessing MOTO through Dojo typically requires a separate conversation with their sales team and may involve different pricing structures. Their primary product is aimed at hospitality face-to-face transactions.
Worldpay does offer MOTO, but processing through Worldpay requires a separate MOTO merchant account application. This means a separate underwriting process, separate pricing negotiation, separate reporting, and in many cases a separate monthly fee structure. For a small or growing business, this creates real administrative overhead. Worldpay's strengths lie in enterprise-scale processing; for an SME wanting MOTO as one of several payment methods, the complexity can outweigh the benefit.
| Provider | MOTO Available? | How? | Separate Account Needed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teya (Pro terminal) | Yes | Directly on terminal | No |
| SumUp | No | Not offered | N/A |
| Square | No (standard UK) | Not sanctioned as MOTO | N/A |
| Zettle | No | Not offered | N/A |
| Dojo | Limited | Via separate arrangement | Likely |
| Worldpay | Yes | Separate MOTO merchant account | Yes |
This is where honesty matters, and where Teya's current criteria need to be stated clearly.
MOTO on Teya's Pro terminal is currently available to limited companies with at least six months of MOTO processing history. This means it is not available to sole traders or newly registered limited companies at launch. If you're a brand-new business or a sole trader, you cannot access MOTO through Teya at this stage.
This eligibility requirement exists because MOTO carries higher fraud risk, and requiring a track record of MOTO processing helps Teya manage that risk responsibly. It is a commercially reasonable position, even if it limits accessibility for some businesses.
If you are a sole trader or a newer business needing MOTO capability, your options are more limited. It is worth speaking directly with providers about their underwriting criteria, and in some cases a well-established business relationship with a traditional acquiring bank may be the most viable route.
Let's make this concrete.
A portrait photography studio in Manchester takes roughly 15 telephone bookings per month. The average booking deposit is £150. That's £2,250 per month processed via MOTO.
On Teya's blended pricing, the MOTO surcharge of +1.0% on top of a standard rate of 1.49% gives a total effective MOTO rate of 2.49%.
On £2,250 per month, that's a processing cost of £56.03.
For a business that previously had no compliant MOTO solution and was either chasing online payments or handling card details insecurely, that £56 per month buys both compliance and convenience, with everything visible in one dashboard.
Compare that to Worldpay, where the administrative cost of maintaining a separate MOTO account, potentially with its own monthly fees, can easily exceed the processing cost difference.
Verify your eligibility first. If you're a limited company with six or more months of MOTO history, speak to Teya directly about enabling MOTO on your Pro terminal.
Never store card details. Under PCI DSS (the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), you are prohibited from writing down, storing, or retaining card numbers, CVV codes, or expiry dates after a transaction is processed. No notebooks. No spreadsheets. No email chains.
Read your card number back. When taking card details over the phone, repeating the number back to the customer reduces keying errors and gives them a chance to correct a mis-spoken digit.
Send a receipt immediately. Good practice and good customer service. A transaction confirmation by email provides both parties with a clear record.
Audit your current setup. If you are currently taking card numbers over the phone and processing them through a face-to-face terminal or saving them anywhere for later, you need to regularise this immediately. The compliance risk is real.
MOTO payments are not complicated. They are a legitimate, regulated, and commercially sensible way to take card payments from customers who aren't physically in front of you.
The problem has never been the technology. The problem has been that most of the new generation of card payment providers, built for tap-and-go simplicity, have not bothered to build MOTO capability. That leaves businesses with a genuine telephone order workflow either operating outside their terms of service or managing a cumbersome multi-account relationship with a traditional acquirer.
Teya's approach, MOTO enabled directly on the Pro terminal with a transparent surcharge, no separate account, and unified reporting, is a genuinely practical solution for the right type of business. The eligibility criteria are honest and reasonable. The pricing is clearly stated.
If you take orders over the phone and you're not processing them compliantly, the first step is to stop accepting the risk and start exploring what a proper MOTO setup looks like for your business.
Sources
Disclaimer
The views and information shared in this post are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, legal, or professional advice. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, Klipy UK Limited accepts no liability for decisions made based on this content. Payment processing rates, regulations, and product features referenced are subject to change. Klipy UK is an authorised seller of Teya payment solutions. Where third-party sources are cited, links are provided for reference; Klipy UK does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of external content. For personalised guidance on your business payment needs, please contact us directly at editor@klipy.uk.
Found this helpful? Share with your network:
This content is published by Klipy UK, a Teya-authorised reseller of payment solutions. The views expressed are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial advice. All content is the intellectual property of Klipy UK. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
See exactly how much you could save. Upload your statement or enter your monthly turnover-instant results, no obligation.
Try Calculator