AIB Merchant Services: what is actually published
AIB Merchant Services publishes almost no Irish pricing. What it does publish, why the figures quoted elsewhere are unreliable, and what to ask for in a quote.
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AIB Merchant Services is the largest card acquirer in Ireland, trading as First Merchant Processing (Ireland) DAC and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. It works with tens of thousands of Irish businesses.
It publishes almost no pricing, and this page will not pretend otherwise. AIBMS’s own wording is “full fee schedule available with quote”.
That matters more than it sounds, because a lot of the Irish figures in circulation for AIBMS are not Irish. The aibms.com domain serves UK content alongside Irish content, and several euro amounts quoted for AIBMS elsewhere are the UK sterling figures with the symbol changed. This page previously carried some of them. It no longer does.
What AIBMS actually publishes
Exactly three charges, all on its eCommerce bundle page, all excluding VAT:
| Charge | Published amount |
|---|---|
| Set-up fee | None |
| AuthIPay gateway fee | 9c per click |
| PCI-DSS compliance | €9.75 a month |
AIB’s own merchant services page adds one more useful fact: next-day funding.
That is the complete set. No transaction rate, no terminal price, no contract length, no minimum monthly charge is published anywhere in euro.
What is not published
Everything else, including all of the following, which you will see quoted confidently elsewhere:
- the transaction rate, and whether it is blended or interchange++
- Clover Mini, Station, Mobile and Flex rental prices
- Clover software fees
- any merchant account or minimum monthly service charge
- authorisation and chargeback fees
- contract length and early-termination basis
If a comparison site gives you a euro figure for any of these, ask it where the figure came from. There is no AIBMS page in Ireland that carries them.
What to ask for in a quote
Because nothing is published, the quote is the entire negotiation. Get these in writing before you sign:
- The pricing model, blended rate or interchange++, and if interchange++, the exact markup over interchange.
- The minimum monthly service charge. This is what you pay in a month where you take almost nothing, and it is the single biggest reason a merchant account beats a card reader on paper and loses in a quiet January.
- Terminal rental per device, and whether Clover software is charged separately per device.
- The contract term and the early-exit cost, stated as a number.
- The authorisation fee and the chargeback fee.
- Settlement timing, confirmed for your own bank.
Who it suits
A larger Irish business with the volume to negotiate: multiple tills, six-figure card turnover, a genuine need for Clover’s stock, staff and reporting software, and often an existing AIB relationship.
At that scale an interchange++ arrangement can be genuinely more transparent than a blended rate, because you see the interchange separately from the acquirer’s margin, and fixed monthly costs spread across enough transactions to stop mattering.
It suits a small or seasonal business much less well, not because of any specific published figure, but because an unpublished price with an unpublished contract term is a bad trade when SumUp, Square and Revolut all publish their rates, cost nothing in a quiet month and cost nothing to leave.
Honest downsides
No published pricing. You cannot compare AIBMS against anything before speaking to sales. Every other provider on this site publishes at least something.
No published contract term. Ask for it as a number, and ask what leaving early costs.
Watch for UK figures in euro. This is the specific risk with AIBMS, because its own site mixes UK and Irish material. A figure that matches a sterling amount exactly, with the symbol swapped, is a warning sign.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AIB card machine cost per month?
AIB Merchant Services does not publish terminal prices in Ireland. The only recurring euro charge it publishes is a €9.75 monthly PCI-DSS fee, excluding VAT. Everything else comes with your quote, so ask for the full fee schedule in writing.
What are AIB Merchant Services transaction fees?
Not published in euro. AIBMS describes an interchange++ model on a page scoped to the UK market, but publishes no Irish rate. Ask whether your quote is blended or interchange++, and what the markup over interchange is.
How long is an AIB Merchant Services contract?
Not published. Ask for the term and the early-termination cost as numbers before you sign.
When does AIB Merchant Services pay out?
AIB states next-day funding for merchant services. Confirm it for your own bank as part of the quote.
Do I need an AIB business account to use AIB Merchant Services?
No. AIBMS operates as a separate entity from AIB’s banking arm, though an existing AIB relationship is often what brings businesses to it and can help in negotiation.
Is AIB Merchant Services worth it for a small business?
Usually not, and the reason is structural rather than about any one fee. A quote-only price with an unpublished contract term is hard to compare and hard to leave. SumUp at 1.69%, Square at 1.75% + VAT and Dojo at 0.99% + €0.05 all publish their Irish rates, and none of them charges you anything in a month where you take nothing.