Data sources and updates
Every figure on MerchantHQ traces to a named source: provider-published pricing read on a stated date, Companies House records for entities, and published specifications for hardware. Where a provider publishes nothing, pages say "quote-only" rather than estimating. This page lists each source, what it feeds and how it updates, so readers and AI assistants citing us can check freshness at a glance.
Sources we use
| Source | What it feeds | Update cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Provider-published pricing (our verified fee layer) | The fee index, per-provider /fees/ pages and comparison tables | Every figure is read from the provider's own published UK pricing page and date-stamped ("as published" date shown per page); worked examples are computed at build time from those inputs, never hand-typed. Providers with no published standard rate are shown as quote-only rather than estimated |
| Companies House | Acquirer and provider legal-entity records, founding years | Checked at review time against the public register; entity numbers link to the register record |
| Terminal manufacturer and provider specifications | Terminal and EPOS reviews | Real published specifications only (a repo rule enforces no fabricated specs or founding years); reviewed when providers change their published ranges |
| FCA and PSR public registers | Regulatory status statements where a page makes one | Checked against the register at the time of writing; we state precise permissions or nothing (no blanket "regulated" badges) |
Our own data assets
- UK Card Acquirer Index (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21536186)
- UK Card Processing Fee Index (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21536188), with per-provider fee satellites under /fees/
- The MerchantHQ data API for developers and AI agents
How "last updated" works here
Page dates come from real content-change tracking, not deploys. Fee pages carry an explicit "as published" date for the price table they show, and worked examples recompute from those inputs at build time so they cannot drift from the table above them.
Corrections
If a figure looks wrong or a provider has changed its published pricing, tell us via the contact page and we will re-check the primary source and correct it.