Written or reviewed by Libby James, founder of Merchant Advice Service and specialist in merchant payments and complex provider requirements.
Tell us about your business, current payment setup and what you're looking to change. We'll use it to understand your requirements before identifying providers that may be suitable.
A kitchen or bathroom project rarely involves one simple payment made at the point of sale.
The customer journey may include:
Design appointment → survey → quotation → signed agreement → deposit → manufacturing or ordering → delivery → installation → snagging → final payment
Each stage can create different payment requirements.
A showroom may take the initial deposit by card, collect a larger stage payment using a secure payment link and ask the customer to pay the final balance by bank transfer.
Another business may offer regulated customer finance.
A supply-only retailer may receive full payment before dispatch, while a supply-and-install company may collect money over several months as the project progresses.
The payment arrangement needs to work for:
A poorly structured payment journey can lead to:
The correct question is not simply:
Which card machine should a kitchen showroom use?
It is:
How should the business collect and record deposits, staged payments and final balances throughout the entire project?
This guide explains how kitchen and bathroom businesses can structure their payment journey, what payment providers may examine during underwriting and how to reduce avoidable disputes and reconciliation problems.
Most kitchen and bathroom businesses need a combination of payment options rather than one payment method.
These may include:
The payment schedule should reflect genuine project milestones.
For example:
There is no universal deposit or stage-payment percentage that suits every kitchen or bathroom project.
The appropriate structure depends on:
Merchant Advice Service is an independent UK payments information and provider-matching service with practical experience helping kitchen and bathroom businesses with card-payment requirements.
This is an area where payment-provider suitability can be influenced by transaction values, deposits, the time between payment and installation or delivery, refund exposure and the structure of the individual business.
A useful payment setup follows the customer’s actual project.
The business may offer:
The customer record should explain:
Avoid processing a payment with a vague description such as:
Deposit
when it actually covers a non-refundable design service.
The invoice, payment reference and customer agreement should describe the same purpose.
A home survey may confirm:
Any change between the showroom design and final survey should be recorded before a larger payment is collected.
The customer should receive a clear description of:
The deposit may trigger:
The deposit amount should be commercially justifiable and reflected accurately in the contract.
Where products are made or ordered specifically for the customer, a further stage payment may be collected when:
The business may collect another payment:
The correct point depends on the agreement and business model.
Installation may involve:
The payment documentation should make clear who is responsible for each part.
A small number of issues may remain after the main installation.
The agreement should explain:
Payment providers may assess these models differently because the business’s obligations are different.
A supply-only business may:
Its transaction journey may end when the correct products are delivered or collected.
However, disputes can still arise over:
A supply-and-install business may also:
This creates a longer customer obligation and more opportunities for disagreements.
A payment dispute could concern:
Do not describe a supply-and-install business simply as:
Kitchen retailer
if the company also manages building works, subcontractors, plumbing, electrical work and installation.
The provider needs to understand:
An incomplete description can lead to unsuitable pricing, transaction limits or later account reviews.
There is no universal payment schedule, but the following example demonstrates how a project might be linked to documented milestones.
| Project stage | Illustrative payment | Supporting evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Design approved and order placed | £5,000 | Signed quotation, product specification and design approval |
| Bespoke products ordered | £7,500 | Final measurements and supplier order confirmation |
| Delivery arranged | £7,500 | Delivery schedule and goods confirmation |
| Main installation milestone | £3,500 | Installation progress record |
| Completion balance | £1,500 | Completion or snagging documentation |
| Total | £25,000 |
This does not mean every business should use a:
20% deposit followed by three fixed stages
The payment structure should reflect:
A stage description such as:
Second payment due six weeks after order
is less useful than:
Second payment due once final measurements have been approved and the bespoke product order has been confirmed.
The second version connects the payment to an identifiable project event.
There is no universal legally required or commercially correct deposit percentage.
A business might consider:
A deposit should not be selected simply because:
Everyone in the industry takes 50%.
The business should be able to explain:
Government guidance on fair consumer contracts warns against terms allowing a business automatically to retain excessive prepayments or cancellation charges that bear no reasonable relationship to its losses. Consumer terms must be fair and transparent.
No.
Calling a payment:
Non-refundable deposit
does not automatically make the entire amount legally retainable in every situation.
The result can depend on:
A business may be entitled to retain an amount reflecting genuine loss or work completed.
However, a blanket term allowing it to keep every payment regardless of circumstances may be unfair.
Kitchen and bathroom businesses should obtain appropriate legal advice when drafting:
Kitchen units, worktops, cabinetry, glass panels and other components may be:
Certain change-of-mind cancellation rights can be different for genuinely personalised or custom-made goods.
However, bespoke status does not remove the customer’s rights where goods are:
Government guidance confirms that personalised or custom-made items may be excluded from some change-of-mind return rights, but businesses must still provide remedies where goods are faulty or not as described.
The contract should identify what is genuinely bespoke rather than labelling every product as:
Custom made and non-refundable
where standard products could readily be resold.
Kitchen and bathroom projects frequently involve:
Where the contract is made away from the business’s normal premises, additional information and cancellation requirements may apply.
Government guidance says off-premises sales can carry a 14-day cancellation right, subject to the type of contract and applicable exceptions.
The position can be more complicated where the contract combines:
Do not rely on a showroom contract template if the actual sale is completed in the customer’s home.
A kitchen or bathroom order may be completed:
Distance-selling rules can require the business to provide prescribed information and a durable copy of the contract.
Government guidance states that businesses selling at a distance must confirm the contract in a form the customer can save and must generally deliver within 30 days unless another timetable has been agreed.
The customer may also have cancellation rights, subject to the nature of the goods and services.
The business should record:
Some customers specifically want to pay at least part of a kitchen or bathroom purchase using a credit card.
One reason is the potential protection provided by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.
For eligible purchases, Section 75 can apply where the cash price is more than £100 and no more than £30,000.
The protection may apply even where only part of the purchase, such as the deposit, is paid by credit card. The legal conditions still need to be satisfied, including the relevant relationship between the customer, card issuer and supplier.
Complete kitchen contract: £20,000
Credit-card deposit: £1,000
Remaining amount paid by bank transfer: £19,000
Subject to the legal requirements, the customer may potentially have Section 75 protection in relation to the wider £20,000 purchase rather than only the £1,000 card deposit.
The business should not view the card transaction in isolation.
It should retain evidence covering:
A dispute about a £1,000 card deposit could involve allegations relating to the entire project.
The position can depend on matters including:
The business should not promise customers that:
Paying £1 by credit card guarantees full protection
in every situation.
Likewise, it should not design the payment journey for the purpose of preventing customers from receiving statutory protection.
Debit cards do not receive Section 75 protection.
Customers may nevertheless ask their bank to pursue a chargeback under the relevant card-scheme process.
Chargeback is different from Section 75.
From the merchant’s perspective, a debit-card dispute can still result in:
The business should retain the same quality of project evidence regardless of whether the customer paid using credit or debit.
A card terminal can be suitable for:
Benefits can include:
However, the payment receipt should still be linked to:
A terminal receipt saying:
Sale: £7,500
does not establish whether the payment related to:
Payment links can be useful when the customer is not present in the showroom.
Examples include:
The customer receives a secure link and enters their own payment details.
This can be preferable to staff collecting card details by telephone because:
Use descriptions such as:
Project K1048 – second payment following final design approval
rather than:
Kitchen payment
A clear reference helps with:
A virtual terminal allows authorised staff to enter card details for a telephone or mail-order transaction.
This may be useful in some circumstances, but it should not automatically be the default method for every remote payment.
MOTO transactions can carry different:
A secure payment link may provide a stronger customer-led payment journey where the customer can access email or text.
Where a virtual terminal is used, the business should:
Larger project balances are often paid using:
Potential advantages can include:
However, the business still needs controls.
Do not release products or treat a project stage as paid based only on:
Verify receipt through the business bank account or trusted payment system.
High-value home-improvement businesses can be targeted by criminals who alter payment instructions.
Controls can include:
Kitchen and bathroom businesses are a useful reminder that a familiar high-street sector can still have a more complicated payment profile.
Large deposits, higher transaction values and a delay between taking payment and completing an installation can influence how a payment provider assesses the business.
Merchant Advice Service has previously helped a UK kitchen and bathroom supplier find alternative processing after its existing merchant facility was terminated. That experience is one reason we recommend explaining the full sales and fulfilment journey when approaching a new provider, rather than relying on the sector description alone.
Read our kitchen and bathroom supplier case study.
There is no universal answer.
| Project stage | Possible payment methods |
|---|---|
| Design or survey fee | Card terminal, payment link or bank payment |
| Initial deposit | Card terminal, payment link, bank payment or approved finance |
| Product-order stage | Payment link or bank payment |
| Pre-delivery payment | Payment link, Pay by Bank or bank transfer |
| Installation stage | Payment link or bank payment |
| Final balance | Card, payment link, bank payment or finance settlement |
| Additional variation | Referenced payment link or invoice payment |
The customer should understand:
Kitchen and bathroom payments can be materially larger than ordinary retail transactions.
A business may need to collect:
The payment provider may want to understand:
Do not split one genuine transaction into several smaller card payments merely to avoid provider limits or controls.
Where staged payments are used, each should correspond to a legitimate project stage.
For further detail, see the MAS guide to high-value card payments.
A declined payment does not always mean:
Possible reasons can include:
Do not repeatedly submit the same large transaction without understanding the decline.
Ask the customer to:
Avoid coaching the customer to provide inaccurate transaction information.
Customer finance can allow the cost to be spread over an agreed term.
Potential products can include:
The kitchen or bathroom company may act as:
The correct regulatory position depends on the activity and product.
A business carrying out regulated consumer credit broking generally needs the appropriate FCA authorisation or representative arrangement. The FCA distinguishes between primary brokers, secondary brokers, appointed representatives and introducer appointed representatives.
Kitchen and bathroom businesses often:
The FCA describes a domestic premises supplier as a business that sells or offers goods or services while physically present in the customer’s home.
Where regulated credit broking is carried out in connection with those sales, the permissions position can be different from a retailer operating only from a showroom or website.
The FCA has previously identified growth in the use of introducer appointed representatives in home-improvement trades and highlighted the additional oversight risks where credit broking takes place in customers’ homes.
Do not assume a showroom’s existing finance arrangement automatically covers every member of staff, sales channel or home visit.
New UK rules for covered third-party Buy Now, Pay Later products came into force on 15 July 2026.
The new regime introduced FCA oversight and consumer protections including affordability checks, clearer information, complaint rights and support where customers experience financial difficulty.
Covered third-party BNPL agreements entered into from that date can also receive Section 75 protection where the applicable conditions are satisfied.
The government decided that domestic premises suppliers would not require credit-broking permission merely to offer covered regulated BNPL products as a payment option.
That exemption should be interpreted narrowly.
It does not mean every kitchen or bathroom business can arrange every form of customer finance without considering FCA requirements.
The business should confirm:
The following can have different legal and commercial treatment:
A stage-payment schedule is not necessarily finance merely because the customer pays more than once.
For example:
20% on order, 30% when products are ordered, 30% before delivery and 20% on completion
may reflect the performance of one project contract.
However, allowing a customer to receive the complete kitchen today and pay over twelve months could involve a different credit analysis.
Do not decide the regulatory position solely by changing the wording from:
Finance
to:
Flexible payments
Finance promotions should clearly identify matters such as:
Avoid statements such as:
The finance provider or principal should approve promotions where required.
A finance application and a card payment are not the same transaction.
A project might involve:
The business must know:
Do not automatically refund a finance-funded purchase to the customer’s personal bank account.
Follow the finance provider and payment-provider instructions.
Kitchen and bathroom businesses can receive customer money weeks or months before the complete project is delivered.
This creates future-delivery exposure.
A provider may ask:
A business processes:
£500,000 during one month
But only:
£250,000 relates to completed or delivered projects
The provider may consider the remaining customer exposure, not only the monthly card turnover. Taking customer deposits before manufacture, delivery or installation can create future-delivery exposure, particularly where projects have long lead times or high transaction values. Our Future-Delivery Risk in Payments guide explains how deposits, stage payments and outstanding customer obligations can affect merchant-account underwriting.
MAS insight: Track unfulfilled value
The business should be able to report:
This helps the company manage its own cash flow and may also support provider reviews.
Kitchen and bathroom businesses are not universally classified in one identical way.
A provider may consider:
One provider may be comfortable with a business model that another does not support.
MAS has previously helped a UK kitchen and bathroom supplier after its former merchant facility was terminated because that provider viewed the sector’s risk differently. Another provider assessed the application and approved it within approximately one week, subject to its own underwriting and terms.
One past approval does not guarantee that another kitchen or bathroom business will receive the same outcome.
A UK kitchen and bathroom supplier approached Merchant Advice Service after its existing merchant facility was terminated.
The company could no longer collect customer card payments, creating an immediate operational problem.
MAS reviewed the business and introduced it to another provider whose approach to the sector differed from the previous provider’s.
The replacement application was approved within a week, allowing the business to resume card processing.
The full case study is available here:
Kitchen and Bathroom Supplier Merchant Account Case Study
The case demonstrates why businesses should not assume:
One provider’s risk decision represents the entire acquiring market.
It also shows why a replacement application should accurately explain:
A provider may request:
A stronger application presents this information coherently rather than waiting for the underwriter to discover it across several documents.
The payment provider assigns or confirms the merchant category code based on the principal business activity.
A kitchen or bathroom business could involve:
The business should not select a code merely because it appears easier to approve.
The application should describe:
An inaccurate description can affect:
A card payment being approved does not mean the full amount is immediately available in the business bank account.
The payment may pass through:
The provider’s timetable could be:
For a business that must quickly pay suppliers, the difference between:
Customer payment approved
and:
Usable cash in the bank
is important.
See the MAS guide to card-payment settlement times.
A payment provider may retain an agreed percentage of processing as a reserve.
Customer deposit: £10,000
Rolling reserve: 10%
New reserve retained: £1,000
Remaining amount before fees and other adjustments: £9,000
The business may already need to pay:
A reserve can therefore affect the ability to fund the project even where the card sale was successful.
Before accepting an offer, confirm:
For more detail, see the guide to merchant account rolling reserves.
Consider two offers.
Provider A may have the lower invoice.
Provider B may make more working capital available for supplier payments.
The correct comparison is:
How much usable cash will reach the business, when, and at what overall cost?
Use the MAS guide to comparing card-processing quotes to normalise different offers.
A chargeback relating to a kitchen or bathroom project may not concern whether the customer authorised the card.
It can involve allegations that:
The business may need evidence covering the complete project.
Useful evidence can include:
A card receipt alone is unlikely to explain a six-month supply-and-install project.
Before ordering bespoke products, obtain clear approval of:
Approval might be recorded through:
The approved version should be identifiable.
Do not rely on several contradictory PDF designs with no clear final version.
Kitchen and bathroom projects often change after the original agreement.
Examples include:
Each variation should record:
Use a separate payment link or invoice reference such as:
Variation 03 – additional electrical work
rather than adding an unexplained amount to the next stage payment.
The final-balance point should be clearly defined.
Possible milestones include:
Avoid relying on vague wording such as:
Final payment due when almost complete
The contract should explain whether minor snagging prevents the final balance becoming due.
The business also needs a fair process where:
A snagging process should identify:
Where a customer withholds the complete final payment over a minor issue, the business should follow its contractual and legal process rather than attempting repeated card collections without permission.
Where a serious issue remains unresolved, the business should not treat a signed payment receipt as proof that the service was performed correctly.
Refunds can arise because of:
The business should understand:
Refund to the original payment method where required by provider rules and the circumstances.
Do not issue a cash or bank refund for a card payment merely because the customer asks, without checking the legitimate reason and provider process.
A partial refund should be linked to:
Original stage payment: £7,500
Product removed from order: £800
Partial refund: £800
The revised project statement should show:
This prevents the customer and accounts team from working from different totals.
Where a customer cancels after the business has:
the company may have incurred genuine costs.
However, the business should not automatically keep every payment without considering:
Government guidance warns that excessive cancellation charges and automatic loss of all upfront payments can be unfair.
An effective payment setup can link the transaction to:
The customer journey might be:
Design approved
↓
Invoice automatically created
↓
Payment link issued
↓
Payment confirmed
↓
Project stage updated
↓
Accounts reconciled
↓
Next project action released
This reduces manual errors and creates stronger project evidence.
Use a consistent structure.
For example:
Customer surname – project number – payment stage
Such as:
SMITH-K1048-DEPOSIT
or:
SMITH-K1048-PREDELIVERY
Avoid descriptions containing unnecessary sensitive personal data.
The reference should be understandable to:
A project might involve:
Do not collect the full project payment into one company and informally distribute money to unrelated businesses without understanding:
Where several parties need to receive money, use a properly structured payment or contractual arrangement.
Do not simply use one merchant account as a collection facility for several independent traders.
The customer may pay the showroom while the business later pays subcontractors.
The business should establish:
A statement saying:
The fitter is self-employed, so we are not responsible
may not reflect the customer contract or legal position.
Obtain legal advice on the supply and installation structure.
A larger kitchen or bathroom business may have:
The payment setup should control:
A salesperson should not be able to:
For each payment, the business should be able to identify:
At month end, reconcile:
Customer payments
↓
Provider settlement
↓
Business bank account
↓
Project ledger
↓
Accounting system
The project balance and payment-provider balance should not be maintained as unrelated spreadsheets.
Prepare:
The MAS high-risk merchant account application guide explains how to prepare a more complex provider application.
Do not terminate the existing arrangement before the replacement is:
Confirm:
A salesperson saying:
We work with kitchen businesses
is not final approval.
A termination notice should be handled carefully.
Record:
Do not:
The replacement provider will need an accurate explanation.
See the MAS guide to terminated merchant facilities.
Compare more than:
Card rate
Include:
A provider with a slightly higher rate may produce a better result if it offers:
Before processing begins, confirm:
Tell Merchant Advice Service:
MAS can help you:
Merchant Advice Service cannot guarantee:
The relevant payment or finance provider remains responsible for underwriting, pricing, settlement, reserves, customer eligibility and final contract terms.
Merchant Advice Service provides free, independent guidance to businesses looking for help with card payments, payment gateways and more complex payment requirements.
Where appropriate, MAS may introduce a business to a relevant payment provider. We may receive a referral fee or commission if an introduction results in a completed account or service.
MAS does not necessarily compare every provider in the market, and all applications remain subject to the relevant provider’s own assessment, underwriting and approval.
This article provides general payments and commercial information. It does not constitute legal, regulatory, financial, consumer-credit, tax or accounting advice. Customer contracts, cancellation rights, finance permissions, payment-provider terms, reserves and settlement arrangements vary according to the business, transaction and provider.
Choose an area below and we'll take you to the relevant guide, where you can understand your options and find suitable providers.
Understand merchant accounts, acquiring and card processing options.
Online payments, ecommerce, recurring payments and complex integrations.
Explore options for taking face-to-face card payments.
Explore EPOS, POS and integrated payment setups for your business.
Guidance for businesses with more complex underwriting or payment requirements.
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Merchant Advice Service helps businesses understand their payment requirements before approaching providers.
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Libby James is the founder and Managing Director of Merchant Advice Service. Since 2016, she has worked directly with businesses and payment providers across merchant accounts, card processing, payment gateways and complex provider requirements.
Libby specialises in high-risk, declined and harder-to-place merchants, as well as businesses requiring specialist payment methods, integrations or international support. She writes and reviews Merchant Advice Service content, drawing on practical experience gained from real merchant enquiries and provider relationships.
