Every year we stress that the Bring & Buy is cash only.

And every year we get lots of people asking why.

So let’s break down why it has to be cash, and ultimately why we cannot run the Bring & Buy using card payments. It’s essentially down to three key reasons:

One: We don’t own the games that you’re buying. Other attendees do.

Well, let’s say people bought the games and we charged them using a card payment solution. That money, and the associated regulations to do with the sale, is now the convention’s responsibility and must be accounted for as part of our accounts.

Then the reverse is true. When sellers were “cashing out” we would legally be ‘selling’ them something, and again that would bring with it some regulations and accounting stuff.

In short, this is not in our interests to do this.

Two: Card payments over a weekend.

At 2025’s Bring & Buy we processed a five figure sum of “sales”.

If all of that was processed via card, then thanks to how card payments work, the money we would take in wouldn’t arrive in our bank account until approx 3 working days AFTER the convention.

Which means, if we were to pay out (via card payment) then we would need to have an amount more than that sitting in reserve in our bank account just in case something went wrong with the sales.

That’s not something we can really plan for.

Three: Card payments cost money, and so does the tech needed to process them.

If we did take card payments, then we’d need to increase the amount of money we take from the Bring & Buy. Either by charging the sellers more, or reducing the percentage of the money we give to charity.

What percentage increase would that need? Well on average, depending on card payment processor and type of card used the percentage can range from 1.5% to 2.5%. For ease let’s assume we made it 2%.

We’d also need more card terminals, more mobile phones to work with them, to be able to take card payments.

Add that cost into the card payment % and then we are looking at something closer to 2.5% or even 3% to offset those costs.

None of the above is in anyone’s interest really.

Ultimately, we operate the Bring & Buy as a service. We don’t ‘buy’ the games you bring, nor do we ‘sell’ the games you buy. We simply manage the marketplace where this happens, and enable that to work.

So, that’s why it’s cash.