Inner Fence Overall Rating

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Inner Fence Overview

Inner Fence Logo

Sometimes referred to as “InnerFence” as one word, Inner Fence, LLC. (innerfence.com) is a Seattle based company that focuses on building credit card processing software for mobile devices such as the Android and iPhone. Similar to that of Pay Anywhere, GoPayment and Square, Inner Fence allows merchants to accept credit card payments on their smartphones and tablets. Merchants should note that only iPhone users will be able to take advantage of swiped transactions using an attached card reader. Android users can only key-in the transactions as of this review.

Inner Fence was founded in 2007 and operates in an apparent joint venture with Merchant Focus, which supplies the actual credit card processing. The companies also acquired AppNinjas (Swipe), another mobile processor, in 2010.

Inner Fence Sales & Marketing Tactics | A+

Inner Fence uses no deceptive advertising or rate quoting that is apparent to this reviewer. In fact, the company’s website has the most transparent pricing of any previously reviewed provider (covered below). It appears that Inner Fence primarily markets it service through online marketing, referral partnerships, and referrals from Merchant Focus.

Inner Fence Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | A-

Inner Fence splits its pricing into three categories: U.S. Merchants, Canadian Merchants and Non-Profits. All three are month-to-month agreements with no cancellation fees, no setup fees, no minimum fees, no annual fees, no AVS fees, no batch header fees and no leasing or PCI Compliance fees. All types also include Discover credit card acceptance while requiring a separate American Express merchant account. As for pricing, each has slightly different rates and fees.

US based merchants will pay $25 per month and the following rates: Swipe/retail accounts have three tiers: 1.74% Qualified, 2.29% Mid-Qualified, and 3.79% Non-Qualified plus $0.24 per transaction for all tiers. Keyed/e-commerce accounts have two tiers: 2.09% Qualified, 3.79% Non-Qualified plus $0.24 per transaction. Inner Fence does not bundle the Dues & Assessments fees charged by the card associations, so this will add an additional 0.11% for VISA and MasterCard transactions and 0.925% for Discover. American Express rates will vary by merchant.

Canadian based merchants will have their processing handled by BeanStream and will be charged $0.99(CAD) for the iPhone app and $35(CAD) per month. Canadians also have a simple flat rate transaction fee of 2.95% + $0.25 per transaction, regardless of card or transaction type.

Non-Profit companies based in the U.S. get a slight break in pricing with a $20 monthly service fee and rates of 1.74% Qualified, 2.29% Mid-Qualified, 3.09% Non-Qualified plus $0.24 per transaction. These rate tiers appear to apply to both keyed and swiped transactions, but merchants are encouraged to double check with Inner Fence before applying. Be sure to read “Fee Sweep” to get a full understanding of how rates and fees are assessed in the credit card processing industry.

Aside from processing costs, merchants who wish to take advantage of the lower swipe rates will need to purchase a card reader from Inner Fence for $79. Check the Inner Fence website and service agreement for full rate and fee disclosure.

Inner Fence Complaints & Service | A+

Inner Fence has no complaints filed in the usual forums and the app has received high ratings in the iTunes store. Additionally, the company has a dedicated customer support phone number as well as email support.

Inner Fence BBB Report | N/A

As of this review, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) does not have a report for Inner Fence. The lack of a (BBB) report will not be factored into the overall rating of the company for the purposes of this review. Merchants may want to check the Merchant Focus BBB report since it’s the company that handles the processing.

Bottom Line

Overall, Inner Fence scores well in most of the important areas of merchant credit card acceptance. The service has a few drawbacks including an expensive card reader (where many competitors offer it for free), lack of Android card reader support, and pricing that, in some cases, will be more expensive than its competitors.

iPayment Overall Rating

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iPayment Overview

iPayment Logo

iPayment (ipaymentinc.com) is a direct credit card processor that boasts that it provides merchant accounts to approximately 145,000 small businesses nationwide. Founded in 2006, the company is headquartered in Nashville, TN but maintains its main operations center in Los Angeles, CA. iPayment is sponsored by Wells Fargo of Walnut Creek, CA as its Acquiring Bank.

Besides processing credit and debit cards, iPayment offers a wide variety of electronic payment processing services including gift and loyalty card programs, fuel services, paper and electronic check processing, merchant cash advances and ecommerce acceptance methods.

iPayment Sales & Marketing Tactics | C

While iPayment is an actual credit card processor, it relies heavily upon third-party independent sales organizations (ISOs) and independently contracted agents to bring in new customers. This is a common practice among large processors and often results in merchant complaints because the sales tactics of the ISOs and agents are very hard to control. It appears that iPayment is suffering from the usual complaints regarding this strategy, which negatively affects its rating in this section.

iPayment does not appear to directly utilize any deceptive marketing or rate quoting tactics; however, some of its ISOs and agents appear to be doing so. Merchants are encouraged to research any company offering iPayment merchant accounts before signing up.

iPayment Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | C-

Pricing and contract terms of an iPayment merchant account can vary based on several factors including a merchant’s business type, processing volume and the agent or ISO setting up the account. Under most circumstances it looks like the standard contracts have service agreements of 36 months with early termination fees that range from $300 to $500. Depending on the ISO or agent, the terms of an iPayment merchant account contract are likely to be very negotiable. Be sure to read “Fee Sweep” before engaging any merchant account provider in contract negotiation.

iPayment Complaints & Service | D

iPayment has a moderate-to-high number of complaints filed online, many of which can be found in the comment section below. There are two types of complaints that dominate the reports; In the first type, the obvious sources of the merchants’ problems originate with the agents or ISOs that set up the accounts. In these complaints the common theme among merchants are reports of hidden fees, high monthly fees, non-disclosure of the service length agreement/cancellation fees, and high PCI Compliance fees. In the second type, iPayment is the source of the complaints and merchants report receiving poor service and unprofessional customer support.

Since it is our philosophy that the actual credit card processor is ultimately responsible for the agents and ISOs which represent it, we are awarding iPayment a low rating in this section.

iPayment BBB Report | N/A

As of this update, iPayment still does not have a full report or rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Since it has been over 12 months since our last update we suspect that there might be some “behind the scenes” dealings going on between the companies which would keep a potentially poor rating from showing; however, there is no direct evidence to support this belief.

Bottom Line

iPayment is suffering from numerous complaints mostly due to its marketing strategy of hiring independent agents and partnering with ISOs. The company can improve its rating by significantly reducing its future complaint count, and improving its pricing and contract policies so that merchants cannot be set up in expensive long-term contracts.

Leave your review of iPayment in the comment section below.

Charge Anywhere

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Charge Anywhere Overview

Charge Anywhere Logo

Although Charge Anywhere (chargeanywhere.com) offers several electronic processing solutions, the focus of this review will be about its mobile processing app dubbed “Charge Anywhere Direct” (chargeanywheredirect.com).

It’s important to understand that Charge Anywhere Direct only supplies a smartphone app that makes accepting mobile payments possible on Android, iPhone and some Blackberry devices. The company does not actually process payments or supply a merchant account. Merchants who wish to use the Charge Anywhere app will need to establish a separate merchant account with an actual processor. The app is compatible with virtually every major credit card processor and merchants can select a provider of their choice.

Although the information is somewhat hard to come by, it appears that Charge Anywhere, LLC. was established in 1998 and is based in South Plainfield, New Jersey. The company also acquired Comstar Interactive Corp. in 2004.

Charge Anywhere Sales Tactics & Marketing Strategy | A+

Charge Anywhere does not utilize any deceptive marketing or price quoting tactics that are immediately apparent. The company appears to rely primarily on advertising and partnerships to market its service.

Charge Anywhere Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | A+

Charge Anywhere assesses only one required fee of $9.99 per month as the gateway fee for using the app. Other than that, the only other costs come in the form of optional card swiping hardware. The card readers range from $49 for simple readers to $249 for readers that include receipt printers.

Aside from the monthly service fee and hardware costs, the app has no service length commitment and no cancellation fees or other hidden fees. Keep in mind that your processor will have its own set of fees that are separate from Charge Anywhere’s and may have other important contract terms that you need to understand. Be sure to check out “Fee Sweep” to keep from getting scammed by a dubious processor or sales agent.

Charge Anywhere Complaints & Service | A+

Charge Anywhere does not have any complaints filed in the usual forums. The company also supplies a dedicated toll-free customer support line (800-404-2014), email support, and live chat support.

Charge Anywhere BBB Report | N/A

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) does not have a report for Charge Anywhere as of this review and will not be factored into the company’s overall rating.

Bottom Line

Charge Anywhere appears to be a great processing application for smartphones. Unlike Square, GoPayment and Pay Anywhere, Charge Anywhere offers a wide range of flexibility when it come to processing hardware and merchant account provider choices. Because of this, merchants can better customize Charge Anywhere to suit their businesses processing needs over many of its competitors.  Merchants will just need to be careful when selecting processors since they will have their own set of fees and agreements.

As of this review, the Charge Anywhere app is compatible with all iPhones/iPads, all Android Devices, Blackberry 4.1 or higher, Windows Mobile 5.0 or higher, most versions of J2ME/Java phones and any web enabled phone with a browser.

LevelUp Logo

LevelUp has eliminated it’s monthly service fee and expanded its electronic payment service nationwide in tandem with the launch of a custom hardware line for merchants. In a partnership with T-Mobile, the company can now supply any merchant in the U.S. with a plug-and-play smartphone and docking station that allows for quick access into the LevelUp payment network.

LevelUp’s hardware is not required to use its service and any merchant with an Android smartphone or iPhone can download the app and join immediately. Retailers who want to speed up their checkout line can lease a docking station and phone for $25 per month, or $250 per year. The lease does not lock merchants into a contract and can be cancelled anytime without penalties.

Along with this announcement, LevelUp is running a promotion to help merchants save money on the hardware cost. Currently, merchants in Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York City, and Boston can eliminate their monthly lease fee by getting at least two customers a day to pay using the LevelUp app. Merchants in other cities can get a two month lease credit for each new merchant they refer.

LevelUp is a service that facilitates electronics payments between merchants and consumers through the use of QR Codes and smartphones. In addition to conducting payments, LevelUp also includes purchase analytics and a rewards & loyalty program. You can learn more about the company in our LevelUp review.

TSYS Merchant Solutions

Review Updated: 1/24/2012
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TSYS Merchant Solutions Overview

TSYS Logo

TSYS is one of the largest credit card processors in the United States and the company has two primary areas of business. The first, which will be the focus of this review, is its direct sales channel called “TSYS Merchant Solutions.” The second is its processing platform referred to as “TSYS Acquiring Solutions.” It’s important to understand the difference between these two because your relationship with the company is different depending on the channel with which you are dealing. First we’ll cover the acquiring side.

TSYS Acquiring Solutions (tsys.com/acquiring/) is an Omaha, Nebraska, based merchant acquirer (aka: Acquiring Bank). As an acquirer, TSYS specializes in acting as a backend credit card processor for non-acquiring banks, Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs) and companies that create and sell credit card processing technology. In other words, it supplies the credit card processing for other companies that sell merchant services. As a merchant in this scenario, you would have a third party company between you and TSYS that would be setting up and managing your merchant account.

On the direct sales side, TSYS has its own sales offices with dedicated sales staff that can set up a merchant directly with credit card processing services. This channel is called “TSYS Merchant Solutions” (tsysmerchantsolutions.com). In this scenario, there is no third party company between you and TSYS and you will be dealing with TSYS directly for account setup and management.

TSYS has been processing credit card payments since the 1970s and is one of one of the few processors listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TSS). TSYS has acquired several other processors in its history including First National Merchant Services (FNMS), Clarity Payment Solutions, Card Tech Ltd., and TermNet Merchant Services. Some of these companies have remained independently branded while others have been absorbed into the TSYS brand name.

It is important to understand that a very large part of TSYS’s business is supplying credit card processing services to other companies that resell and manage the merchant account customers. In many cases, TSYS does not supply merchant accounts directly to merchants although the TSYS brand name may appear on the merchant account agreement. The banks, subsidiaries and partners that resell TSYS credit card processing can often set the terms of their own contracts, and markup the processing rates and fees as they please. This fact can cause confusion with merchants as TSYS may have had nothing to do with the terms and pricing of the account. To add to the confusion, some partners manage the customer service of their accounts in-house while others outsource it to TSYS’s Back Office Support program. Depending on the partner, a merchant may either deal with the partner’s customer service or TSYS’s customer service. For the purposes of this review, we’ll focus on TSYS’s back office support and direct sales channel.

TSYS Merchant Solutions Sales & Marketing Tactics | B

TSYS appears to use a variety of marketing tactics including employed outside sales agents, telemarketing, advertising and strategic partnerships. It is unclear, as of this review, if TSYS Merchant Solutions utilizes independent sales agents. Therefore, we will be holding this section to a “B” rating until the facts can be obtained. Otherwise, TSYS does not appear to utilize any deceptive marketing tactics that are apparent this reviewer.

TSYS Merchant Solutions Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | C-

Costs and fees of a TSYS merchant account will vary based on a merchant’s business type, processing volume and the agent setting up the account. Generally, this means that pricing is highly flexible. Merchants are encouraged read “Fee Sweep” to learn how to negotiate the best rates and fees.

The reason for the company’s low score in this section is due to its merchant account contract terms. As of this review, TSYS Merchant Solutions’ standard contract includes a three (3) year service agreement that automatically renews for one year terms unless the merchant cancels during a small window of opportunity. In addition to this, merchants that cancel outside of the grace period will be subject to a $250 early termination fee (ETF). The ETF is lower than average, but combined with an automatically renewing contract these provisions greatly reduce the company’s rating in this section.

Keep in mind that these terms can often be negotiated. If you are dealing with a partner or subsidiary the terms may be drastically different. As always, be sure to read the contract in its entirety.

TSYS Merchant Solutions Complaints & Service | B

The majority of complaints filed against TSYS can be traced back to the partner or subsidiary that sold and managed the merchant account. As mentioned earlier, these entities resell TSYS accounts and can set their own terms and pricing as well as have their own in-house customer service. Several complaints seemed to target TSYS when the partner was truly the root of the problem.

There are only a handful of complaints that appear to be a direct result of a TSYS action or policy. In these complaints, the common theme is merchants reporting non-disclosure of the three year service agreement, auto-renewing contract and cancellation fee. Considering TSYS Merchant Solutions’ size and time in business, some of these complaints should be expected; however, the company scores well in this section because there are only a few.

It should be noted that there were many more complaints filed for the recently acquired First National Merchant Services (FNMS).

TSYS Merchant Solutions BBB Report | A- (CPO Adjusted)

As of this review, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is showing that TSYS Merchant Solutions has been accredited since September of 2010. The BBB is awarding the company an “A+” rating and reporting 19 complaints in the last 36 months. The majority are regarding problems with service and billing/collection. All but two of the complaints have been resolved to the merchants’ satisfaction.

We believe “A+” ratings should be reserved for companies with zero complaints so we have adjusted the rating of this section to an “A-“ for the purposes of this review.

Bottom Line

As one of the largest processors, TSYS Merchant Solutions scores well in most sections of this review. The company can raise its rating by removing its three year service agreement, auto-renewing contract and early termination fee. Merchants considering TSYS as their processor are encouraged to negotiate pricing and terms aggressively.

Leave your TSYS Merchant Solutions review in the comment section below.

Pay Anywhere Overall Rating

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Pay Anywhere Overview

Pay Anywhere Logo

Pay Anywhere is a mobile credit card processing service of North American Bancard; however, Pay Anywhere warrants its own review because the service is a departure of North American Bancard’s typical merchant account setup. It should be noted that even though Pay Anywhere is powered by North American Bancard, the actual processor of the credit card transactions is Global Payments.

Much like Inuit’s GoPayment, Pay Anywhere is North American Bancard’s answer to Square’s mobile credit card processing service. The service appears to have launched in 2010, so it is still relatively new to the merchant services arena and has not enjoyed the same kind of buzz and popularity of Square and GoPayment. Even so, Pay Anywhere has been garnering a lot more media attention lately and could become a solid competitor in the wireless credit card processing industry.

Pay Anywhere Sales & Marketing Tactics | A+

Pay Anywhere does not use any deceptive marketing or sales tactics that are apparent to this reviewer. It appears that the company primarily markets its service through advertising, public relations, strategic partnerships and referrals from North American Bancard.

Pay Anywhere Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | A

Pay Anywhere’s pricing resembles Square’s more than it does GoPayment’s. Like the other two, Pay Anywhere has no setup fees, no monthly fees, no cancellation fee and comes with a free credit card reader. The processing rate is similar to the others except that Pay Anywhere includes a transaction rate of $0.19 for each swiped transaction, which can make it the more expensive service for merchants that have mostly low dollar transactions. The full fee for swiped transactions is 2.69% + $0.19 and 3.49% + $0.19 for keyed transactions. As of this review, Pay Anywhere is only compatible with the Apple iPhone (3G, 3GS, 4 with iOS 3 or later), Android (2.1 or later), iPad (iOS 3.23 or later) and will be adding the Blackberry in the near future.

Pay Anywhere Complaints & Service | A

Pay Anywhere has very few complaints and the ones that it does have seem to be based in merchant confusion rather than faults of the Pay Anywhere service. There are a couple of complaints stating that Pay Anywhere is charging a monthly fee even though it is not supposed to have one. Again, these may also be cases of merchant confusion. As of this update, this reviewer is not seeing any common themes in complaints that could indicate potential problems for merchants. Like GoPayment, Pay Anywhere has an edge on Square by having a dedicated 800 number customer support line.

Pay Anywhere BBB Report | A (CPO Adjusted)

As of this update, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is showing that Pay Anywhere is not accredited and awarding the company an “A+” rating. The report shows four (4) complaints filed in the last 36 months split between billing & collection and problems with products/services. Of the complaints, all have been resolved to the merchants’ satisfaction.  Since we believe “A+” ratings should be reserved for companies that have zero complaints, we have adjusted Pay Anywhere’s rating to an “A” for the purposes of this review.

Bottom Line

Pay Anywhere is beginning to gain ground in the mobile processing market. Overall, the service is scoring well and showing that it can compete with the top players. The main drawback is that Pay Anywhere charges a $0.19 transaction fee in addition to the percentage fee (aka: Discount Rate) which can make it the more expensive option among its competitors for merchants dealing in low dollar sales.

Leave your Pay Anywhere review in the comment section below.

Charge.com Overall Rating

Review Updated: 1/17/2011

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Charge.com Overview

Charge.com Logo

Charge.com is a merchant account provider based in Plantation, Florida and has been in business since 1995. The company was bought by Pipeline Data (possible affiliated with Cynergy Data) in 2005 and resells Authorize.net for its payment gateway services. Charge.com focuses primarily on supplying on credit card processing services and equipment.

Charge.com Sales Tactics & Marketing Strategy | D

It is not completely clear how Charge.com brings in new merchant accounts, but it appears that the company relies heavily on online marketing and referrals from its parent company and affiliates. Charge.com has received a low score in this section because the company promotes highly misleading pricing on its website.

For instance, the company compares its pricing according to “industry standards” but fails to disclose all of its own fees. This is not only deceptive, but some may consider it as borderline false advertising. Additionally, the website claims that there is no service length commitment and no cancellation fee; however, there are numerous reports from merchants stating that they incurred a fee for cancelling service. It appears that Charge.com itself does not charge a fee, but its parent company, which handles the card processing, does charge one.

Charge.com Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | D

Charge.com’s pricing varies from merchant to merchant based on business type and processing volume. As mentioned in the previous section of this review, the company promotes deceptive pricing that could easily confuse merchants. Although Charge.com does not lock merchants into contracts, it signs them up with a processor (and parent company) that issues 36 month service agreements with early termination penalties ranging from $300 to $495 (as reported by merchants). The company also charges an annual PCI Compliance fee of up to $185, which is much higher than the industry average.

Charge.com Complaints & Service | C-

Charge.com has a moderate amount of complaints filed online for a provider of its size and time in business; however it should be noted that its parent company (Pipeline Data) and its processor (Cynergy Data) have very high complaint counts. The majority of the complaints report unexpected and hidden fees, non-disclosure of the PCI Compliance fee, high cancellation fees, and unauthorized debits from merchants’ checking accounts.

Charge.com Better Business Bureau Report | C-

As of this update, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is reporting that Charge.com is not BBB accredited. The report shows a “C-“ rating for the company with 39 complaints filed in the last 36 months. The complaints are spread fairly uniformly across advertising and sales issues, billing and collection, and problems with service. Of the 39, eight of the complaints have not been resolved to the merchants’ satisfaction. It should also be noted that Charge.com’s parent company had an “F” rating with the BBB as of its last review.

Bottom Line

Charge.com has been in the merchant services industry for nearly 20 years; however, the company is still suffering the typical type of complaints seen in the credit card processing. Additionally, Charge.com’s parent company and processor score poorly and suffer numerous complaints from merchants. The company can improve its rating by fully disclosing all fees and contract terms of its own services (as well as the ones it resells to merchants) and eliminate future complaints regarding deceptive sales tactics.

Leave your Charge.com review in the comment section below.

This news comes as Square, a GoPayment competitor, recently announced that it will now be selling its card readers at OfficeMax and UPS Stores in the United States. Square is already available in many Wal-Mart locations as well as a few other stores. GoPayment is one of the first major mobile processing services to expand its offering internationally.

Intuit claims the new GoPayment card reader offers better stability and swipe accuracy than that of its competitors. The company says that the new reader will capture the card information on the first swipe with the majority of transactions because it is better secured and will not spin in its connection with the phone. Like the original, it attaches to the audio jack of the smartphone but includes a silicon sleeve and angled card slot to make for easier swiping. The reader will ship with all new Canadian accounts and eventually with all new U.S. accounts. Existing merchants that want to upgrade to the new reader will likely need to purchase it from Intuit.

GoPayment is available to anyone who wants to accept card payments from customers and includes a free card reader, free app, no monthly fees, no annual fees, and month-to-month service with no cancellation fees. Merchants only pay transaction fees when they process card payments. The rates are slightly higher than traditional processors (depending on the account type you choose) but the lack of additional fees can actually make the service more cost effective. GoPayment is ideal for mobile businesses as well as for merchants that want a low cost backup alternative to an existing merchant account. The service is expected to launch in Canada in early 2012.

Receive updates about GoPayment’s Canadian launch by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, or subscribe by email and RSS. For more information about the service, see our GoPayment review.