Volusion Reviews & Complaints

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Overview

In this article, we dive into the multifaceted world of Volusion, an e-commerce platform renowned for its integrated payment processing services. We explore the ease of setting up and managing online stores through Volusion, emphasizing the platform’s support for a wide range of payment methods and its focus on fraud prevention and security. Highlighting the customizable nature of the checkout experience and the responsive customer support offered, we provide insights into how these features enhance the overall user experience.

We also explore Volusion’s seamless integration with various third-party apps, aiming to streamline e-commerce operations. Despite its comprehensive services, the company faced challenges, notably its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2020 and subsequent emergence in 2021. This piece also discusses the pros and cons of using Volusion, touching upon aspects like its complex pricing structure and customer support concerns.

We examine Volusion's legal history, including its involvement in a significant data breach and subsequent class-action lawsuit settlement. Our article also offers a critical look at Volusion’s online ratings and customer reviews, highlighting the common issues faced by users, such as complaints of hidden fees and deceptive marketing practices. We conclude with an overall assessment of Volusion, considering its performance in the e-commerce and payment processing industry, and what these insights mean for potential users and businesses considering its services.

About Volusion

Volusion is a merchant account provider offering online stores and e-commerce solutions for internet-based businesses. The company utilizes Global Payments as its debit and credit card processing network but also offers e-commerce features of its own. Volusion can be integrated with multiple third-party payment gateways, including Authorize.netStripe, SagePay, WorldPay, TransFirst, and PayPal.

In 2020, Volusion filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and emerged in 2021.

E-Commerce Platform with Integrated Payment Processing

Volusion is an e-commerce platform that provides businesses with a comprehensive solution for creating and managing online stores. One of the key features of this platform is its integrated payment processing services, which allow merchants to accept credit card payments seamlessly and securely, directly through their online store.

Easy Setup and Management

Setting up payment processing with Volusion is simple and straightforward. Businesses can quickly enable payment gateways, configure tax settings, and manage shipping options through the platform's user-friendly dashboard. This ease of use reduces the time and effort required to get an online store up and running.

Wide Range of Supported Payment Methods

Volusion's integrated payment processing services support a broad array of payment methods, including major credit cards, debit cards, and digital wallets. By offering customers multiple payment options, businesses can cater to a wider audience and improve their overall customer experience.

Fraud Prevention and Security

Volusion takes security seriously and employs advanced fraud prevention measures to protect both businesses and their customers. The platform is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant and utilizes encryption technologies to secure sensitive customer data during transactions. These security features ensure a safe and trustworthy shopping experience for customers.

Customizable Checkout Experience

The Volusion platform allows businesses to customize their checkout process to better align with their brand and improve customer satisfaction. This customization includes adjusting colors, fonts, and other visual elements, as well as tailoring the checkout flow to meet the specific needs of the business.

Responsive Customer Support

Volusion offers responsive and knowledgeable customer support for its credit card processing services. Merchants can access support through various channels, including phone, email, and live chat, ensuring that any issues or questions are promptly addressed.

Integration with Popular Third-Party Apps

Volusion's platform is designed to integrate smoothly with popular third-party apps and services, such as accounting software, email marketing tools, and inventory management systems. These integrations allow businesses to streamline their operations and manage various aspects of their online store through a single platform.

Location & Ownership

Volusion is headquartered at 1825B Kramer Ln Ste 100, Austin, Texas 78758, and lists its founding date as 1999. The company is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., based in Concord, California. Kevin Sproles is a founder of Volusion, while Troy Pike is CEO/president and Bardia Dejban is the COO.

Video Summary

Pros & Cons
Pros: Cons:
Reliable uptime. Complex pricing structure.
Integrated with Volusion platform. Additional fees may apply.
Secure transaction processing. Limited international support.
User-friendly interface. Potential for account holds.
Multiple payment options. Customer support concerns.

Volusion Customer Reviews

Here's What Their Clients Say

Customer Reviews Summary
Total Online Complaints 100+
Live Customer Support Some Plans
Most Common Complaint Hidden Fees
Recent Lawsuits Yes

High Complaint Volume

Our investigation has uncovered over 100 negative reviews of Volusion, with some clients characterizing the company as a scam or ripoff. Common grievances include undisclosed rates and fees, fund-holds, challenges in cancelling services, inadequate customer support, and software issues. Clients frequently highlight the company’s misleading rate quotes on its website as a significant problem, with concerns raised about the effectiveness of the “Priority” support despite its higher cost. It is important for businesses to ensure the proper termination of both their merchant account and internet hosting service, as there have been instances where clients mistakenly cancelled only one service, leading to continued billing for the other. If you have your own experience with Volusion to share, please feel free to do so in the comments below.

Volusion Legal Involvement

Volusion was embroiled in a significant data breach that resulted in a $4.3 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit.

Clients dissatisfied with Volusion and seeking non-litigious solutions are advised to consider reporting their concerns to the relevant supervisory organizations.

Volusion Customer Support Options

Volusion provides online support for its “Personal” plan clients, phone support for its “Professional” plan clients, and priority support for its “Business” and “Prime” plan clients. Currently, Volusion’s support offerings do not align with those of top-rated credit card processors for customer service.

Volusion Customer Service Number

  • (800) 646-3517 – Prime and Business Plan support

Other Support Options

Volusion Online Ratings

Here's How They Rate Online

Online Ratings Summary
BBB Reports 20

Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.

Over 5 Complaints

Volusion’s Better Business Bureau profile currently has an “A+” rating and accreditation since 2001 despite 10 complaints filed within the last 36 months.

What Merchants Say

In addition to the 10 complaints filed on its BBB profile, Volusion has also received 10 informal reviews. All of those reviews are negative in tone. The most recent review describes being charged without permission and poor customer support:

TOTAL SCAM…BEWARE!! There was a $1 charge to my bank account as a “test” from Volusion and Grow with ************ did NOT authorize. I don’t know how or when my personal information was given to this company. I did not have any dealings with these companies and when I attempted to contact them, I got the automated operator run-around. Was not able to speak with anyone!!

Outside of the BBB, we have found over 100 complaints against Volusion. Many of those complaints detail deceptive marketing practices that include being given misleading rate quotes. Clients who experience similar issues should familiarize themselves with how to cancel their services without paying a fee, especially in the event the rates they are charged are not in line with those they negotiated.

A “C” Performance Overall

Given Volusion’s growing complaint totals, the company’s low resolution ratio, and informal reviews making assertions of deceptive marketing tactics, we have adjusted the BBB‘s score to a “C.”

Volusion Fees, Rates & Costs

A Closer Look at The Contract

Cost & Fees Summary
Cancellation Penalties Yes
Monthly & Annual Fees Yes
Processing Rates Variable
Equipment Leasing Yes

Volusion Pricing

The costs of using Volusion to accept online payments can be broken into two categories: credit card processing fees and web hosting fees. The standard Volusion credit card processing agreement appears to be a three-year contract through Global Payments with a $99 early termination fee, a monthly minimum fee of $25, a $17.99 monthly gateway fee, a $10 statement fee, and a $3.41 monthly PCI Compliance fee.

The company’s rate structure is as follows: 2.15% plus $0.34 for Qualified transactions, 3.56% plus $0.34 for Mid-Qualified Transactions, and 3.96% plus $0.34 for Non-Qualified transactions. To accept credit cards online with Volusion Payments, it appears that the average monthly cost is $61.77 at minimum, and this amount may increase depending on whether a client accrues over $25 in transaction fees in a given month.

Web Hosting Plans

The company offers its payment processing as a supplemental month-to-month service to its web hosting services. The monthly costs of its web hosting packages are $29 (“Personal”), $79 (“Professional”), $179 (“Startup”), and  $299 (“Business”). These service tiers include improvements to bandwidth, customer support, integration, marketing tools, and other features that are proportional to each price increase. Some business complaints describe these additional services as subject to downtime, costly, and poorly designed, and there is very little publicly posted positive feedback regarding the company’s web hosting at this time.

A Merely Average Option

All-told, it appears that the absolute minimum monthly cost of hosting a bare-bones online store and simply having a Volusion merchant account is around $100 per month at this time. There are several other, better-reviewed options available for a lower cost, which inclines us to give the company a “C” in this category.

Volusion Employee Reviews & Sales Tacitcs

Should You Work For Them?

Jobs & Marketing Summary
Uses Independent Resellers No
Telemarketing No
Misleading Marketing Yes
Discloses All Important Terms No

Volusion Sales Approach

Volusion appears to primarily market itself online, through its website, and through its partnership with Global Payments. There is no indication at this time that the company employs independently contracted sales agents to sell its services, and there are no Volusion reviews online alleging misrepresentation by specific individuals affiliated with the company.

Misleading Rate Quote

There are, however, multiple Volusion complaints regarding nondisclosure of rates and fees within the company’s official advertising materials, most notably with respect to the 2.15% transaction fee advertised on the Volusion website. This rate is only the company’s “Qualified” rate, and the website makes no mention of Volusion’s “Mid-Qualified” rate of 3.56% or its “Non-Qualified” rate of 3.96% that clients will pay to process rewards cards or international card payments.

Nondisclosure Issues

Additionally, some clients complain of nondisclosure of the company’s three-year service length and $99 cancellation fee, neither of which is listed prominently on the company’s site. Volusion doesn’t help its case by advertising “no added fees” on its pricing page. This claim is technically true, but only because Volusion does not charge additional transaction fees on top of a third-party gateway’s fees. If you suspect that Volusion is charging you undisclosed fees, we recommend seeking a third-party statement audit to find and eliminate hidden charges.

Our Volusion Review Summary

Our Final Thoughts

Volusion receives an average rating as a credit card processing provider according to our rating standards. The company is showing a moderate-to-high complaint volume, specifically with regard to its rate quoting and contract terms. Its pricing is not especially competitive at this time, and its customer service department is not receiving positive reviews. Overall, Volusion could stand to improve in almost every category of this review, and if it does, it could become a solid choice for a e-commerce store creator platforms.

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Which is Most Important for You?

If you had to pick one, which quality would you say will be the most important with your next credit card processor? Tap or click your selection to register your vote:

  1. Low Transaction Fees
  2. No Monthly Fees
  3. No Contract
  4. Reliable Customer Support
  5. Quick Signup

Testimonials & Complaints

How Did Volusion Treat You?

11 User Reviews

  • j

    Volusion Merchant Bait and Switch. Roger Bautista emailed us the fees Volusion charges and was quoted 2.15%, .30 per transaction, .30 batch fee and $5.66 location fee. When I got my first bill it was about 4.8%. I tried several times to reach Roger but he would not reply. Finally reached a manager who did nothing to help us just said that certain credit cards are billed more than 2.15% based on the customer’s rewards. That was never explained to us so obviously we dropped them.

  • AW

    As one of the ORIGINAL Volusion customers (I used to talk for hours with with Kevin back when he was developing it. He was a teenager back then (My store # is 4 digits that is how long I have been with them) I can speak as sincere and straight forward about Volusion. Here is my advice to anyone considering opening a e-commerce account. DO NOT USE VOLUSION!!!! I repeat, DO NOT USE VOLUSION.

    HERE IS WHY: (btw it wasn’t always this way – it has progressively gotten worse)

    * Volusion will nickel and dime you on everything they can. Even the smallest things are add-ons
    * Volusion is not an easy to use interface.
    * Volusion is not up to date (you pay more to have what is considered an online store selling standard everwhere else)
    * Volusion will overcharge you on bandwidth (caught them many times doing this)
    * Volusion will “update” their system, even at the sake of your site not working on new platform.
    * Volusion doesn’t even include email with your package. SAY WHAT?! NONE!
    * Volusion mobile SUCKS SO BAD!! IT IS THE WORST EVER. Please for the sake of your business -STAY AWAY from their mobile.
    * Volusion will allow customers to place orders even when the item is OUT OF STOCK , HIDDEN and DO NOT ALLOW BACKORDERS is all selected! (This is a huge problem)
    * Custom template? oh NO!! Volusion really doesn’t care about any custom template stores, they will change their backend and your are screwed if you don’t update your template.
    * The admin backend has been changed to a completely backasswards way of doing things. In order to look so high tech then made it goofy and difficult to find the simplest things.
    * Volusion had customer service, did away with it, brought it back, limited it, now its back. Who knows for how long?
    * Volusion charges for SSL and most other places include it with monthly plans that are priced like V’s.
    * I promise you will experience ISSUES and LOST SALES all the time with Volusion. We have had 100’s of customer calls saying they can NOT get the “Place Order” button to actually place order. It just stalls, we had one customer who clicked it 5 times before she called us. Finally on the 7th time of clicking it, it went through. How many other customers just left after the 2nd click?
    * Volusion SEO is terrible.

    Since Volusion has changed things up so many times, my custom template became obsolete, my site lost sales. It went from 5000 orders a month to 20 orders a month!!! I went from $680,000/yr to $20,000. I was told that it was because the majority of my visitors are on mobile devices, so I turned on Volusions’ mobile platform- NOT ONE ORDER FOR 3 WEEKS! Turned it off and within 5 hours, started getting orders again.

    I stayed with them since 2000, since I was afraid to move to a new platform. I was afraid to move 500 products. I was afraid to have to come up with all sorts of new images, new descriptions, etc. I fought to defend that the issue was the website. I kept saying ti was the market, it was competition, it was everything other than Volusion. But after some very strong convincing ( I really didn’t want to change – even tho I knew I was so unhappy, but change is scary) I changed over to Shopify…and OMG!!!! WOW

    VOLUSION IS IN THE DARK AGES WITH A DUNCE HAT ON! I quietly duplicated my site over to Shopify, It was SO EASY… I could go on and on about how amazing Shopify is but this is about how poor Volusion is so I won’t.

    BUT…. know this.

    Since I opened my new Shopify site (Volusion site is still active – until Shopify gets search engine recognized) I have had over $5000 in sales on my new Shopify site in 22 days!!! Volusion site? $67.81

    There is no denying it….. Volusion is not where it is at anymore. I am going to turn off the Volusion site on 6/30/18, when my SSL expires and never look back!

    PLEASE DO NOT START YOUR ONLINE E-COMMERCE STORE ON VOLUSION! YOU MAY BE FIGHTING AN UPHILL BATTLE THAT YOU WILL BLAME ON YOURSELF!
    I don’t want anyone else to feel bad about their company, or their marketing skills, or the market. Thinking that the low sales or traffic is their fault. I’m telling you firsthand, it is very likely that a good portion of blame is on the Volusion platform. I was about to give up my company. Shut the doors after 20 years, because of Volusion. Now I am seeing what a huge mistake that would and could have been. If I had only changed over years ago…. lesson learned for me! I hope you learn from my mistake…

    BEST OF LUCK TO YOU (UNLESS YOU CHOOSE VOLUSION – THEN “I TOLD YOU SO!”)

  • simon

    Merchant BEWARE! Volusion Merchant service the worst!!!! They are NOTHING BUT SCAMMERS! I tried canceling the service through Authorize.net and they were still charging us – SCAMMERS! Shame on you Volusion for such terrible service!

  • Suzanne Kilker

    I have used my credit cards twice with this Volusion website for secure information when I’ve been purchasing merchandise. I don’t want to name the business name as I’ve emailed them about the problems I’ve had with 2 different credit cards numbers that were stolen & several thousands dollars charged to the Bronx New York area. I live in Alabama, not buying takeout & food at the above city. I will never buy a product that goes through Volusion

  • Henry

    This company is terrible. DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE TO CHOOSE THEM FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS OR MERCHANT SERVICES. SQUARE IS 1 MILLION TIMES BETTER. They will rob you of your money and find a way to make up charges whenever they can.
    Also, when you cancel with them, make sure you cancel all of their services from all departments because they will continue to charge you for things if you don’t.
    For example: I canceled my online store and was never told to cancel the merchant account with them until I called back after seeing charges on my bank statement. They then told me to call Authorize.net, who they use for merchant services, to cancel and stop the charges. I immediately did that and thought I was ok then until I saw more charges on the following statement.
    Apparently, I was suppose to also cancel with Volusion Merchant department which no one mentioned to me. Just did that.. Let’s see what kind of charges I’m going to see next month.
    I’m so glad i switched over to Big Commerce and Square for my merchant services.

  • katie b

    Arg, why isn’t this review on the first page of search results! Stay away Volusion, it’s a bait-and-switch company that’s riddled with hidden fees! Basically everything on the Volusion website and everything the sales people tell you is inaccurate and intentionally misleading. Absolutely do NOT sign up for their Merchant Account – it looks like a feature of their monthly plan but it isn’t! You’re actually signing up for a 3-YEAR contract that’s at least $33.50 per month, with a $99 cancellation fee! The term is not in the contract anywhere, it’s on a separate page on their website that you will never find until you get the contract. Who reads contract terms, especially when they link to additional terms? No one, and that’s what they’re counting on. Don’t pay them for a website that looks like garbage to start with, and definitely stay away from any contracts with them. They will intentionally mislead you – even if you ask questions about their services, the sales reps know how to avoid giving direct answers. I spent over 60 hours trying to develop my website on Volusion to not look like garbage only to find out their alleged $15/month plan will actually be $50 per month in other fees! I’m sticking with my free basic html site and free paypal buttons, they’re working just fine and look way better than Volusion ever did!

  • marie kearse

    I was really disappointed in this company and their service. I signed up to open my own website and did not know about all the hidden costs. During the free trial you cannot sell anything because you have not been approved yet to receive credit card payments. You can only try to design an ad and see how it looks or work. When you sign up you have to give your bank account number and routing and these people will start charging you for the Global Payment whether you sell or not . Then there are all these fees for SEO . After three months I had no sales and lost hundreds of $$ . I did not even have an abandoned cart. Pretty awful. Then they tried to make me pay the cancellation fee which was not discussed when I signed up on the phone. I had to go to the bank and block them from withdrawing money from the bank account since they had the number and routing. A total rip off for people who are not savvy. Also they make you check the user agreement online and these charges are buried in long verbiage that people do not usually read. Then they try to intimidate you with the prospect of collection agencies. They will talk about that user agreement. Totally deceptive. Too many hidden costs. The free trial is useless because it is not a real site. you cannot see if people come to your store. They also periodically threaten to turn me in to the collection agency even months later. A total nightmare.

  • Teri

    Merchant Beware! Volusion Merchant Services is the worst. They have poor customer service. You are going to pay no less than $63/ month for credit card processing. Meaning even if you are just setting up shop and no transactions are being processed your bill will be at least $63/ month. Also, they do not list their $99 penalty fee for closing your merchant account in their list of fees. It is buried in the fine print close to the end of the contract document you will sign. I do not recommend them. They are the worst and you can find a cheaper service.

  • jacob

    Global payments is a rip off- charge for payments received and refunds.

    Get this:
    If you have employees watch out. Volusion does not limit access for refunds. If they can process a transaction via credit card, they can refund it. A disgruntled employee could refund thousands and thousands of dollars to random customers for Months after the sale has taken place. Too much liability if you are not doing it all yourself. They should include permissions to charge and refund cards separately so some rogue employee does not create a mess refunding people at random.

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