What to Know Before Getting Started
Starting a New Business?
Selecting a credit card processor is often more complicated than most people expect. How much should you be paying in fees? Should you lease or buy equipment? Should you be locked into a service agreement for anything length of time? These considerations and several others are imporant to understand before signing up with any merchant account provider. Mistakes are easily made and can be very costly to your business. Along with seeing our top choices for payment services below, be sure to checkout this post to avoid common traps in the merchant services industry.
Considerations For Current Business Owners
Changing merchant accounts can be an expensive, complicated, and time consuming process. Are you really going to save as much as promised? Do you need to buy to new equipment or sign new lease agreements? Will there be other less accountable costs such as those associated with employee retraining? Before selecting one of our choices below, you may want to consider renegotiating your fees with your current payment processing vendors using the help of a contingency-compensated consultant. It can result in a dramatic decrease in costs without the pains of switching. In some cases business owner have also obtained substantial refunds of prior overcharges along with saving thousands in future processing costs. See this post to learn more about this little-known alternative to changing merchant account provider.
Accept Payments With Your Android Device
Android smartphones are quickly becoming as popular as the iPhone and offer many of the same apps (also see: Best iPhone Credit Card Processing Apps). Now your Android phone can help you get paid by offering the same mobile credit card processing options that iPhone users enjoy. The concept of processing credit card transactions with your mobile phone is not a new one, but the technology is continually improving. Additionally, these low-cost apps also make for excellent backup processing options in the event that your main processing option fails.
Find the Best Android Payment App
Below are the best rated Android credit card applications and card readers. Some of these services are ideal for small pop-up locations, while others are best used alongside a traditional merchant account. In order to find the best fit for your business, be sure to check out each provider’s website for a full list of features and fees.
Our unbiased articles are supported in part by helping you find highly reviewed merchant accounts. You can learn more here.
Why These Merchant Account Providers
Fattmerchant
Best Overall Option
Active since early 2014, Fattmerchant is a merchant account provider leading the industry’s move toward flat-rate, subscription-style pricing. In addition to a mobile app and card reader for Android devices, the company’s products and services include EMV-compatible countertop terminals, a virtual terminal, an online payment gateway, an online shopping cart, QuickBooks integration, online invoicing, and recurring billing. Fattmerchant offers a mobile app called NPC Mobile as well as an EMV-compatible card reader and Fattmerchant’s unique pricing structure.
Fattmerchant Reviews
Fattmerchant offers multiple pricing plans with different rates. Merchants can select either a plan that charges a flat fee on all transactions or a plan that charges a fixed monthly fee plus a fixed per-transaction dollar amount above interchange. In other words, merchants can choose whether or not they are charged a percentage markup on each transaction. Fattmerchant currently has an “A” rating on CPO and an “A-” rating with the Better Business Bureau.
For more information, visit the Fattmerchant website, or call (866) 397-9826.
Fattmerchant Highlights
- Subscription-style or flat rate pricing
- Custom tip settings
- Live customer support
Fattmerchant Mobile Overview
Host Merchant Services
Great for E-Commerce
Host Merchant Services is a Newark, Delaware-based merchant account provider that offers a free mobile processing app called “HMSPay” for Android along with a free mobile reader for eligible businesses. Host is more than just a mobile payment processor, however, as it also provides point-of-sale solutions, online marketing tools, an online payment gateway and virtual terminal, gift and loyalty programs, and merchant cash advances. Host Merchant Services specializes in e-commerce businesses but is able to serve mobile merchants just as well.
Host Merchant Services Reviews
Host Merchant Services has received only positive feedback on public forums, with most reviewers singling out the company’s customer service for praise. Like Payline, Host offers interchange-plus pricing with no early termination fees to all of its merchants, meaning that users will enjoy the most transparent pricing model available and can cancel service without penalty. The BBB gives Host an “A+” rating, and CPO also gives the company an “A+.”
For more information, visit the Host Merchant Services website or call (888) 727-4538.
HMSPay Highlights
- Free card reader (eligibility varies)
- Interchange-plus pricing
- Live customer support
Shopify
Easy Sign-Up
Shopify is primarily known as an e-commerce platform for online merchants, but the company recently launched a point-of-sale software solution for Android devices. The Shopify POS app can accept cards via a headphone jack card swiper or a $89 EMV reader and includes features like inventory syncing with a webstore, emailed receipts, automatic tax calculations, basic email marketing, and in-store refunds. The service can also be paired with a Shopify online store, which comes with numerous customization options. Shopify POS is a great fit for mobile merchants who would like to accept payments on-site using their phones as well as through a webstore. Service-industry merchants should note, however, that Shopify’s POS app does not currently support tipping.
Shopify Reviews
Shopify offers month-to-month pricing plans with variable pricing and product tiers. The company is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, and has been in operation since 2005. The company provides phone, email, and live chat support to all of its merchant tiers and enjoys very few online complaints despite its massive user base. The BBB gives Shopify an “A+” rating at this time, while CardPaymentOptions.com awards the company an “A.”
For more information, see the Shopify website.
Shopify POS Highlights
- $89 card reader
- 2.4% to 2.7% swiped
- 2.4% + $0.30 to 2.9% + $0.30 keyed
- Live customer support
Other Merchant Account Options
The providers in this section may not have been researched as thoroughly or may lack a quality that prevented them from being listed above. We have listed them here to provide a broader view of potential merchant account options. Are you a decision maker with your company and believe that you should be listed below? Tell us here.
Payline Data
What is Payline Data?
Operating out of Chicago, Illinois, Payline Data is consistently one of the top-rated providers on CPO. In addition to its wide array of traditional merchant services for businesses of all sizes, the company offers two separate mobile processing plans that come with free card readers. Payline Data’s other products and services include merchant cash advance, an online payment gateway with QuickBooks integration, wireless terminals, EMV and NFC acceptance, and a USB swiper for desktop computers. Payline’s “Start” plan is intended for smaller and newer businesses and offers a free magnetic stripe card reader with no monthly fee, while its “Surge” plan is meant for established businesses and provides a free EMV/NFC card reader for $9.95 per month.
Payline Data Reviews
Payline Data earns its spot on this list due to the widespread praise that it has received from merchants for its interchange-plus pricing structure with no cancellation fee and its friendly, helpful live customer support team. It is a solid all-around processor that will be a good fit for large brick-and-mortar locations as well as smaller merchants that process at least $5,000 per month via Android devices. Our review of Payline Data gives the company an “A+” rating, and the Better Business Bureau also gives Payline an “A+.”
Payline Data Highlights
- Free card reader
- Interchange-plus pricing
- Live customer support
Payline Data Mobile Overview
Square
What is Square?
Square is another great credit card processing app, but didn’t make our top pick for a few reasons. First, Square seems to be primarily targeting its services to individuals who do not have a frequent need for accepting credit cards. This is apparent because Square relies on placing holds on merchants sales instead of notifying them of processing limits or transactions that may trigger holds. Many merchant complaints indicate that Square does a poor job of disclosing why certain transactions were put on hold or when the hold will be released.
No Live Customer Support
Aside from the problem with funding holds, Square does not have a dedicated support phone number and prefers to handle merchant problems through email. This is obviously a concern for merchants that regularly accept credit cards and are accustomed to getting problems resolved quickly over the phone. Additionally, Square does not encrypt the card data during collection or transmittal which raises security concerns with many.
Simple and Cheap
On the positive side, Square’s application is stylish, easy to use, and easy to set up. Like GoPayment, the company offers a free card reader, no monthly fees, and no cancellation fees. Undoubtedly, Square will remain a big player in the mobile credit card processing arena.
You can learn more in this Square review.
Square Highlights
- Free card reader
- 2.75% swiped
- 3.5% + $0.15 keyed
- Limited customer support
Square Swipe Tutorial
Innerfence
What is Innerfence?
Inner Fence, a joint venture with the processor Merchant Focus, offers the widest platform compatibility among the other providers in this list. Inner Fence can be used with both iPhone and Android devices as well as Windows and Mac computers. The service is available to both US and Canadian merchants and offers both email and phone support. Unlike most of the other picks in this list, Inner Fence charges a monthly service fee ranging from $20 to $35 based on a merchant’s business type or location, which may be a drawback for low volume and micro-merchants. Additionally, the service requires an Authorize.net account that will likely result in additional monthly fees. Inner Fence also owns a similar service called “Swipe” by AppNinjas.
Learn more in our Inner Fence Review, or visit the Inner Fence website.
Inner Fence Highlights
- Free card reader
- 2.9% + $0.30 swiped
- 2.9% + $0.30 keyed
- Live customer support
Inner Fence Video Demonstration
ProPay
What is ProPay?
ProPay Jak comes in lower on this list because of its card reader cost ($39.95) and annual fee ($49.95 or $69.95 depending on account type), which makes it less than ideal for new and low volume merchants. However, the additional features that ProPay offers over the third pick in this article make it a great solution for many businesses. These features include being able to accept and store encrypted payments for later charging when a phone is not getting service, storage of customer information for future billing or refunds, and use of ProPay’s virtual terminal which comes with host of its own features, including various tracking and sales reports. Additionally, ProPay has month-to-month service agreements, no minimum processing requirements, and lower swipe rates than Square.
You can learn more in our full Propay review, or visit the ProPay website.
ProPay JAK Highlights
- Free card reader
- 2.40% to 2.60% swiped
- 3.20% to 3.40% keyed
- Live customer support
ProPay JAK Overview
PayPal Here
What is PayPal?
PayPal was responsible for launching the first electronic payment method to gain widespread popularity on the Internet, but its mobile processing app is still relatively new to the market. The company has recently restructured its account types to incorporate mobile payment technology and is leveraging its enormous user-base in an attempt to become the top mobile credit card processing player. Once a user has signed up with PayPal and installed the app, PayPal will send a free card reader which can be used immediately. The company offers a variety of customer support options including phone support and email support. PayPal has three different account types that can serve businesses of most processing volumes.
Learn more in our PayPal Here Review, or visit PayPal.com.
PayPal Here Highlights
- Free card reader
- 2.7% swiped
- 3.5% + $0.15 keyed
- Live customer support
PayAnywhere
What is PayAnywhere?
A mobile app launched by North American Bancard (NAB), Pay Anywhere has similar feature offerings as Square and GoPayment. A standout benefit of the system is that it is compatible with several Blackberry models in addition to the standard iPhone and Android compatibility. NAB offers several customer support options including email, videos, FAQ pages, and phone support; however, the company’s support has received less-than-stellar reviews in both our Pay Anywhere and NAB review. Another drawback is that Pay Anywhere appears to use the same tactics for preventing losses to fraud and chargebacks, which is to place holds on merchant funds. This appears to often be done without notice and with little transparency. The service seems to be best suited for merchants who swipe the majority of their transactions and have relatively low volume.
Learn more in our Pay Anywhere Review, or visit the Pay Anywhere website.
PayAnywhere Highlights
- Free card reader
- 2.69% swiped
- 3.49% + $0.19 keyed
- Live customer support
PayAnywhere Promotional Video
Don’t Get Left Behind
These Android credit card applications can help you to run your business more effectively. The ability to collect credit card payments in the field can greatly increase your bottom line. Not only will you get paid faster but you will avoid the added cost and risk of invoicing customers online. With so many options available to accept mobile payment, there is no reason not to take advantage of them. We live in a mobile world and if you and your business are not part of it you should get on board before the train leaves the station without you. If we are missing any great apps that should be included in this list, please let us know in the comment section below.
About Phillip Parker
Thank you for reading my review. I hope that it has helped you with your research.
Why I'm Qualified to Write About Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services
I'm a former credit card processing sales director who left the industry because I didn't like how it takes advantage of small business owners. It feeds like a leech on businesses and thrives by imposing fees that are nearly impossible to comprehend. Seeing a need for change, I left and built this website help business owners better understand the industry, research merchant services providers, and get refunds of excessive merchant account fees. My experience of working "behind the curtain" in the industry, and using that knowledge for good, has resulted in millions of dollars returned to hard-working small business owners as well as enterprise-level companies.
From the time that I starting working in the merchant services industry to when I left to create this website, I've been on the pulse of payments for nearly 15 years. It didn't seem fair to keep this "insider" knowledge to myself. To lift the fog, I've reviewed hundreds of companies, read thousands of user reviews, and learned the pricing tricks of every provider. If you have questions about credit card processing, you can find the answers on this website.
I had a similar experience with the non-business version of Square. I transfered $100 to my son, he didn’t receive it. I complained. They took $100 from my son’s bank account and I didn’t receive it (there goes $200 so far). I complained, they continued to take money once frommy son’s and my account one after each other for their own. Customer care telephone was only for business and by e-mail “a no brainer” became “rocket science” for them to resolve.
Long story short, as it was no going anywhere but bankrupcy of mine & my son go figure how come, I finally gave up on Square and their MATH and way of doing business. I asked for help from the professionals of BofA. The Bank compensated the Squares malpracsis.
I decided to use square since they made it so simple to sign up for their service. It all went well for a month but soon after it all went down hill. In my business my transactions could be as low as $30.00 and as high as a few thousand dollars. Square did not like the transaction activity in my account calling it “High Risk”. Square stop processing my transactions and asked me to provide them with my business permit, 3 months worth of bank statements, and all invoices pertaining to the transactions in question. I did as I was asked to do and they came back to tell me that after they were done reviewing all documents submitted my account was deactivated. They deactivated my account and retain my money telling me that I would get my money after 90 days. Well, it has been over 90 days and still waiting for my money. With out an active account you can not reach customer support and emails are not looked at all. The only way to communicate with Square is via Fax or messenger on their Facebook account. It’s hard to believe that a company of that level would ignore the basic tool for customer service. I strongly suggest against Square and I do tell as many people as I can to stay away from Square.
You need to update your information on PayPal. I have a seasonal business. I started using PayPal in September of last year and used it September through November. Started using it again in April. In the last few weeks we have had a bit more volume. PayPal, without us knowing, put a hold on almost $600 of our funds. I discovered this when I couldn’t transfer my funds to my bank account. They say the “hold” is just in case anybody does a chargeback. I have been running my business for nearly 20 years and have never had a chargeback. The only way I can get the “hold fund” back is to cancel the account and then wait for three months to make sure there aren’t any chargebacks and then I can have the remainder of my funds. This makes it extremely difficult for a small seasonal business when you have funds sitting in an account that you can’t draw against to pay your bills.
Hi!
This is really an informational site. I’m glad that I checked it out, it has helped me with a decision to NOT use the Square. I had just finished creating my account with the square and ordered my free card reader, but after reading the reviews on the other page, I’m not going to deal with them. I read your information regarding the 6 top Android card reading apps, and was over-joyed to see paypal listed. I immediately telephoned their office, (since I already have a paypal account), and was hoping for good news, but not…. at present paypal’s card reader only works with android phones and not the tablets. I just recently opened a physical location and require card readers for my tablets. I use Intuit (go payment) for my Samsung Galaxy Tab and it works very well. I haven’t had any issues as of yet and I’ve had my Intuit account for quite a while, since it is also my payment solution for my website. I purchased a second tablet, a Samsung Galaxy Tab3 but it isn’t compatible with the intuit card reader. I called intuit to make sure it wasn’t compatible and the rep was very nice, she is going to send me a usb card reader for my laptop. I’m ok with that although I really prefer to have the card reader work with the tablet. But the usb reader will be sufficient while I wait to see if they ever add my tab3 to the compatibility list.
Why hasn’t wells fargo, as big as they are, came out with an android app for their merchant service account??? I know they process through first data so I’m wondering why and when these two large companies can get their ducks in a row and get us a badly needed android app for their processing.
This site is very informative,
Thanks!
I second the question: when will any of the top-rated systems be availabe in Canada? Please keep us updated.
Hi Lesley,
Out of the above list, I believe GoPayment is the only one that offers service in Canada.
We started using SQUARE mid Jan 2012 It was like a dream come through . We were one of the first high volume Small business’s to use the Square system on our new I pad. Apple ‘s officers came down to see it in action, Square Called us (after a week of high sales) and gave us a welcome . Then about five days ago the dream became a NIGHTMARE . In the middle of transactions The app sent us error Signs . so easy just give them a call =YOU CAN NOT CALL THEM. So off went dozens of e mails. 2 days latter we get one back Reload the program. Now this Cafe is in the Hart of Williamsburg Brooklyn, Tons of soft /hardware Nurds just about live here.I the Cafe. The Problem is on their end . me and the nerds did everything , Call Apple, Called Verizion, all said it is on there end. The email response from SQUARE Try to load it up on your cell Phone. We have it on three of our cell phones and now all the nerds have it on their phones. THE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS BAD BAD BAD. Yes Now Pay Pal the E bay Wonder Looks real Nice Now. And Yes You can Call Them.
Are these systems compatable with our banking systems in Canada?
If yes, which ones?
Thank you,
Pat
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Great work keep it coming