Whether you are an independent landscaper or the owner of a landscaping business, finding a credit card processing solutions can sometimes feel like fitting a square peg into a round hole. Conventional merchant accounts often come with excessive features, monthly fees, and long-term contracts, while free mobile apps can provide inadequate customer service and end up holding your funds. As if these issues weren’t enough, there are also numerous money-hungry credit card processors that simply want to mislead you into the most expensive contract possible.
To help you avoid a negative experience and find the right fit, we’ve put together the following list of the best merchant accounts for landscapers. The companies on this list offer simple invoicing tools, mobile payment apps, virtual terminals, and other features that can streamline your everyday business operations and keep your customers’ payments coming in regularly. More importantly, the companies on this list are known for their low-commitment contracts with transparent pricing and quality customer service. To find the right provider for you, be sure to research each processor’s products and features and compare pricing and terms.
Best Merchant Accounts for Landscapers
Host Merchant Services is a Newark, Delaware-based merchant account provider that is well-suited for landscaping operations of all sizes. The company’s products and services for landscapers include a virtual terminal, online marketing tools, and a free mobile credit card processing for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. The company also offers a free website and business-class email to interested applicants. Host Merchant Services is a good option for independent landscapers as well as larger landscaping businesses.
Host Merchant Services has received only positive feedback on public forums, with most reviewers singling out the company’s customer service for praise. 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 and can cancel service without penalty. The BBB gives Host an “A+” rating, and CPO also gives the company an “A+.”
Based in Woodland Hills, California, PaymentCloud is a merchant account provider that specializes in serving standard to high risk business types. The company’s products and services include point-of-sale solutions, mobile phone swipers, an online payment gateway and virtual terminal, EMV-compatible terminals, and merchant cash advances. These features allow merchants to accept payments on-site using their phones as well as through online billing. This allows merchants to charge onsite or online to bill for recurring services. For those reasons, PaymentCloud is a good option for landscapers.
PaymentCloud provides a dedicated account rep to all new merchants for the life of the account. The company has not received any negative complaints on consumer forums, and it customizes its pricing according to each merchant’s business type and processing history. The BBB does not maintain a profile for PaymentCloud at this time, but CPO gives the company an “A.”
Active since early 2014, Fattmerchant is a merchant account provider leading the industry’s move toward flat-rate, subscription-style pricing. The company’s products and services include EMV-compatible countertop terminals, a virtual terminal, an online payment gateway, an online shopping cart, mobile phone processing, QuickBooks integration, online invoicing, and recurring billing. Fattmerchant is capable of serving all standard-risk landscaping companies and offers a comprehensive dashboard for tracking all payments and customers.
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.
Additional Options
Shopify is primarily known as an e-commerce platform for online merchants, but the company recently launched a point-of-sale software solution for iPad and iPhone. The Shopify POS app can accept cards via a headphone jack card swiper or a $129 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 landscapers who would like to accept payments on-site using their phones as well as through online billing.
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.
Located in Chesapeake, Virginia, CDG Commerce is a great option for standard-risk merchants of all sizes and types. CDG has been privately owned since 1998 and offers a proprietary payment gateway (as well as a discount on Authorize.Net’s payment gateway), a virtual terminal, QuickBooks integration, mobile phone processing, sales reporting, security breach protection, and vulnerability scanning. CDG Commerce is ideal for landscapers that require a simple, low-cost, integrated retail or online processing solution.
CDG Commerce only charges a low, fixed fee per transaction and offers competitive contractual terms, including no annual fees, monthly minimums, or termination fees. CDG also offers next day funding to most business types. CDG has earned an “A+” rating in our review as well as an “A+” rating with the BBB.
Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Payline Data has consistently earned its place as one of the best merchant account providers on CPO since we first reviewed the company. Payline is capable of serving businesses and individual contractors of all sizes. The company offers traditional retail credit card terminals, mobile phone credit card processing (via Flint), an online payment gateway and virtual terminal, QuickBooks integration, and API integration. Payline Data is a great option for both independent landscaping businesses and landscaping contractors.
In addition to its wide array of services, Payline Data offers interchange-plus pricing with month-to-month contracts and no early termination fees. As a result, the company enjoys a large number of positive testimonials from its clients on this website and in other consumer protection forums. The Better Business Bureau currently assigns Payline Data an “A+” rating, and CPO also gives Payline an “A+.”
For more information, see the Payline Data website or call (888) 506-7812.
Headquartered in Levi, Utah, ProPay is an e-commerce merchant account provider that provides simple billing and payment options for landscapers. ProPay users can utilize digital invoicing to collect payments from clients via email, or they can purchase ProPay Jak, the company’s mobile phone processing solution, to take payments on-site. ProPay is also able to process ACH transactions through its virtual terminal and online payment gateway. ProPay is an ideal choice for landscaping companies that require an affordable, fully-featured digital payments option.
ProPay’s pricing will vary depending on each merchant’s business type, size, time in business, and preferred method of payment acceptance. The company is a TSYS subsidiary and has a very low complaint total in the past three years for a provider of its size. Our review of ProPay currently gives the company an “A” rating, while the Better Business Bureau gives ProPay an “A+.”
