American Payment Solutions Pricing
An American Payment Solutions representative has stated that the company’s standard contract term is a three-year agreement through TSYS, although the company is flexible on the service length. For reference, typical TSYS rates vary around a swipe rate of 2.50% plus $0.20 and a keyed rate of 3.50% plus $0.20. A standard TSYS also includes a PCI compliance fee of PCI compliance fee of $18.80 charged quarterly.
The company representative also stated that American Payment Solutions will not charge early termination fees (ETF) if a merchant goes out of business, sells his or her business, or gives American Payment Solutions an opportunity to match the better rates being offered by another company. In other words, a merchant will only experience an ETF if the merchant cancels service before the end of the contract without offering American Payment Solutions a chance to match a competing offer. TSYS contracts typically include a $295 ETF in the event the company chooses to exercise the fee.
Virtual Terminal and Payment Gateway Pricing
In addition to its storefront payment processing services, American Payment Solutions also dedicates a portion of its website to advertising its virtual terminal and payment gateway services through Magento. However, pricing is not disclosed on either of those services. Additional rates and fees, including gateway fees, technical support fees, batch fees, and additional transaction rates typically apply to these e-commerce services.
Early Termination Fee Complaints
At the time of a previous update, there was a Better Business Bureau complaint against American Payment Solutions that mentioned an early termination fee of over $1,000, and another complaint filed in the comment section below this review describes a similarly large fee. This unusually high fee may indicate a liquidated damages clause. The Better Business Bureau complaint went unaddressed by American Payment Solutions reps, but the complaint in our comment section received a response from a representative who denied that the merchant was an American Payment Solutions client.
Level 2 and Level 3 Processing Services
In addition to its traditional merchant services, American Payment Solutions also advertises that it provides Level 2 and Level 3 processing for B2B and B2G transactions. Level 2 and Level 3 processing rely upon different interchange rates than traditional consumer credit transactions. Accommodating those rates requires different payment processing technology from a merchant account provider to transmit the amount of data required to facilitate the transactions. These services are reserved for B2B and B2G purchases that utilize corporate credit cards.
Few Contract Complaints
The low number of specific complaints about the company’s costs and pricing leads us to believe that most American Payment Solutions clients are satisfied with the service they receive. We therefore assign the company an “A” rating for the time being, but we do not consider it to be an especially cheap merchant account provider.
We also encourage merchants to check out our list of the providers of thebest merchant accounts.
