Overall Rating
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Overview
Braintree Payment Solutions Logo
Braintree Payment Solutions (braintreepayments.com) is a merchant account provider based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 2007, the company is fairly new to the credit card processing industry but is showing a lot of promise. Braintree markets its services primarily to e-commerce merchants, subscription-based businesses, and merchants that key in all of their credit card transactions.
Braintree’s payment gateway offers virtually automatic PCI Compliance by storing the credit card data off of the merchants’ systems and on its own secured servers. The system allows cards to be recharged or refunded without reentering the card information and enables merchants to set up recurring charges for periodic billing purposes, such as subscriptions and memberships. Braintree also allows U.S.-based merchants to accept international payments in 134 local currencies with settlement in 21 different currencies.
Braintree was purchased by PayPal in September 2013 for $800 million. The acquisition also included Venmo, Braintree’s mobile cash transfer service. Braintree uses First Data for its card processing network, but merchants appear to deal with Braintree exclusively for the service of their accounts. Braintree is located at 111 North Canal Street, Floor 4, Chicago, Illinois 60606, and the company’s acquiring bank is Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Walnut Creek, California.
Braintree Products and Services:
- PayPal integration
- v.zero integration
- OneTouch integration
- Apple Pay acceptance
- Recurring billing
- Split payments for marketplace-style businesses
- Processing in 40 countries and 130 currencies
Industries served:
- E-commerce
- Mail order/phone order
- International
- Marketplace
- Non-profit
Braintree Payments Sales & Marketing Tactics | A+
| Key Points – Sales & Marketing | |
| Uses independent resellers? | No |
| Promotes deceptive rate quotes? | No |
| Discloses all important terms? | Yes |
Braintree does not appear to use any deceptive advertising, price quoting, or sales tactics. The company markets its services primarily online and through strategic partnerships. We are currently unable to locate any negative Braintree reviews that mention the company’s sales team; we therefore award the company an “A+” in this category.
Braintree Marketing Example
Braintree Payments Costs & Contract Terms | A+
| Key Points – Costs & Contract Terms | |
| All transactions: | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Termination fee: | None |
| PCI compliance fee: | None |
| Equipment lease: | None |
Braintree updated its pricing in October of 2012 and now offers just one account type with flat pricing and no service length commitments, including all of the system’s features. The company’s transaction fee is similar to that of PayPal’s and Stripe’s at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for all card types with no minimum fees, monthly fees, PCI Compliance fees, or cancellation fees. The only possible fees that a merchant could experience are a $15 Chargeback fee in the event that a cardholder disputes a transaction and a 1% per-transaction fee on multi-currency transactions. Additionally, high volume businesses may qualify for custom rates.
In March 2014, Braintree announced Braintree Ignition, a program that allows new U.S. merchants to process their first $50,000 in transactions for free. There are no strings attached, and these merchants will simply switch over to Braintree’s normal pricing after the first $50,000 has been processed.
Merchants who wish to use Braintree’s payment gateway with a different processor may do so at a cost of $49 per month and 10 cents per transaction.
Braintree Payments Complaints & Service | A+
| Key Points – Complaints & Service | |
| Total complaints: | <10 |
| Live customer support? | Yes |
| Most common complaint: | N/A |
At this time, we are able to locate only a couple of Braintree complaints, neither of which accuses the company of being a scam or a ripoff. These complainants primarily cite issues with fund holds through Braintree, but one review also mentions trouble with customer service. Although fund holds can be difficult for any business, the fact that one reviewer is an international business and the other appears to have high-risk processing patterns indicates that most traditional merchants will not encounter the same issues as these two merchants. There are also an overwhelmingly large number of positive reviews indicating that the company employs a responsive and helpful customer service staff. Braintree offers both phone and email support in addition to a large online knowledge base.
Braintree Payments BBB Report | A+
| Key Points – BBB Report | |
| Product/service: | 0 |
| Billing/collection: | 1 |
| Advertising/sales: | 0 |
| Guarantee/warranty: | 0 |
| Delivery: | 0 |
As of this review, the Better Business Bureau is showing that Braintree has not sought BBB accreditation. The BBB has assigned an “A+” rating based upon one complaint filed in the last 36 months due to a billing and collection dispute. The complaint was resolved successfully with assistance from the BBB. In light of this successful resolution and the fact that Braintree has no other complaints filed against it, we agree with the BBB’s rating for Braintree.
Bottom Line
Braintree Payment Solutions scores well as a merchant services provider in this review due to its flat transaction fee and elimination of monthly fees, PCI Compliance fees, setup fees, and cancellation fees, as well as its lack of merchant complaints and negative reviews. Overall, the service appears to be best suited for e-commerce, mail-order/telephone order, and subscription/membership businesses.
This review was originally published on 11/19/12 and was last updated on 1/5/15.
Leave your review of Braintree Payment Solutions in the comment section below:
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Hello,
I totally agree with SIlvia.
Our case is similar but in a higher amounts.
Please Realy be careful to reling on Braintree for your online payments.
If you are in Europe their assistance is poor, but the main critical issues are related with fraud.
If you are running an international business they do not advise you or set up with a basic configuration to avoid fraud.
As an expert gateway payment tehy should provide a basic fraud prevention configuration.
But the worst part is that i you are having some fraud and chargebacks they could retain your funds !!! and like Silvia your business been affected.
Braintree is only a reseller and the processor is Adyen.
Again be carefull!
I wish i could give Braintree a half of a star considering they ran my business to the ground. I signed up for Braintree after being with Stripe Payments that is (phenomenal).
I decided to open up a third website and i thought of being outside of the box after all they had better pricing. Needless to say i made a giant mistake by giving my business to braintree for payments. Braintree took payments and i was approved for a account in no time, after providing all the proper documentaion i was good to go. I even received a email from Marty Chanes, saying i was good to go and i could go about fulfilling orders and operate my business as normal. Day’s pass and braintree hasnt made any funding to be but my merchant account was acquiring currency daily. I reached $9,000 and made a call to the offices located in Chicago I was tethered with on the phone when i asked who can direct me to help with pulling a record of ACH funding that were or should have been transferred to me. I was never allowed to speak to Marty Chanes but others. I was told my account was under review and my fund would be held until i reached a certain amount. I was outraged! i have been fulling orders and fronting clients because i thought i had a reliable merchant that would be paying me soon. I told them i had cleared any review and was given the ok from “Marty Chanes” and i took his word i shipped merchandise. They said they couldnt pay me unless i showed them i had shipped i said ok thats easy and provided tracking numbers and invoices. I was tethered with once again and was told they needed to hold my funds for 90 days!!!!!!!!!!!!
A small business cant survive without a flow of income and now these customers that paid haven’t really paid because now i wouldn’t be seeing the money. I felt robbed and felt like my money was being taken and held hostage. Braintree decided they were taking back my account because i had another business and used another merchant and they frown upon that. Also Bobby with Braintree stated because 3-4 customers cards declined i needed to be held in review, I was furious and told them my business would fail because i used my personal savings to ship to clients and invested in merchandise as they had assured me i was good to go 7 days prior. All over a couple declines ! I hate braintree my niche idea and small start up was ruined because of them. I was left with no choice but to close up shop and was left with bills and merchandise because braintree lies to there clients and gives accounts and allows you to build and build revenue and turns around and tells you there holding it for 90 days!!!! Meanwhile you starve your business fails and your left with nothing. What you choose is your prerogative, my idea made 9k in a week and i honestly think they couldn’t handle such vast money being made. They are a nightmare run the other way they pick and choose who and what they want. There owned by Paypal which is awesome but braintree sure is there own problem and entity and now my dream crusher. I wish you the best of luck and recommend Stripe they handle business well, i read somewhere that Stripe was founded by Paypal but that’s there own monopoly.
Hi Phillip,
I am looking for a new solution to online processing since Google dumped its Google Checkout. I am looking at Braintree ( Google is partnering with them) and you stated that there was no monthly fees. But, on their site they state there is a $35.00 monthly fee.
I have a physical terminal hooked into my phone line for people who come into our shop. I am considering using that account for online purchases as well. I really like Ecwid for my shopping cart and can use the emulate Authorize.net but it will take some setup.
Hi Tina,
I believe the monthly fee to which you are referring is charged if you choose to only use Braintree’s payment gateway in conjunction with your current merchant account provider. Otherwise, you just pay Braintree’s transaction fee when you make a sale using the integrated credit card processing service.
Here is an list of other Google Checkout Alternatives: Google Checkout Alternatives
Braintree will not provide payment gateway solutions, unless the majority of the users/ customers reside in the US. This is the information I got when I tried to get a payment gateway for my website. My users live all over the globe, and a large percentage of them reside in Asia,
If a company has a condition that the majority of users should live in the US, and the “target audience should be those living in the US”, how does this company qualify as a provider of international payment gateway solutions?
This company’s service is NOT international if this is a condition to get a service,
Switched from Intuit Merchant Services + Authorize.net and couldn’t be happier. Braintree has been a great company to work with. Very professional, courteous and helpful through the entire process. Plus, for smaller businesses, you only get charged what you use (similar to PayPal – which has subsequently purchased Braintree).
Cutting out the higher merchant fees with Intuit, plus the recurring Gateway fees of Authorize.net allowed me to save thousands of dollars within the first 6 months of switching. And your fees are removed at the time of deposit, rather than end of month.
Strongly suggest Braintree!
Hello,
When you leave a testimonial as “Anonymous,” it really brings into question its authenticity. I would recommend replying to this comment with your business name and location if you want other merchants to take your review seriously. Thanks!