Groupon Payments Review

Name: Groupon
Item: Groupon
Rating: 2.5
Author: Phillip Parker

July 29, 2015

We take our role in providing guidance and education regarding the card payment industry very seriously. At our own expense, we have vigorously defended our right to continue expose unethical and predatory practices in the industry, successfully defeating every attempt to silence us. However, fending off frivolous lawsuits is costly. To sustain these efforts, one of the ways we generate revenue is through affiliate partnerships with ethical providers. This means that some of our outgoing links connect business owners to trustworthy, low-cost payment processors, which is what most of our readers seek. We see this revenue channel as a win-win-win for everyone involved. Business owners find good processors, processors get good clients, and we are able to continue to provide a valuable service to the small business community. We also recommend and link to many services that do not compensate us. Our priority is to guide you to the best solutions for your needs, regardless of potential revenue. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us.

All mentions of rate and fee costs are estimations based on publicly available information and client feedback. Actual costs may vary based on a variety of factors unique to your business.

Groupon

Rating

2.5/5

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Update 7/29/15: Groupon Payments has been rebranded as Breadcrumb. Please see our Breadcrumb review for more information about this product. Groupon Payments (grouponworks.com/merchant-solutions/payments) is a new service launched by the popular daily deal website, Groupon.com, which enables merchants to accept credit card payments via their smartphones. Like its predecessors, such as Square and GoPayment, Groupon Payments includes a free app and audio jack card reader, and doesn’t appear to have any other monthly fees or time commitments. Additionally, the company claims that it will beat any competitors’ fees if they offer the exact same service. Groupon provides very little detail about the Terms & Conditions of Groupon Payments or its complete pricing schedule via its website. Some might even say that the rates quoted on the site are slightly deceptive. Groupon promotes a swipe rate of 1.8% plus $0.15 per transaction for VISA, MasterCard and Discover (2.3% + $0.15 for keyed sales) and 3% plus $0.15 for swiped AMEX transactions ( keyed: 3.25% + $0.15). According to other sources, these low rates are reserved only for merchants who run “Daily Deals” with Groupon. Otherwise, the swipe increases to 2.2% plus 15 cents per transaction for VISA, MasterCard and Discover. It is unclear as of this review how much the keyed and AMEX rate increases because Groupon does not publish this information, instead requiring merchants to enroll or call a customer service line. It is too early to rate how well the service is performing with merchants, or if there are any common complaints. However, Groupon is providing a dedicated support team reachable by both phone and email seven days a week, which may be advantage over competitors like Square. The company, itself, currently holds an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has been accredited since 2009. As of this review, the report states that 498 complaints have been filed within the last 36 months and that all but 62 have been resolved to the customer’s satisfaction. It should be noted that complaints against the company could be from merchants as well as consumers. Numerous complaint also exist outside of the BBB, most of which appear to be consumers reporting problems with merchants who ran a Groupon Daily Deal.

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About Us

CardPaymentOptions.com

Established 2009

My name is Phillip Parker, and I started this website back in 2009 as a simple blog to call out shady credit card processors that were taking advantage of small business owners. At the time, I had no idea this side project would grow into a leading voice pushing for transparency and integrity in the payment processing industry. I also didn't anticipate just how far some of these companies' owners would go to try to silence me.

I was recruited out of college for a sales role with a credit card processor. At the time, I didn't realize the “training” was really about tricking me... into selling business owners expensive processing with hidden fees and long-term service agreements. In my first few sales, I unknowingly cost friends and family thousands of dollars after they trusted me to switch their services. When it finally clicked that something was seriously wrong, I was furious. I quit immediately and made a promise to expose that company and any others operating the same way. That promise is what led to the creation of this website.

As I wrote about these processors, their tactics, and the people behind them, the articles started to spread among business owners. News organizations picked up the stories, readers shared them online, and traffic to the blog took off. Unsurprisingly, that also caught the attention of the companies and individuals I was exposing.

Over the last 17 years, I've received several anonymous death threats and defeated four lawsuits meant to intimidate me into taking my blog down. Their efforts to muzzle me only made my determination to expose them even stronger, leading me to work with state authorities to help shutdown some of the worst offenders.

I'm proud to say that of the millions of people who have read my work, thousands have taken the time to write and thank me for helping them narrowly avoid a very costly mistake. This blog has played a small role in pushing the industry toward more ethical practices - but there are still bad actors out there, which means the work isn't done.

If I can offer one piece of advice, it's this: get every promise in writing, and take the time to review contracts carefully. Tools like ChatGPT can help surface red flags and uncover expensive surprises buried in the fine print.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. I truly appreciate you being here, and I wish you every success with your business.

Our Research Methodology

Pricing & Fees

We analyze all costs including rate structures (interchange-plus, tiered, flat-rate, etc), monthly fees, equipment costs, early termination fees, and hidden charges. This data is gathered from service agreements, statements and client feedback.

Features & Technology

Evaluation of POS systems, e-commerce integrations, mobile capabilities, reporting tools, recurring billing..., and developer resources. When possible, we directly test services and hardware. Otherwise, we rely on client feedback and public information.

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Contract Terms & Conditions

We review service agreements and equipment contracts for reasonability, transparency, and fairness. We focus on uncovering any predatory clauses, such as unjustified early termination fees, hidden costs, and unclear cancellation policies.

User Experience

We comb the internet and interview current and former clients to evaluate the overall user experience and identify any common pain points that may impact the user experience.

Sales & Marketing Practices

We evaluate sales tactics, marketing materials, and client feedback to determine the level of transparency and ethical nature of the provider's approach. Does the provider publicly disclose pricing? Do they use teaser rates? We score based on these and other factors.

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