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Tell us about your experience with iPayTotal in the comment section below.
+44 (800) 776-5988Note: As of our update on 6/20/21, iPayTotal’s website has been replaced by a note stating they are out of business. According to the note, “All pending payments of existing customers will be done within 40 days. Please email [email protected] for any further queries. Question and inquiries please contact us at [email protected]”. Further information about the closing can be found in a FinTelegram News article, which also states that “In November 2020, the UK High Court of Justice ordered the dissolution of the company. The company’s business was transferred to iPaySolutions Ltd. Sen Kugan (a/k/a Senthooran Kuganathan).” It appears that after the transfer, the business was closed.
International E-Commerce and High-Risk Processing
Founded in 2018, iPayTotal is a British-based merchant account provider that serves both standard risk and high-risk merchant sectors. iPayTotal claims to offer CBD merchant accounts, but the availability of this service will vary from region to region. Other high-risk industries the company serves are open to merchants in adult entertainment, FOREX, multi-level marketing, online gambling, online pharmacy, and debt consolidation.
iPayTotal Location and Ownership
iPayTotal lists its headquarters at 7 Bell Yard, Holborn, London WC2A 2JR, UK, but some of its management team appears to be based in India. Aditya Williams is the director of operations and Ruchi Rathor is the operations manager at iPayTotal.
iPayTotal Review Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: iPayTotal offers a three-year contract with a setup fee of up to £4,500.
- Complaints & Service: iPayTotal has received more than 50 public complaints.
- BBB Rating: iPayTotal does not currently have a Better Business Bureau profile.
- Sales & Marketing: iPayTotal does not appear to hire independent sales agents but has received some complaints about its sales practices.
- Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With iPayTotal
iPayTotal Customer Complaints & Reviews
Here's What Users Think
Complaint Summary
|
Total Online Complaints
50+
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Live Customer Support
Yes
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Most Common Complaint
Account Closure
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Moderate Complaint Total
We are able to locate 55 negative iPayTotal reviews, some of which accuse the company of being a ripoff or a scam. Most complainants mention the company’s high setup fee, unexpected account closure after a few months of processing, poor customer support, and a frustrating application process. An example of particularly poor service can be found in this response from a company representative on the iPayTotal TrustPilotUK profile:
And yes we charge a setup fee because nothing in this world comes for free. But we are really surprised when customers like you who waste our time and energy, get the best possible services and then leave us because we do not support your fraudulent activities, and then even after getting your fee refunded, on time, write such reviews just out of frustration.
Sadistic people like you are never satisfied even if they get the best services in the world, because what you want to do can not be supported by any genuine bank or payment processor.
On TrustPilot alone, 26% of the company’s 213 total reviews are rated as either negative or poor.
iPayTotal Lawsuits
We have not found any outstanding class-action lawsuits or FTC complaints filed against iPayTotal. However, in 2020, iPayTotal was ordered to “wind up” (be dissolved) by a UK court under the UK Insolvency Act. The company is currently claiming to be closed via their website. Dissatisfied merchants who wish to pursue a non-litigious course of action against the company should consider reporting it to the relevant supervisory organizations.
iPayTotal Customer Support Options
iPayTotal offers live phone, email, and chat support on its website. Although this offering is competitive with top-rated payment processors for great customer service, the company receives a poor rating due to a moderately high complaint total in just under 2 years of operation.
iPayTotal BBB Rating and Report
Our Better Business Bureau Profile Assessment
No Profile Available
The Better Business Bureau does not maintain a profile for iPayTotal at this time. We therefore will not factor a BBB rating into this review.
iPayTotal Fees and Rates
A Closer Look at the Contract
Cost Summary
|
Swiped Rate
1.00% - 4.99%+
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Keyed-In Rate
1.00% - 4.99%+
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Platform Onboarding Fee
£5,000
|
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White Label Onboarding Fee
£5,000
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Onboarding Support Fee
£2,000
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Monthly Platform Fee
£2,500
|
|
General Transaction Fee
£0.2 - £0.5
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Special Transaction Fee
£1
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iPayTotal Risk Engine Fee
£0.015
|
|
Third Party Risk Check Fee
£0.015
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3D Secure Processing Fee
£0.030
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Additional Payment Adapter Fee
£250
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E-commerce Platform Fee
£250
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Additional Feature Fee
£120
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Professional Services Fee
£150
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Technical Support Fee
£100
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iPayTotal High-Risk Pricing
The iPayTotal Pricing Sheet gives merchants a good deal of insight into its pricing structure. However, the company does not disclose its high-risk merchant account contract terms to the public. It does claim to charge a setup fee of up to £4,500 depending on each merchant’s country of origin, business type, and processing volume. It is likely that iPayTotal charges higher per-transaction fees than its standard-risk competitors due to the international and high-risk sectors it serves. It is also possible that iPayTotal requires a long-term contract from its merchants, and it may impose strict termination fees and cash reserves to protect itself from fraud losses.
iPayTotal White Label Pricing
iPayTotal also offers a white-label merchant account platform that businesses can use to offer payment processing for their sub-merchants. The standard iPayTotal white label contract (available below) is a three-year contract with automatic renewal for six-month terms, a £5,000 platform onboarding fee, a £5,000 white label onboarding fee, a £2,000 onboarding support fee, a £2,500 monthly platform fee, a general transaction processing fee of £0.2-£0.5, a special transaction fee of £1, a £0.015 iPayTotal risk engine transaction fee, a £0.015 third party risk check API call fee, a £0.030 3D secure processing transaction fee, a £250 fee per additional payment adapter, a £250 fee per activated e-commerce platform adapter, a £120 additional platform feature development fee, a £150 professional services fee, and a £100 technical support fee. It’s possible that some of these fees are representative of the fees charged to iPayTotal’s direct merchant account users.
Extremely High Setup Fee
iPayTotal’s setup fee is not typical for the industry and is a strong barrier to entry for newer businesses. iPayTotal defends its setup fee by claiming that the fee enables iPayTotal to accept businesses that typically cannot obtain credit card processing. However, we have seen some complaints that the company accepted a setup fee and then shut down the merchant’s account within 6-12 weeks. Merchants will need to make their own call about whether it’s worth paying thousands of pounds just to open a merchant account that may eventually be shut down anyway, but we would not recommend taking this risk. Many other high-risk processors do not require such a steep setup fee.
iPayTotal Jobs and Employment
Hiring Standards and Ethical Marketing Assessment
Key Points
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Employs Independent Resellers
No
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Advertises Deceptive Rates
Yes
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Discloses All Important Terms
No
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In-House Sales Team
iPayTotal appears to rely on an in-house sales team and referral programs to market its services. We have found a handful of iPayTotal sales complaints that mention misrepresentation of contract terms by the company’s sales team. These complaints usually state that iPayTotal exaggerates its ability to provide reliable, long-term payment processing to many high-risk business types.
iPayTotal Setup Fee
iPayTotal states that it charges “No Application or Setup Fee” on one page even though another page includes a tool for calculating the company’s setup fee, which can exceed £4,000. This fee is uncommonly large for the industry, and it appears that iPayTotal generally discloses it to all merchants. However, the mixed messages on its website suggest that merchants should verify whether they will pay a setup fee and how large it will be.
iPayTotal Rate Quotes
One page on the iPayTotal website advertises “High Risk Rates as Low as 2.99%“. This rate is likely only available to a narrow range of high-risk merchant types, and most merchants should not expect an effective rate of 2.99%. If you suspect that an iPayTotal sales agent has misled you about your rates, you can double-check your monthly bill with a third-party statement audit.
iPayTotal Review Summary
Our Final Thoughts and Opinions
An Average Option for High-Risk Merchants
iPayTotal appears to no longer be in business. Our previous analysis of the company stated: iPayTotal rates as a middle-of-the-road merchant services provider according to our rating criteria. The company has received a moderate complaint total and appears to offer prohibitively expensive pricing even for high-risk merchants. However, some extremely high-risk merchants may not have any option but to consider a processor like iPayTotal. We will continue to monitor the company and update this review as needed. For now, merchants should be sure to compare iPayTotal’s pricing to that offered by top-rated offshore merchant account providers.
If you found this article helpful, please share it!
Michael
Scammers!
We processed with Ipaytotal successfully for several months, however after the account was closed we never received the reserved funds.
They promised we would receive the funds in due time but then started ignoring our emails. After numerous attempts to communicate we got neither their response nor our money.
The amount we lost with them is about 50k.
CPO
Michael,
You may want to refer to our services on how to recover these lost funds.
Joe
Brian Clark, can you send message to discuss how to recover lost funds ?
Luca Schuster
F****** cheaters didnt pay me 10000 USD, don’t trust them
Sunduk.TV
Do not believe this company!
This company is stealing money!
At the conclusion of the contract, this company reported that the minimum payout is $ 5,000. upon reaching this limit, payments stopped passing and we asked to make a payment to us.
That was already 3 months ago. Initially, their support on Skype responded to requests and said to write to the finance email
For the entire period we have not received any answer. also did not receive a payment. support in skype also stopped answering questions, messages are simply ignored.
Out clients made payments in the amount of: $ 5835 by using ipaytotal
all the money was simply stolen by this company.
Luca Schuster
They are cheaters, don’t work with them, they don’t pay for the merchants and owe me 10000 usd. Hope, police will find them, already wrote to them
Arlos Argumedo
We were scammed, we lost 50k with them, we have complain to the UK authorities about ipaytotal. They are actually Indian scammers who pretends to be in the UK, but the real owner of the company is an Indian woman by the name of Ruchi Rathor. She scammed so many businesses like us, careful people.
This post will help: Best UK Merchant Accounts
-Phillip
NARINE
scam. The only real reviews are the bad oneS. I don’t even understand how THE REVIEWER COULD POSSIBLY DEFINE THE SERVICE AS AVERAGE IF THIS COMPANY IS ONLY A BLACK HOLE THAT SUCKS MONEY WITHOUT ANY CHANCE TO SEE A PENNY BACK.
We’ve been scammed for 3000GBP.
Is literally a Money sucker, now they changed skin to their website as well. Please, high or low risk merchant don’t use this service, is not about bad or good service. Is just about swiping your money onto a black hole.
IF SOMEONE WANTS CONVERSATIONS, E-MAILS WITH REFUND PROMISES, RECORDER PHONE CALLS WE ARE HERE
we’ve been promised on written notice our payment back, only 3000 pounds thank god, after that frustration and lies.
This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
-Phillip
jennifer
hi Phillip,
I also fell into this company cheat.
I would like to be able to chat by email:
[REDACTED – personal contact information]
please send me a mail.
CPO
Hi Jennifer,
Can you please share your experience in a reply to this comment so that other merchants can learn from it?
Mike
The company decided to block the MID by sending us an email with made up alerts (flagged transactions, chargebacks) . I want to mention that throughout the time we have not received a single email notification from them. These dudes declare to be working from London, yet sit somewhere in India – that is the first sign of fraudulent activity. The total amount that was withheld by iPayTotal is $63k. Please share your experience in response. Also I will be glad to have a conversation with anyone who may relate to the issue. Together we might come to a solution and decide how to punish this company.
This post will help: Why Credit Card Processors Hold Funds
-Phillip
Luca Schuster
Cheating Company!!! They don’t pay money and answer calls. Support very bad, cann’t even help me.
They didn’t pay me around 10000 usd. Don’t trust them, they are cheaters!
This post will help: Best Payment Processors for Great Customer Service
-Phillip