iPayTotal Review

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.

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 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.

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.