Membership Pricing Pioneers
Founded in 2013, Payment Depot is a merchant account provider that specializes in membership-style pricing. The company utilizes First Data as its processing network, but its pricing structure is very different from the standard costs associated with First Data. Payment Depot claims that it does not charge an additional percentage above Interchange on each transaction, instead collecting a monthly fee and a flat per-transaction dollar amount to make its profits. Under this pricing model, the company passes along the Interchange fees without any markup to the actual percentages enforced by the card networks (Payment Depot refers to this as “True Cost” in its sales copy).
Best Merchant Rates Connection
Payment Depot’s co-founder is also listed as the founder of Best Merchant Rates (bestmerchantrates.com), another merchant services provider that is significantly less transparent about its partnerships and pricing than Payment Depot. The two companies also appear to share an address. It is therefore likely that Best Merchant Rates is somehow related to Payment Depot if not the exact same company, and merchants should keep this in mind when evaluating information from either source. Since we cannot verify that the two entities are the same at this time, we will treat them as separate organizations for the purposes of this review.
Payment Depot Location and Ownership
Payment Depot is a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank N.A., Walnut Creek, California, and its Crunchbase profile lists 238 West Chapman Ave., Suite 201, Orange, California 92866 as the company’s headquarters. Danny Choi is the co-founder and president of Payment Depot.
Payment Depot Review Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: Payment Depot offers a month-to-month contract through First Data with no early termination fee.
- Complaints & Service: Payment Depot has received fewer than 10 public complaints.
- BBB Rating: Payment Depot has an “A+” rating and has received 1 complaint and 5 reviews in the past 3 years. The company has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2015.
- Sales & Marketing: Payment Depot does not appear to hire independent sales representatives and has not received any complaints about its sales practices.
- Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With Payment Depot
12 Responses
Payment Depot made the transition from our initial processor easy and painless. The estimates they provided were both significantly better than our previous processor and ended up being very accurate to the eventual new charges.
Our salesperson John B. made everything simple and is always quick to respond. I would not hesitate to recommend this company to anyone looking to save money on CC processing.
This is blatantly false and untrue. We stand by our Company and the services we provide.
James Britton
Payment Depot
(714) 922-9984
[email protected]
Hello Mr. Manzella, I appreciate your input
You signed up with us on Feb 20th and decided to cancel April 5th. We obliged with no questions asked and sent out the call tags for the equipment.
Two days later (April 7th), you had a change of mind and requested to stay with us. We cancelled the call tags and reopened the account. At this time we got you connected with a mobile provider that was looking for Beta accounts to test new products which led to you getting free equipment to test out.
On April 9th, you decided to cancel your account again. We obliged, cancelled the account and sent out the call tags. We received the equipment back on the 12th and refunded you minus the restocking fee.
You are correct when you say we charged you the monthly fee. On Feb 26th, Kyle spoke with you about taking advantage of our 90 Day Risk free offer. You declined and wanted to go monthly. It is Company policy to make each new member aware of how our trial offer works. Our website clearly says it is for annual memberships.
With that said, 9 out of 10 times I will authorize our new members be refunded if it falls within the trial period. In this case, unfortunately i wasn’t able to do it since we had to close, reopen, close and reopen your account. All of which have associated costs.
In this case I feel my Team went above and beyond to try and service your needs. Unfortunately we couldn’t and had to part ways. That’s whats great about Payment Depot, we have no long term contracts and ZERO cancellation fees which is extremely rare in this industry. If you would like to discuss further, please call or email me directly. Good luck to you in the future!
James Britton
Sales Manager | Payment Depot
(714) 922-9984
[email protected]
fake reviews everywhere online for this company, don’t trust them, they take your information and money to resell it, there is no such merchant company.
I signed up with payment depot and purchased 10 readers for about $800. I didn’t like their service because there’s no real way to print receipts. They suggested emailing them to myself then printing which isn’t feasible considering I’m running a restaurant. To say the least, I cancelled thinking their 90 day guarantee would take care of any incurred fees. Instead I was charged a 20% restocking fee and they charged me another $79 for a monthly fee. They say it’s not refundable. I only took one charge from them for 16 bucks. These guys are total scammers. It’s a terrible processing company to deal with. I’ll pay the extra couple pennies to square for which I am staying and happy with. I suggest doing business with a more reputable company.
Signed up for PaymentDepot after a very pleasurable sign up process. The first day we began to setup our account I called customer service and reached someone named “Chris” & “Carla”.
Chris as extremely unhelpful, he stated that he was a customer service rep and he could only take a message. After several pleas for assistance he stated that he must disconnect the call.
I called back reached Carla and she transferred me off to tech support whom was able to finally assist.
I am unsure as to why the reps were rude and seemed to tired to help. It is truly unfortunate that we have to go through bs before getting real help.
Update – Customer Service is still sketchy but the credit card processing through First Data is pretty thorough. You receive very detailed statements that show EXACTLY what you have been charged and why, which I really appreciate! The fees are reasonable.
After exchanging phone calls and emails with Rebecca Rakhshani, Account Manager for over a week, I asked her to explain how the 2 customers she sent me redacted statements for were able to get such low fees charged by Payment Depot. They were high ticket sales, like what we expect for our Kitchen & Bath Cabinetry Business that’s about to open in Palm Springs, CA. Today she apologized for not getting back to me sooner but added “Unfortunately, I don’t believe we are the right fit for your business.”
Based on this feedback, I think Payment Depot is not the right fit for any business!
I spoke to the same woman – Rebecca Rakhshani. Here I was, a brand new POTENTIAL customer. Was calling to get a quote and were asking specific questions. She kept insisting me to look over some documents that she was going to email over (repeating it 4 -5 times throughout our short conversation), in which those documents would most likely answer all my questions – this made me feel like she doesn’t fully understand the product she’s selling and/or is just trying to rush me off of the phone. So I checked my email and to my amazement and disappointment, I received a link to complete my application – subject titles was: “Your application is almost complete”…????? What the actual F, I called to get a quote and to ask question so I can fully understand what I’m getting into? Also, earlier on, I asked if there were additional charges for gateway access (because I plan to accept online payments). She said no and that it’s built into the membership fee. Wrong! After 30 mins of research, I come to find out that it is considered an “upgraded option” and will cost an additional $10/ month, on top of the membership fee. I don’t think I can sacrifice good customer service for “best rates”.
We courted Payment Depot to be our provider for Clover POS and initially were VERY impressed with their numbers and politeness over the phone. They have a call center mentality up to the closing of the sale of answer EVERY question and be polite and apparently transparent. What we have received since the sale has been little to no support for our actual POS. We were told that Payment Depot has the best back end support in the industry and that almost never would there be an instance where contact to First Data would be needed. On our very first support call for the most simple of issues we were shoved off to First Data.
On top of that many of the supposed options and features we were told are available are not and will not be. Leaving us with TWO POS systems that don’t suit our needs and cost us nearly $3000 just to get started. It is starting to look like Clover will not be a solution and doesnt live up to any of the promises that were made.
As for Payment Depot, at first I was WOWED by their seemingly upfront attitude in an industry wrought with shady operations. Where we stand now I rank them right there with the rest of them.
I am extremely satisfied with Payment Depot. We are a 30 year old business,and I can say from experience, this company is very easy to do business with. We had done a large amount of research, prior to signing up, and I can say, it is what they say, and we have saved a bundle already. They treat you like your business matters to them, which is refreshing. I have zero complaints. Actually, I now consider myself a Payment Depot advocate to spread the word to other local businesses and owners who don’t process with them, to switch over. They are extremely fair, which is how it should be. I don’t feel like I have been taken advantage of, as I have often felt with previous companies, with all the hidden fees, and surcharges. Kudos to everyone at Payment Depot. I give them an A+.
I Just switched to Payment Depot for my credit card processing. So far it has been great, everything they offer is true. My average monthly processing fees have been around 1.6% which includes their monthly fee. Glad to find a company that is honest up front with no hidden fees. Had a bad experience with my last processor that promised a lower price but it was a big lie.