Paysafe Overview
A Rapidly Growing Payment Processor
Also known as Paysafe Group, Paysafe is a UK-based merchant account provider that has acquired multiple large payment processing subsidiaries during the past five years. The company was formed in 2015 as a rebranding of Optimal Payments, and it was subsequently acquired in August 2017 by 2 private equity firms called The Blackstone Group and CVC Capital Partners. Its major acquisitions under both the Optimal Payments and Paysafe brands include Skrill, Meritus Payment Solutions, MeritCard Solutions, Merchants’ Choice Payment Solutions, and, most recently, iPayment.
Paysafe Headquarters and Ownership
Paysafe is a registered ISO/MSP of BBVA USA, Decatur, AL; Wells Fargo, N.A., Concord, CA; Woodforest National Bank, Houston, TX; BMO Harris Bank, N.A, Chicago, IL; and Merrick Bank, Woodbury, NY. The company is headquartered at 41 Victoria St, Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 2LH. Philip McHugh is the CEO of Paysafe. Joel Leonoff, who has also serves as the CEO of Skrill, founded the company in 1997.
Paysafe Review Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: Paysafe offers variable pricing terms among its many products and services.
- Complaints & Service: Paysafe has received more than 100 public complaints.
- BBB Rating: Paysafe’s California location currently has an “A+” rating and has received 28 complaints and 9 reviews in the last 3 years. The company has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2010.
- Sales & Marketing: Paysafe maintains different sales practices at each of its subsidiary organizations.
- Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With Paysafe
Highest Rated Competitors
Our unbiased reviews are supported, in part, by helping you find highly rated merchant accounts. You can learn more here.
Lowest Complaint Merchant Accounts
Our Opinion of Paysafe
An Average Option for Most Merchants
Paysafe rates as a fairly standard merchant services provider according to our rating criteria. Paysafe Group itself is more of a parent corporation managed by equity firms than an actual payment processor, so the quality of its products and services will vary according to the policies of its subsidiary branches across the globe. In general, the various Paysafe sub-brands have established their own industry reputations ranging from average to below-average. Merchants are therefore more likely to have a better experience through a top-rated merchant account provider.
We rely on your feedback about Paysafe to keep this review accurate and up-to-date. Please take a minute to tell us about your experience. We and the small business owners of this world thank you!Top Rated Merchant Accounts of 2020
About Phillip Parker
Thank you for reading my review. I hope that it has helped you with your research.
Why I'm Qualified to Write About Credit Card Processing and Merchant Account Services
I'm a former credit card processing sales director who left the industry because I didn't like how it takes advantage of small business owners. It feeds like a leech on businesses and thrives by imposing fees that are nearly impossible to comprehend. Seeing a need for change, I left and built this website help business owners better understand the industry, research merchant services providers, and get refunds of excessive merchant account fees. My experience of working "behind the curtain" in the industry, and using that knowledge for good, has resulted in millions of dollars returned to hard-working small business owners as well as enterprise-level companies.
From the time that I starting working in the merchant services industry to when I left to create this website, I've been on the pulse of payments for nearly 15 years. It didn't seem fair to keep this "insider" knowledge to myself. To lift the fog, I've reviewed hundreds of companies, read thousands of user reviews, and learned the pricing tricks of every provider. If you have questions about credit card processing, you can find the answers on this website.
Phillip Parker
My Sales Rep Darren Cunningham dropped out off the face of the earth the day my merchant service was connected. The terms he gave me were not correct. He never gave me a contract only terms and conditions. I have been calling Paysafe for since last July and have not received any satisfaction or a call back from the Sales Rep. I closed the account on Jan. 23rd. I then found that $495.00 was deducted from my bank account.
WHY? early termination. First I was not under a contract. Second no one every told me about an early termination fee. This company has been a rip off to me since the day I said yes to Mr. Cunningham
Please do not use this Merchant Company.
Susan,
Early termination fees can be some of the most expensive costs of any merchant account. There are also plenty of other contract terms to avoid that can result in unexpected fees. Businesses unsatisfied with their merchant accounts often feel like the early termination fee is too expensive for them to cancel. Fortunately, there are instances in which a merchant can cancel an account without paying a fee.
-Phillip
-Phillip
I’ve been a retail merchant for 19yrs. I’ve been with Paysafe/I-Payment since 2011.From July to Oct 2019 over $31,000 in merchant deposits were stolen from my account. The fraudulent person provided a alternate checking account number for deposits and impersonated himself as the business owner. Paysafe failed to compare the fraud person’s new bank account information to the business owners information on file. Paysafe obviously has no security measures in place for these circumstances. I filed identity theft and made reports to all credit bureaus. Filed police reports with local law enforcement agencies. Paysafe then allowed this fraud person to open a additional merchant account number and process multiple transactions from other states under my business name. This was done after the fraud alert was supposedly placed on my account. I changed my bank account number and promptly provided the new information to paysafe. I was assured that my bank information would be updated. This was provided to paysafe in November of 2019. I called Paysafe in reference to the $31,000 refund last Wednesday and was informed they’re holding my funds since my requested bank change. The csr said she saw the letter I’d sent in November and she would make sure this was updated promptly. I called Friday to confirm this change was in effect. After holding over 1 hr they claimed they needed additional documentation from my bank. Paysafe never made me aware of any additional documents needed. When calling paysafe the hold times are literally over 1 hour. You’re not assigned any particular person to your account so you’re forced to explain your entire situation to a foreign csr that places you on extensive holds repeatedly. I promptly within 20 minutes provided the bank letter to the CSR. He somehow disconnected the call. He never returned my call. I sent a email with the requested documents directly to him. Also sent a follow up email asking if he needed any additional information. He never responded. I called back today because I felt like it had been sufficient time to see my deposits reverted to the new bank account. After being on the phone today over 1.5 hours I was informed that the provided bank letter needed a handwritten signature. Nothing was ever mentioned about this last Friday. Paysafe never made any attempt to contact me and request additional information. I provided the additional information today. Paysafe is not capable of providing secure processing for merchants. The customer service is beyond lacking. Communication is horrible. So since the fraud was assigned to risk management in Oct I’ve been told weekly by the risk management team they were working on my reimbursement. I was told that the supervisor of risk management was working with law enforcement and the fraud persons bank and would be in touch with me in reference to my refund. I’ve called weekly. Its obvious a business cannot survive without the sales deposits. I was finally told last Wednesday to contact the legal department via regular PO Box Mail. So since October I’ve been given the runaround and been stalled claiming my refund was getting reviewed by the supervisor of risk management. Its apparent Paysafe doesn’t protect their merchants funds. It’s no concern to them that their merchant is a victim of identity theft due to their lack of verification security measures in place. I as a business owner am doing everything within my ability to keep afloat after the $31,000 theft not to mention the now over $10,000 in deposits they’re holding due to needed information. I’m taking this time to write this review hoping it might save a future merchant from this potential fraud due to lack of security at Paysafe. I’m changing processors and will never trust Paysafe with my merchant needs. They do not care about their merchants.They seem to overlook their existence wouldn’t be if if weren’t for the merchants processing transactions.
Account was set up without my permission. No VAR sheet was ever sent to Halo. I have recd two statements (December and January). charging me for NOT using account. I have called customer service and salesperson several times. The fee has not been refunded nor have charges stopped. I need to have charge refunded and account closed. Very dissatisfied with this company.
I will file a consumer complaint with Consumer Protection Bureau plus Attorney General of my State if not resolved immediately.
DON’T GET EVEN CLOSE TO THESE GUYS!!!
We signed up with PaySafe 10 months ago and had them as our credit card processor for a couple of months. By the end of May 2019 we decided to move to a different processor mainly due to the excessive cost (rate per transaction + multiple monthly fees). Now 7 months later I keep getting statements from them for monthly fees even though I called their customer service 10 times and asked them to remove us from every and all services. Other than being annoying and time consuming, these statements, which of-course are not paid, can hurt your credit score. This is the type of service provider you should stay away from at any cost.
Reuven,
This article may help: Canceling a merchant account without paying a fee.
-Phillip
This company took $19.95 from my bank account without my approval. In fact I had never heard of them until the charge showed up. My bank tried to do a stop payment on the charge but was unsuccessful. Their phone is never answered. I have called three times and set on the phone a least an hour each time without talking to anyone. I was told by another business that Paysafe sent a email to all businesses saying they are going to start this scam and if you didn’t reply or opt out that meant you wanted their services. What a crooked company. Why doesn’t the attorney general stop companies that are scamming people.
Evia,
If you believe you have been the victim of a scam or fraud then this article may help: How to report to relevant supervisory organisations.
-Phillip
I just paysafe zero star review I’d like to start by introducing myself on Nathan with above and beyond renovations Inc and I’ve had nothing but a horrible experience with this company I quite possibly think that they might be scamming small businesses they have a contract that doesn’t even have my signature on it but I have a copy of my contract with them and it does have my signature in our contracts do not look the same now for the last two months I’ve been trying to pay the $495 fee that I wasn’t aware of when I signed up with paysafe to cancel their services and they’re refusing to take the payment in a timely fashion and in turn I’m inquiring extra monthly fees while I’m waiting for them to cancel my contract with them I would absolutely not recommend this company to anyone on this planet or therefore in the milky way galaxy thank you very much and have a nice day pay safe will be lucky if they don’t hear from my attorney
Nathan,
This article may help: How to cancel a merchant account without paying a fee.
-Phillip
This review is for Paysafe Merchant Service provider. The company is an absolute SCAM.
1. They charge you much more that you agreed, you will be buried in hidden and unexpected fees.
2. They constant lie, starting with the sales rep, ending with every call center representative. I caught them so many times on lies.
3. They unlawfully withheld some of my transactions, not paying them out to me, telling lies about the reason why (I have proof).
4. They signed me up for a bunch of services that they call free, and guess what, I started to get billed monthly by all of them shortly after.
5. You will spend hours and hours on hold with their support, who would NEVER SOLVE ANYTHING over the phone. They always say they need to contact some other department and they will get back to you within the next 24-4 hours. And they never do, as the issues are never solved either.
The easiest way to get out of all this mess is to close your bank account.
The are holding over $130k in funds due to 4% chargebacks. Do the math, its incredible they can destroy a business over something like this. WORST F****** COMPANY I HAVE EVER WORKED WITH IN 20 YEARS.
stay away from this processing company I cancelled and keep charging fees my only option will be to close my bank account
This is not a good choice when it comes to merchant services. I would not recommend them to anyone. I faxed and emailed closure form in the beginning of October yet they say they did not close the account until Oct 31. So this is their reasoning for charging my account due to me not wanting to continue services with them. I told the man when he called to set it up “I have read reviews on the service you plan to put me with and I do not want to continue this account”. All of a sudden a charge on my account. This was in September. Do not use Paysafe. They are not safe.
To my opinion, trust score for this company should be ZERO. The company’s unethical practices brought me financial losses.
The relationship started with a few unauthorized charges that nobody from Paysafe could ever explain or refund.
They continued by me finding out that NOT ALL settled transaction are paid out. So Paysafe receives my customer’s money but not paying it out to me. Tried to resolve this issues in the course of a few weeks, spent over 6 hours on the phone with support who straight up lied. Every representative would come up with a different excuse and try to brush me off saying that they will resolve the issue within 48 hours and will contact me back. As you may have guess, nobody ever resolved the issues or contacted me.
Support would admit the issue over the phone but refuse to email me a written affirmation admitting the issue has happened. The whole situation looks extremely shady and practices employed resemble scammers. My month-long collaboration with this company resulted in a financial loss.
Trust score should be ZERO. The company’s unethical practices brought me financial losses.
The relationship started with a few unauthorized charges that nobody from Paysafe could ever explain or refund.
They continued by me finding out that NOT ALL settled transaction are paid out. So Paysafe receives my customer’s money but not paying it out to me. Tried to resolve this issues in the course of a few weeks, spent over 6 hours on the phone with support who straight up lied. Every representative would come up with a different excuse and try to brush me off saying that they will resolve the issue within 48 hours and will contact me back. As you may have guess, nobody ever resolved the issues or contacted me.
Support would admit the issue over the phone but refuse to email me a written affirmation admitting the issue has happened. The whole situation looks extremely shady and practices employed resemble scammers. My month-long collaboration with this company resulted in a financial loss.
Allowed me to deposit funds when i did not have enough to cover the amount..in the past they would deny my deposit..this caused me to incur a overdraaft charge.
The worst experience! Never trust this company! They will charge tons of money after telling you about FREE service. Even after cancelling their service they still charging money! Horrible!
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Stay Far Away From Them, Worst Customer Service!!!!!!! I have been calling for 4 months to get this company to stop charging me there fees. I signed up in May 2019 and immediately changed my mind called my rep to cancel and to this day I am still being charged. I don’t and have never even had they terminal to process cards. The first couple of months of calling I was told only your rep can close your account and they will call you back within 24 to 48 hours. which never happens. Then when you call and ask for a supervisor they just run through a script and put you on hold for ever. Finally earlier this month I talk to someone named Eric and he said he could close my account I just had to fill out a form and send it back and within 7 – 10 business days my account would be closed and I would have my refund.Just got off the phone with them again 12 business days since sending in my paperwork and this time I am being told they have numerous accounts being closed and mine was in the stack but they now have noted my account closure as urgent and I am stuck with another reference number yet again and now being told it could take another month to close my account. If I ran my business this way I would be bankrupt, but wait they will not go bankrupt because apparently from what I have seen now they are ripping each and everyone of us off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Horrible company!!!! 1st class crooks!!!
They took money out my account for a chargeback on more than one occasion and after calling over 50 times well over a month I keep being told a supervisor has to approve the refund and that they can never get a supervisor on the phone. Each call takes over 2 hours and the collections department closes at 5 so they will either deliberately hang up on you or keep you on hold and wast your time just to say they are going to send an email so the supervisor can call you back and they never call back. Never use this company because they are a scam and they charge a lot more than they claim to charge on processing fees.
This post will help: Best Payment Processors for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
First of all, they lure you in telling you no early termination penalty, no monthly fees, yadayadayada. It’s all false. After looking into the small amount of information they give you, in order to sign up you have to give your account information then they send you a document online to sign. Well, make sure you read all terms and conditions for every little thing. There is an early termination fee and there are all kinds of extra monthly fees you agree to if you sign up. I called them and said I did not want to go through with the service. When they asked why I mention early termination and extra fees. They then sent me an “Adendum” that stated no early termination fees- Hum, I wonder how many people they got away with not sending that adendum to. I still cancelled of course. Never even received any processing equipment or set up my online account. But the monthly charges to my account began the following month. They did allow me to cancel the service the same day after I requested to speak to management. Its been 2 months and I have had 3 fraudulent charges to my account. The first 2 charges it took a few phone calls and emails to get them reimbursed. I’m typing this as I have just now discovered the third fraudulent charge and I’m currently waiting on refund.
Stay away, stay far away from these thieves.
This post will help: 5 Places Where Processors Hide Fees In Your Contract
-Phillip
After 2 months of not using their services, I attempted to cancel by sending in a cancellation document. They claim it wasn’t sent properly and proceeded to charge me over $700 over the course of a year instead of contacting me. I will be doing whatever it takes to get my my money back.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Paysafe has been taking money out of my business account for 2 months. I don’t have an account, processor or recieve any services from them. For the past 3 days. They keep telling me they can’t get a hold of anyone in the department to close the account. The representative said there is no supervisor to talk to. This all happened because I was inquiring about there services
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Some how this company has gotten my information & starting charging my account for services never received. Never signed up for this company as I use Square! Called this company June 4,2019 to cancel services I never used because they charged my bank account. They said it was canceled then a couple weeks later June 24, 2019 this company charged my account AGAIN! This time charging $139. I have canceled this again! I’ve never heard of this company & would just like for them to cancel whatever it is & stop charging my account.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Just finished my third call to Paysafe. They are holding over $4,500.00 of our money and half of it is from May 2019. They promise the issue is resolved, however, we still don’t receive our money. Would never recommend this company to anyone!
This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
-Phillip
Just signed up with this company and they are holding my 4900 on new business start up. It’s now been 6 days what should I do
Trevor,
This article may help: How to make a payment processor release your funds.
-Phillip
Never signed up with this company and they have been taking money out of business account for a year. Contacted them and they cannot produce contract because I never signed one. They have taken over 1000.00 out of my account. They need to be shut down and going to do everything I can do make them pay me back my money they stole from me.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Rotten customer service. They’re a credit card processing company alright, and that’s about all they seem capable of doing.
Whenever we have a chargeback, we are presented with roughly 2 to three entire business days to respond, and for them to address our response before we are out of time and have to eat the fraudulent chargeback. They have no care for us as customers and will happily let anyone place a chargeback without giving us suitable time to respond with the information of the sale.
Their phone customer service is terrible as well. We recently got a new machine as our old one was printing poorly. When asking for the new machine, the woman on the phone asked me the time we want our batch closed. I told her, but when the machine arrived, it was set to a totally different time, not even close to what I told her.
As we are unable to change the batch closeout time on the machine itself, we need to call their customer service number to get someone to do it for us. So far, I have had to call and wait on hold twice today, as the first time I was asked for our merchant ID (which I had) and Tax ID (which I did not have and needed to get from the business owner) – I was NOT asked for further information.
The second time, I was asked for Merchant ID, Tax ID, and the last four of our bank account (which is a piece of information they have never asked for and which I did not have, and had to again ask the owner for). So, now I get to wait in line again to see if they decide to add any NEW stipulations on what information is needed. All to change the batch time which they set improperly in the first place.
I just want the darn machine working properly, there’s no good reason for this to be such a hassle and it’s cut into my morning work. It’s a shame every card processing company is awful, it’s not like we have other good choices. What a shame. Terrible customer service every time we contact them throughout the years, they are just consistently unhelpful.
This post will help: Best Payment Processors for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
The are the worst!. Have been trying to resolve Merchant Account and scanner never working for over a month now.
Quick to withdraw their fees from your bank account regardless that your merchant account never worked. A plethora of Ticket #’s and false promises that you will be contacted or refunded. Wait time is 1½ hr with no resolution. STAY CLEAR OF THIS COMPANY!
This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
I just found out that my account was over drown and with out me knowing. I called them and I was on hold for along time after talking to a sails rep she switch me to the people that suppose to stop the account, but know one answer the phone.
This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
We went to this credit card processing company based on what we thought was a cutting edge company with a staff to support it. I have never in my life dealt with such incompetent people. The contact number on the invoice just keeps ringing, so we tried another number from their website and found out we were talking to someone in the Carbbean! They could not find our account. Really? They found it to keep taking funds out. Something needs to be done to stop them. Any ideas?
This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
Thanks for all the positive feedback I’ll definitely give them a shot.
This company is a total rip off a scam. I never used them to process any payment and they charged a bunch of fees that I was not aware of. After we finally found out who was debiting my account, I ask the service rep about these fees and I wanted my money back. He told me that i signed a contract which I do not remember and basically told me tuff luck. The total fees for not using this service were $3200, automatically deducted from my checking account over the past year. Hidden in my transactions. I am a very small business and this kind of fraud is very devastating to my bottom line. These guys are a bunch of crooks. Be very aware.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Skrill moneybookers is owned by paysafe , I deposited funds last year November 2018 into my skrill account 9 days later the funds had not reflected so I contacted skrill ([email protected]) I received a case number and the soon thereafter the funds reflected. In March 2019 I made another deposit this time the amount was much more than the previous 16 days later no funds reflected I once again contacted skrill and explained I followed exact same procedure as last time and no funds reflect, I received an inquiry number and then nothing after that. No funds have reflected and zero communication from them. I have even provided them with the Bank transaction statement.
This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
-Phillip
Company has been holding all processed credits and refunds. This has been ongoing from November 2018 to February 2019. Then they closed our account. November 26, 2018 through February 4 2019 Pay save has not deposited credits or refunds for our credit cards charged. They have closed our account and our holding our funds. I have been trying since February to get the funds released. I have talked to Mohammed 800-549-4631, Patrice Stampp 800-327-0093 and Brenda 800-549-4631. Patrice gave me a reference number 42178586. Mohammed said funds would be deposited almost a month ago. Brenda said today she is waiting for Gina from collections to release our money. I have asked many times for a manager to call us or to speak to a manager. They will not let me talk to a manager. A manager has never called. I believe this credit card processing company business practices are illegal. Do not use them.
This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
-Phillip
Paysafe staff is stupid, and the service is the worst. Their message recording system is cheating. There is an early termination fee for 500 bucks. Don’t use paysafe!
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
they keep taking money out even though im not using their service,i put a stop on them and they changed their name twice and put it througjh,i finally had to close my account and open under new number.called paysafe after 25 minutes i hung up
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Hi there
I would like to make a formal complain about this agent named: ALEXANDER SERFES who actually signed me up for the contract with PAYSAFE.
We had all the conversation and discussion before I signed up for the contract, he sent me an online form and told me everything was as per what we discussed and there was a time limit for the online contract and so I have to sign it quick. I trusted him and signed it and I was supposed to get the device FREE with ONE YEAR ADDENDUM.
However, I was charged USD180.26 since NOVEMBER 2018. I called the customer service and they informed me that I must speak to the agent. So, I called Alexander multiple times, and he assured me that all paper work was submitted for the refund, and I should be receiving them soon. However, it didn’t happen. I called him many times, I hardly could reach him and he hardly return calls or answering my emails. And by early JANUARY, he told me I would receive the refund before 15th of January after his confirmation with the manager, and again, this never happened.
And on Jan 24, he sent me a document for me to sign, I was kind of shock as he mentioned all paper work for the refund was submitted before, however, i signed and hoping I will get the refund soon.
And again, numerous calls were made to Alex, no answer at all. I sent emails to him as well, and again, no reply.
Today, I spoke to the Customer service, and Nicoleen mentioned to me that there wasn’t any request submitted for the refund.
I am not sure if there was a misunderstanding, but however, I am truly disappointed of the service from ALEXANDER SERFES which was so irresponsible as in not returning calls, giving empty promises, ignoring emails.
I hope someone will answer to this issue. I actually read all the good reviews about PAYSAFE before, and decided to go with PAYSAFE instead of other MERCHANT services, but I am so disappointed because of this agent. It is such a small issue at first, but it took 5 MONTHS, and yet I am not receiving any update or answer.
I hope someone will answer to this.
Regards
Gene Phillips
This post will help: Best Payment Processors for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
PAYSAFE? More like waste your time on hold for more than 30 min. at a time. Beware local rep released all my bank information without my authorization and I am having hell trying to get a refund for which I did NOT give my consent I am writing this review and have been on hold for the last 48 min…What A JOKE!!!!!
This post will help: Best Payment Processors for Great Customer Service
– Phillip