ProPay Overview
An Uncommon Payment Processing Option
Founded in 1997, ProPay is a merchant account provider that shares attributes of both a traditional credit card processor and services like PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, and Google Checkout. ProPay’s similarities with a traditional merchant account include the ability to swipe credit cards at the point of sale, which can result in a lower processing fee, as well as the ability to accept payments for other purposes such as e-commerce and mail order/telephone order sales. ProPay is a merchant account provider that shares attributes of both a traditional credit card processor and services like PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, and Google Checkout. ProPay was acquired by TSYS in late 2012 but now operates as a Global Payments company.
Unlike a traditional merchant services provider, ProPay does not support the use of countertop credit card terminals like the type used at most retailers. However, like PayPal and 2Checkout, ProPay has an easy signup process and is open to non-traditional merchants such as direct sellers and micro-merchants. ProPay acts as its own holding account and merchants must manually transfer their money to a linked checking account.
ProPay JAK
ProPay offers several ways to accept credit card payments, including mobile options. The first, “ProPay JAK,” is a service similar to Square that enables merchants to use a card reader with a smartphone to accept credit cards. ProPay also offers tablet-based point-of-sale solutions as well as access to a virtual terminal.
ProPay Chip Card Reader
An EMV-compatible card reader is currently available for purchase through each merchant’s existing ProPay account. This device connects to a merchant’s smartphone via Bluetooth in order to accept chip cards. The ProPay EMV reader does not currently accept Near Field Communication (NFC) contactless card payments, Apple Pay, or Android Pay, but these additions are planned for future updates. Lastly, ProPay offers an automated phone system where merchants can call in to process real-time sales.
ProPay Location and Ownership
ProPay is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord, CA. The company is headquartered at 3400 Ashton Blvd Ste 200, Lehi, Utah. Dave Duncan is the president of ProPay.
ProPay Review Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: ProPay offers an annual contract through Global Payments that does not typically include an early termination fee.
- Complaints & Service: ProPay has received more than 40 public complaints.
- BBB Rating: ProPay has an “A+” rating and has received 15 complaints and 1 review in the past 3 years. The company has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2000.
- Sales & Marketing: ProPay does not appear to hire independent sales agents and has not received any complaints about its sales practices.
- Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With ProPay
Our unbiased reviews are supported, in part, by helping you find highly rated merchant accounts. You can learn more here.
Our Opinion of ProPay
A Low-Risk, Low-Cost Option for Small Businesses
ProPay is a great credit card processing option for small businesses looking to avoid a traditional merchant account. ProPay’s services are particularly well suited for mobile merchants, e-commerce merchants, service-based businesses, mail/telephone order companies, and single register retailers that have internet access. ProPay does not supply traditional credit card terminals or POS systems, so it may not be the best option for restaurants or busy retailers. High risk merchants and those that have a higher chance of chargebacks may want to look elsewhere because ProPay appears to act swiftly by freezing accounts that it suspects to be a threat for losses. Merchants are encouraged to compare ProPay’s products and pricing to top-rated e-commerce merchant account providers.
We rely on your feedback about ProPay 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
Horrible company. I would not recommend.
Pro Pay is the WORST! They charge your credit card for a company & then won’t takr any responsibility for it. I’d already warned them they took money for a company a month ago for an account that was deactivated. It they took more again this month. Don’t download business with them!
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
I am 69 years old so you might say I’ve been around the block a few times BUT this is definitely a FIRST for me. Imagine transfering, through ProPay, several thousands of dollars to your US Bank Account.
On the first attempt, with only $1,000, my money was returned to Propay as an unsuccessful transaction. I sought advice from your customer service department and after a long discussion and verification of the Bank Info, I agreed to make a second transfer attempt of 1,994.40$ on June 27, 2019.
Today, 1 month later, transfer NOT RECEIVED, money not returned to ProPay and now after many calls to ProPay’s CS, I am being to;ld that they have No Control after the money is sent and “Get This”, they are now telling me that it may take (3) months or so before they get my money back.
WHAT?
This is what I call “Pittifull Service” at best!
I have lodged a formal complaint with Globallee who have mandated ProPay to serve its Network of Independent Ambassadors
This post will help: Why Credit Card Processors Hold Funds
-Phillip
I have always had good luck with the Propay helpline being both polite and truly helpful, but today a man named Kenneth went above and beyond the call of duty. After finding out that the root of the problem was with the company I’m contracted with, calling them, having them be very unhelpful to say the least and even my becoming very emotional in the process, Kenneth stayed on the phone with me for a little over an hour making sure that I knew exactly how to manage and use my Propay account, and gave me some really amazing and valuable advice about how to run my business as efficiently and properly as possible. The call quickly went from my being riddled with anxiety and feeling quite hopeless to where I felt confident and ready because I had a plan I knew how to execute. Thank you so much, Kenneth at Propay! Keep being the star employee you are!!
Hi Rebecca,
Please reply to this comment with your business name and location in order to authenticate your testimonial. Thanks!
I have used Pro Pay due to my affiliation with another company for a little over a year now. Not only do I pay for an annual fee to use this service, but every time there is a transaction Pro Pay earns money from it. Recently, a customer made a purchase on my personal website and it went through Pro Pay for over $200.00. I shipped the products purchased to the customer and went on with my day. Over 10 days later, Pro Pay emails me letting me know that there is a charge back on my account from this customer that is disputing the transaction. So, basically, I got scammed by this customer, and Pro Pay instead of defending their customer (myself), is taking the money from my account to pay back the scammer. In addition, I end up losing tax and shipping expenses. There is no future for this company with such poor customer service. Please don’t waste your time and money, and use other similar companies that will fight to protect their customers from frauds like this. I also use other companies for my transactions, and I have been very pleased with them when a situation like this arises. Don’t use Pro Pay; and their customer service is terrible!!!
After 5 weeks of calling to make sure they had all set up correctly (would have to say their customer service is about useless) I have every email from them and every screen shot (which will be reporting to the FTC) processed first transaction, not even knowing 100% if they had it set up, next day logged in said funds available for transfer, transferred to bank account on file, they send an email the following day stating I violated their reserve policy(screen shot to prove that is incorrect) so after 2 months of dealing with them for nothing switching back to square. Lousy company and lousy customer service. Emailed them and got 13 emails with no information. Highly recommend using anyone else.
Terrible company to deal with.
I have absolutely HORRIBLE luck with Propay. After years of processing relatively small fees, they refuse to raise my processing limit, even modestly. To process anything beyond a few hundred dollars, you have to jump through mega hoops to process something once, then they make you do it again the next time you need to process something higher.
My wife signed up for pro pay, our bank account was charged the $7.95 fee. Understandable but the next 34 was outrageous! 35 times we was charge $7.95 this is rediculous!
Please donot work with PROPAY. They have been holding my money for the past 4 months now and have no way to send it to me I spoke with them over 100 times with no answers and when they give me a answer all it is its a LIE. Go with another company this company doesnot help yu but cause you probems
These guys are worse than the KGB. I have been with then for more that 5 years never an issue always do as asked. They do not want to help business grow they try and prevent you from conducting business. I freaking despise them there has to be better options them Propay seriously. Hey propay get your head out of your ass. I needed a 30 dollar increase because I reached my monthly limit and it was like what is your underwear size, how many times a week do yo change your sock, do you bathe regularly WTF for 30.00 are you crazy. Then they go postal and try and say I subverted there policy hello I have regular customers where we do weekly work for them that is possible you know we even sent copies of the invoices only to be lectured with a long winded BS email for no reason other then someone is on a power trip. Stay away from propay.
Terrible! Cheats! Ransomware !
I am a Mary Kay consultant and I had a returning customer. They have holds in both transactions due to their shifting reasons. One reason was because they thought I was splitting a charge.
Second time they said because they believed it wasn’t a Mary Kay transaction. I sent documentation and yet they are still holding my customers funds! How am I supposed to go know on someone’s door and ask them to reverse the transaction and give me cash instead!??!? Ridiculous business practice. Let alone I will lose a customer.
NEVER Do business with propay!-use PayPal! PayPal doesn’t charge an annual fee and does not charge for their card reader.
I just wanted to reply with an idea that might help you to NOT lose your customer. If this wasn’t a large transaction and you can afford to “eat the cost” until these people finally get their feces collected (nicer language :}) I know you shouldn’t have to but it’s better to lose ONE SALE than to lose a LIFETIME CUSTOMER. Once this issue is resolved, I would close out this account and go with another pay service, i.e. PayPal or Bitcoin for any future transactions. *HINT: I would open that account YESTERDAY! LOL And I CERTAINLY would not instigate ONE SINGLE NEW transaction with this company based on all of the reviews I have read just in the last hour. Hope the suggestion helps! Best of luck to you and God bless!
Ok, my company has used ProPay for 4 years before we had our first and only chargeback for $195. We had processed over $50K with these guys and after the chargeback they went postal. They cancelled my account and even kept my annual renewal fee.
Thank you ProPay for making me find a better service, Payeezy. Your loss!!!
Somehow someone got my gift card # and used it on propay. Now I’m just screwed out of that money.
I was very pleased with ProPay but only for TWO days. I ran into issues after that and when I called support to try to solve the issue, all I was told was “I don’t have that information.” I asked kindly to speak to someone who could but they didn’t have the option to do so. I am now left with less merchandise and no funds deposited to me for those merchandise purchased. Please read and take careful consideration before committing to ProPay. Then again if you do have questions they may not have the information you need. I would highly recommend another option to avoid similar or other issues.
Frankly, terrible. I’ve been trying for over a week to get my Propay account to work. For some reason, my account couldn’t just be set up, I had to send in an application, pictures of my license, my SIGNED social security card, and a recent bank statement. They’re supposed to take 1-3 business days to process the request, but it took at least 5 days–and they didn’t even do it. I didn’t have my social security card signed, so they sent me an email, 5 days later, and after I CALLED to make sure they had everything they needed (because I have orders waiting and it’s really stressing me out) and they said that I did, after all that they just sent me an email telling me they needed another picture. That took about a day and I finally get an email saying I can set up my account now. I try to get on today to set it up, and I forgot my password. So I enter my social security number and my birthdate, and it says that it’s wrong. Tried again, said it was still wrong. So I try to call, and they’re closed today. I’ve had orders waiting for over a week!!! I am so upset. I usually never write complaints, but this is ridiculous.
I have been with ProPay for longer than what I should have. It is now the third time my magnetic strip is not reading a card! We have an event tomorrow and requested overnight shipping of a new JAK reader. I even offered to pay for the overnight shipping charges, but no surprise there, as they stated they cannot overnight readers and to top it all off…I had to pay for another reader including shipping in the amount of $12.95! My technical support was kind and it was beyond his control, but really ProPay? Where are your priorities? Certainly not where they should be. So tired of lack of appreciation for the customer! We will be taking our business elsewhere!
I just signed up with ProPay a year ago. They over charged me for the account fee and is refusing to properly refund me the money and send me a check for the amount they over charged me. I also ordered a card reader from them, they received payment but it was never delivered to me. I called a complained, they indicated they couldn’t find the order. Once they found it they mentioned they would send it out immediately. Well by that time I was so angry I told them I did not want it and wanted a refund. I was told a refund was processed but never saw the refund on my account. I’m still waiting on both my refunds and am extremely angry and don’t want to continue to use the service.
I have never encounter so many UGLY and SAD reviews about a company!
I have had what so far continue to be a small business for the last five years. I have so far no problems with paypal, but I heard some complaints about similar issues, “the freezing of founds”. It scares me a little, but these complaints were not so many, and maily from people making a lots of money and multiple big transactions. No complaints from small growing or medium size co.
But what I am reading here makes me angry. I feel so sorry for so many people trying hard to be successful with their busnesess for their families and basic need that is shameful on PRO PAY. I am starting a business that recommend Pro Pay as their preferred processor. But I am not only NOT use it (even if I have to quit before start, but I am going to make sure these complaints get to the top leadership of our company, because they bare very reputable and I am sure they don’t know aabout this. I am also to promote all of these reviews. It is frustrating just to read what these people have to endure because of dishonest BAD business practices from Pro Pay. We are living in very bad times and this is not the way to support each others in our bad economy.
Again it is frustrating and it breaks my heart, but being a believer I will pray for all of you, because our God will make JUSTICE.
Blessings!
I am asking for a review of my acct. #3282909. I cancelled my Propay acct., but it was never done. Then I was charged a fee and a renewal fee. I asked these be refunded but never was. Then, I never rec’d my commission check due to my banking practices. I experienced ID theft and was advised to bank in a different way, esp. not online.
Your org. needs to realize this is a growing crime and exceptions need to be allowed for customers like us. That’s why I cancelled it from the beginning.
I explained this to many reps but no one would listen to my circumstances and help me out. So, now I lost $12.85 and $9.99. Customer service is so hard to find and for this minimal amt. I can’t believe your company is so petty over it. Not that the amt. matters, but the service does.
Please review my acct. for a refund. Also, please send me copies of all documents I signed. Thank you in advance.
Propay is now holding 1,000 dollars of mine, won’t release the funds until they see an invoice etc. etc. meanwhile my rent isn’t being paid, this is unbelievable and i’m losing money, can’t use any other services until they “check into things” what a crock, i’m pissed off and looking for another service!!!!
Horrible experience. Thank you to this website for mis-guiding me, by giving these crooks an “A” rating. Started processing customer payments about a week ago. After accumulating $800 worth of a balance, they froze my account pending some “analysis”. As far as I’m concerned, Propay had business to do this analysis *prior* to the approval on my account – Not after I have already taken nearly a thousand dollars worth of customer payments. I now have the option of either “refunding” (where I’d basically take a loss on all the work I’ve done), or option 2: having Propay hold my money hostage for a period of 6 months. I believe the reason they do this is because if they tell you from the start that they require a $1000 security deposit, most people would walk away. But when your hands are tied (given these options), then you have no choice but to play by their rules. This is directly and substantially infringing on my small business, the cash flow, and my ability to even open for business or fund advertising.
Not only are they holding MY money hostage for a minimum of 6 months, but also be aware that if you attempt to refund a payment, they DO NOT refund their portion of the fee. In other words, you probably have to mail out a check to your customer to cover the difference. Otherwise, they will be calling you to complain that the full amount wasn’t refunded. AVOID THIS COMPANY. Do yourself a favor and go with a reputable bank for merchant processing.
Hi Joseph,
I’m sorry that you feel “mis-guided” by my review; however, I stand by the rating. This is because I rarely count complaints about fund holding against a provider unless there is a clear pattern of abuse. I’ve found that in most cases fund holding is merely an action brought on by an elevated risk of fraud or Chargebacks based on the type a transactions a merchant is running (high-risk). This is something that all providers do and in most cases the merchant get his/her money within a short time. I suggest reading this article to better understand the process behind holds: Why Credit Card Processors Hold Funds
Propay is inexpensive to start up, and fees are reasonable. My biggest issue with them – especially lately – is that they are 5×12 support, not 7×24. I recently discovered an issue on a Saturday morning that all of my customer changes were being rejected. When I was finally able to reach them Monday morning, they fixed the problem in a matter of a few minutes. That’s all well and good, but in the mean time I lost thousands of dollars in sales because of their problem that they were unable to detect, prevent, or even identify the cause to my satisfaction. Several weeks later I had a similar outage, though it corrected itself in a matter of hours. For this reason alone, I am seeking another solution. The loss of business from that weekend outage more than covers the cost of a high priced service, as long as they have greater support hours.
I am new to using ProPay but I did do extensive research before choosing this company. The fee’s are the same or a bit less than most when you swipe a card, even when factoring in the monthly fee. I have always been sceptical of anything that is “Free” and being able to offer a company with great Fraud Protection to my customers is #1 on the list for me. I can instantly transfer money from my merchant account to my commision account for free, and I like keeping all of my business money in one place. Like any product everyone has an opionion, and people are quick to tell everyone they know about a bad experience but never mention the good, I like to form my own opionions. I have had nothing but good experiences with them, I read the terms of my agreement and follow it as I promised. Great Job and Thanks ProPay!
I’ve used ProPay for my face to face sales for over four years. I wouldn’t say the company is perfect but it is more than adequate for my needs. I do wish they had 24/7 customer service since most of these sales are on weekends.
I have the Flash reader for when I have WIFI available and the Android JAK for when I don’t.
I maintain PayPal for web sales simply because of the name recognition.
I am sorry to disagree with the compliments on this company. I have had one issue after another with them & they could care less to make it right. They have held $59 from me for months now. Every time I have a customer order online from my website, they freeze MY MONEY and want me to go through a lengthy process to get funds released. The point of customers ordering from me online is convenience for us all especially since I have some overseas friends that order also. I am happy to hear they are not owned by paypal b/c I do not get the hassle with paypal & would rather use them. The only reason I even use propay is b/c that is who my company uses for processing our customers cards. Propay has been good at one thing and that is pissing my customers off when I have to get them to pay another way due to small limits and putting money on hold. HELLO….I am out of pocket this money for the products until propay releases my funds which means propay is robbing my family of money we need for groceries etc…. THEY DO NOT CARE!!! I’m not sure how they choose who they will pick on and who they won’t . This does not happen to everyone but for me, a person that is more than honest…Military Police as a matter of fact….they have froze my funds over and over again and they love to just say “its to protect me” from what? From paying my bills or making money???
I thought I was doing the right thing. I made sure I had a merchant account before I got my website or anything else. When I called ProPay the feature that I was told about was splitpay, so I could pay my agents their commissions immediately. It was a line of garbage. Propay is NOT compatible with Network Solutions. Network Solutions didnt want to even try to become compatible with them, and due to being told that Propay would split pay my commissions, I cancelled my website with Network Solutions, and went with 3Dcart, someone Propay worked with. 3Dcart is a horrific shopping cart, compared to Network Solutions. I opened online, and within the first 10 days it was clear I would exceed the 3,000 credit limit I had asked for. I was told to send a bunch of documents to underwriting to get the limit raised.
I hired four new employees! My first four! I was so excited! I called Propay to find out how to set up the splitpay. NO ONE in customer service knew what it was! They forwarded the call to Tanner, the sales guy. He says “Oh gee.. that requires coding! Its not something we can just ‘turn on'” Ahh.,. excuse me.. but the sales lady I spoke with when I first called ProPay told me I could pay my sales people that way. It was the MAIN reason I chose to keep Propay and ditch Network Solutions! omg…I should have ditched propay!!! THey LIED!!! But.. the worst they were going to do to to me, was yet to come.
I was asked by the sales person if I sold HCG, we do not. I told them we sold Health Supplements. EVERY sales person I spoke to, they went to my website, they asked me about Marine Phytoplankton, and Elixin. Multiple times I had to give a list of the ingredients in each product. When I called to ask what category my business falls under, I was told to leave that blank and when I got to speak to the limits dept, they would advise me what to put in there.
So business got crazy. From the very first day open, we were getting 200-400 a day in sales. I hired four employees to start work on Saturday. I was told on Wed it would be 24-48 hours to find out what my limits would be raised to.
I got told today by Katie that not only would NO limits be raised, but they were closing my account AND keeping all funds for SIX months! I asked how they could do this because my refund policy was “30-day” so how could they keep the funds for more than 30 days, 60 at most, but no… they were keeping ALL my funds for SIX MONTHS???
So tomorrow, I have four new employees and at 3 o’clock on a Friday, was told that I had NO merchant account. I can’t take sales and have a full sales staff. I am ruined. This company ruined me, AND kept all my funds!!
I cannot stand the amount of time processing anything over your limit with this firm takes. I spent 3 hours of my time between client, myself and propay to get something just outside my limits processed over a 7 day period. The customer service is closed on the day after thanksgiving the busiest shopping day of the year. If you want 24/7 support DO NOT USE THEM. They are closed more days than I am during a year and I run a small local business.
Thanks for the information guys. I think I’ll just stick with paypal. I get my money immediately, can use my debit card, etc. Sure, 3% is too much, but such is life, and I need the writeoffs anyway. Good luck.
Unhappy! called cust service to make sure I could process a payment that was over my credit limit. They told me it was OK and told me all the info I needed to collect from customer for a customer verification. Did all they asked. Now it has been 6 business days and they still have not done the customer verification and want me to to open another acct before they will do anything. Oh and want to reserve a large portion of the sale for 120 days!
I recommend staying away from ProPay! There are so many cheaper processing companies out there that actually have good customer service.
I agree! I would stay completely away from these thieves! They are quick to charge your client/customer’s credit cards, but you will have a very difficult time actually getting the funds to your account. They find all sorts of reasons to keep you from getting your money! I have spent countless hours the last few days trying to sort out my last 6 transactions. I have bothered customers having them sign new receipts, etc, but to no avail. They still say I cannot transfer the funds to my account. I have since refunded all monies to my customers and am using a different credit card company. Plus, their fees are WAY too high compared to others. STAY FAR, FAR AWAY. And, if you need to call, allow at least 30 minutes per call! They are extremely slow to answer!
You may be having difficulty with ProPay. That I won’t argue because I don’t know your circumstance.
However, to say that ProPay is “WAY too high compared to others”…the prices are clearly stated online and this is inaccurate. Even if you pay the full yearly fee, it’s still cheap. Perhaps you’re using it for eBay, in which case it IS more expensive than PayPal. And you’ve always got PayPal as an option for less, which so many “love”. If that’s the case, it’d be appreciated if you clarified.
But for non-eBay merchants, I challenge you to find a cheaper merchant company…please. Then come back and post it. You won’t find a less expensive company. I’ve looked.
Just as an example of fees, here’s a breakdown I did a couple years ago comparing ProPay to UBC. UBC did have low rates compared to other merchant companies that had the standard monthly fees but they were still more expensive overall than ProPay. You can use the chart comparison to drop in any merchant companies you’d like to compare and contract to see which is best for you.
Kim, I know you’re a fan of United Bank Card, but after Kerry added those additional fees that I had declined when I signed up that suddenly appeared on my statements months later (more than once), along with a few other non-Kerry problems, I’d had enough. I won’t even go into what I had to do at my bank to prevent UBC to keep charging my account after I’d cancelled!
UBC might offer an interest rate that starts at 1.79% for swiped cards, but if I get a card that won’t swipe, an online order, phone order, outside orders given to me by the hostess with the credit card number on the order form, the store and forward won’t work (oh yes, that happened quite a bit), or whatever the reason was that I had to manually enter in the credit card numbers or call for phone authorization, it’s 3.58% with UBC versus the 3.25% with ProPay, so about half my transactions with UBC were MORE than the interest charged through ProPay. I can get ProPay for a yearly fee of $29.95, which includes Internet processing and phone authorization for the same 3.25% rate. (Interest rates go down to 2.99% and a $59.95 yearly fee with the Premium Plus, but let’s stick with the Premium for comparison.) With phone authorization, I don’t need a terminal. I can use my 3-ply receipts for their credit card receipt, so I save money since I already use those and don’t have to buy the heat sensitive receipt rolls for a terminal, too.
I’d like figure out the average fees for each company for the same scenario. ProPay Premium charges a yearly fee of $29.95. UBC charges a yearly fee of $79. ProPay doesn’t charge a fee for statements. They’re available via email/online for free. UBC charges $10 a month for a hardcopy statement fee (even if it’s ONE piece of paper) and an ADDITIONAL $10 if you want an online statement. ProPay charges $.35 per transaction. UBC charges $.25-.30 per transaction. ProPay charges $.30 for each transfer of funds from your ProPay account to your checking (or use the complimentary debit card to use the money for free). UBC doesn’t charge a transfer fee, but they charge a $.35 batch fee each time you send the info from the terminal to UBC in order to process the payments. With ProPay there is no monthly minimum. With UBC, there is a $25 monthly minimum so if you’re not doing the parties or getting many credit card orders (even if you are doing the parties), then that $25 comes out of your pocket instead of your profit. UBC has the money in your account within 3 days and ProPay, the longest I’ve heard is 5 days to get it into your ProPay account and then into your checking account ( or use the debit card when it shows up in ProPay two days).
So let’s take a look at the fees for a year for credit card sales of $200 a month, $1000 a month, and $3000 a month, with the average sale being $50 for 4 transactions at $200, 20 transactions at $1000, and 60 transactions at $3000. I chose those sales amounts to reflect the Party Gal who does a small amount, a mid amount, and a high end volume of sales per month. I’ll use the lowest fees (interest and batch fees) for both so I’m not going to include the wireless terminal because it’d average out to higher transaction fees and another $35 setup fee and $20 a month for Cingular wireless service plan
ProPay at $200/month:
Yearly fee: $29.95 ($2.50/month)
Interest rate: $78 ($6.50/month)
Per Transaction fee: $16.80 ($1.40/month)
Acct Transfer (optional): $15.60 ($1.30 avg/month at one a week)
________________________________________________
Cheaper than UBC: $140.35/year (Minimum fees = $29.95/year)
UBC at $200/month:
Yearly fee: $79 ($6.58/month)
Interest rate: $300 ($3.58 a month but minimum of $25 month required)
Per Transaction fee: $12 ($1/month)
Batch fee: $18.20 ($1.52 avg/month at one batch a week)
Statement fee: $120 ($10/month)
__________________________________________________
$529.20/year (Minimum fees = $499/year)
ProPay at $1,000/month:
Yearly fee: $29.95 ($2.50/month)
Interest rate: $390 ($32.50/month)
Per Transaction fee: $84 ($7/month)
Acct Transfer (optional): $15.60 ($1.30 avg/month at one batch a week)
________________________________________________
Cheaper than UBC: $519.55/year
UBC at $1,000/month:
Yearly fee: $79 ($6.58/month)
Interest rate: $300 ($17.90 a month but minimum of $25 month required)
Per Transaction fee: $60 ($5/month)
Batch fee: $18.20 ($1.52 avg/month at one batch a week)
Statement fee: $120 ($10/month)
__________________________________________________
$577.20/year
ProPay at $3,000/month:
Yearly fee: $29.95 ($2.50/month)
Interest rate: $1,170 ($97.50/month)
Per Transaction fee: $252 ($21/month)
Acct Transfer (optional): $15.60 ($1.30 avg/month at one batch a week)
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$1467.55/year
UBC at $3,000/month:
Yearly fee: $79 ($6.58/month)
Interest rate: $644.40 ($53.70/month at 1.79%)*^
Per Transaction fee: $180 ($15/month)*^
Batch fee: $18.20 ($1.52 avg/month at one batch a week)
Statement fee: $120 ($10/month)
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(Cheaper than ProPay) $1041.60/$1211.76*/$1381.80^/year
*$750 in sales at 3.58% and $.30 transaction fee for keyed in transactions
^$1500 in sales at 3.58% and $.30 transaction fee for keyed in transactions
(It’s safe to assume that 25% of all sales will have to be keyed in/phone authorizations for any number of the reasons I listed above, though my average was more 50%, which is why I figured out both averages besides the 1.79% for 100% of sales. Either way, having a credit card present or a swipeable card available for ALL transactions is unrealistic.)
Looking at the stats I calculated, if you’re doing a small or mid-range amount of sales, it’s actually cheaper to go with ProPay. If you’ve got a high volume of sales, then yes, UBC is the way to go. There’s a savings of $425.95 from using UBC. However, even though it’s cheaper for high volume sales with UBC, with the keyed in/phone authorized transactions added into the equation, that difference in savings by using UBC then becomes $255.79 if a fourth of transactions are keyed/phoned in and $85.75 if half of the transactions are keyed/phoned in. Realistically, yes, I’D rather have the difference in fees in MY pocket instead of ProPay and if I was doing $3,000 in credit card sales, I’d keep looking. I’m not right now so it’s a better deal to go with ProPay so I DO end up with the extra money in my pocket.
With all rates aside, I just can’t support UBC after all the problems I’ve had. I will NEVER recommend them, even though Party Gals has taken UBC as their “official” merchant account. I was SERIOUSLY disappointed when I realized it was UBC sponsoring the Party Gals merchant account. It would take a MAJOR change in their practices before I’d ever consider UBC as a possibility, though I don’t ever see a change in UBC’s practices or my opinion of them.
Stay clear of this unethical organization! I had an account with them for 5 years with no issues, complaints or charge backs from my customers. Yesterday, they sent me an email saying my account was terminated immediately.
I was told my business was high risk & the account should never have been written 5 years ago. Based on their interpretation of my business (inaccurate I might add), they’ve decided my business is high risk, so they said the only way I could keep the account was to give them $1000 to hold for 6 months!
They said no one has looked at my account before this week. (If no one has looked at it in 5 years, what are employees doing there?). My suggestion is to find a reputable company with an educated staff, neither of which you’ll find at Propay.
I agree with you, they did the same with me only less than two years with them, now I have $2800 there, can’t do anything, products were shipped, they want to refund my customer the money, which they already paid through Amex, so they have to pay financial charge to get their money back. How stupid is that! I agree…stay away from that stupid company.
Phillip and Angie:
We at ProPay are pleased to say that we will very shortly have an excellent option for accepting mobile payments. In mid-late April, we will be unveiling the new ProPay JAK, a mobile reader for smartphones. This will allow for real-time swiped transactions, provide card-present discount rates on transactions, allow for you to send e-mail receipts to customers, capture customer signature on your screen, and will work in conjunction with any ProPay account. The new reader will encrypt the moment the card is swiped, so your customers can be confident knowing that their card information is secure with you. Initially, the ProPay JAK will be compatible with all iPhones, iPod Touch devices, and iPads. In the next few months, we will also make it compatible with a number of Droid phones and Blackberry phones as well.
I hope this information helps you.
Regards,
Stephen Taylor
Business Development
[email protected]
ProPay, Inc.
Stephen, thank you for the information about the mobile reader for smartphones. Sounds great! I look forward to using it, hopefully, depending on an issue that needs to be resolved. The issue is with a possible contradiction with ProPay. Hopefully you can help because I’m getting different stories from people at ProPay.
I’m an independent in-home romance party owner and have enjoyed ProPay’s customer service and fee schedule so I’ve recommended ProPay repeatedly to numerous romance party reps. Recently, however, there has been talk about whether romance parties are allowed as per ProPay’s terms of use. Scott from ProPay’s Resolutions Department explained via email to a friend (which she forwarded to me) that our business is considered high risk and against ProPay’s terms of use. However, they would accept her account even against policy as long as there were underwritings and reserves. Looking over ProPay’s terms of use, it’s similar to PayPal’s and I was advised that the clause pertains to pornography, phone sex, prostitution, and the like but not to actual products that a customer can physically keep, like lotions and toys. As I’m sure you know, adult novelties are not pornography, which is why Spencer’s sells them out in plain view for any child in the store to see, unfortunately.
The problem I have is ProPay targets their business to romance party reps by offers discounted links. There are specific links designed for each company (eg: Passion Parties) but also a generic one for others who are independent (like myself) or with smaller companies. I was given such a link by Matt Hassler (I believe is his last name) and there was no reserve requirement. So why the contradiction with policy, reserves, and discounted links? Why would ProPay promote these discounted links to romance party reps if it’s against ProPay’s policy? Can you clearly explain what ProPay’s policy regarding in-home romance parties?
I’d appreciate this to be cleared up as soon as possible. I haven’t heard anything back from the email I sent Scott. I’d like to clear up misinformation with the other romance reps I’ve been speaking with, both those who are interested in using ProPay’s service and those who have been steering others away due to the vague policy. More importantly, I’ve always had a positive experience with ProPay and the smartphone mobile reader sounds promising but I need to know whether to renew my account with ProPay because I don’t want to violate ProPay’s policy and risk losing money I’ve collected or have my account closed unexpectedly. I’ve been on hiatus and plan to start back up within the next several weeks so a timely response would be appreciated. Thank you.
Angie:
I would be happy to do what I can to clear up the confusion you mentioned. Could you please provide me with the e-mail address that is associated with your ProPay account? If you do not wish to post it on a public forum, feel free to contact me directly at [email protected]. By reviewing the notes on your account, I’ll be able to understand your situation better, at which point I will then do what I can to help you clear up this contradiction.
Stephen Taylor
Business Development
[email protected]
ProPay, Inc.
You are correct that ProPay is more expensive than PayPal is for eBay purchases. I spoke with someone at ProPay about it and they said they were still new to the eBay game but hoped they would be able to offer more competitive prices in the near future. I hope so because an affordable alternative to PayPal is long overdue.
As for ProPay being expensive, it is if you’re a “well-established, high volume business”. However, for the small business owner, “mobile sales professionals” or independent party consultants (where much of their business is derived), it’s the cheapest I’ve found so far. I did a comparison a few years back between ProPay and United Bank Card (blessedly, my EX-merchant company). In all circumstances, ProPay was cheaper, except if you had more than $3,000 a month in charges.
ProPay does charge $.30 per transfer to your bank account but it’s the same fee whether you transfer $10 or $1000. Plus it doesn’t have a batch processing fee, as many merchants like UBC do. UBC charges $.35 per batch, so on a daily basis, it’s a savings of close to $20 a year by paying the ProPay’s transsfer fee. Plus ProPay occasionally offers 50% discounts on their annual fees, cutting the annual $79.95 fee in half. Once you’ve signed up under the 50% discount, you will receive that discounte every year, as I have. In the years that I have been with ProPay, the fees have remained the same except for the annual fee, which has gone up $20. The per card transaction fee and percentage are the same as when I first signed up with them. If you’d like a breakdown of my comparison, you’re more than welcome to email me and ask. The amounts are off with ProPay slightly because of the additional annual fee. For UBC, I don’t know what their current rates are since I couldn’t not find the information on their website.
Finally, ProPay does offer a wireless MicrosSecure card reader. There is a one-time $99 fee and an additional $20 annual fee but if you have an active Internet account, you can process credit cards in real time on a computer. Otherwise, it stores the information to be uploaded later. It’s not necessary to have the card reader, though. People can still process the card online in about 30-60 seconds or they can process it over the phone, which takes longer.
Hi Angie,
Thanks for you insight on ProPay. Personally, I’m not a fan of the MicroSecure card reader because it cannot tell you if the card will clear until you upload it to ProPay. It’s a better alternative to writing down credit card information, but smartphone technology that processes credit cards in real-time is the best way to go if you accept a lot of credit cards as a mobile merchant.
The MicroSecure card reader can be used in real time as long as you have access to the Internet and I’ve only had one host home not have Internet access because she’d just moved. So you can get instant approval. Just plug it in using the USB card and swipe. It makes it a little quicker than entering the card number manually on the ProPay site at the party, though that is easy and quick enough by itself.
Thanks for the info about smartphone processing. I didn’t know about that and will look into it. Guess there really is an app for that, whatever that may be. One for dishes or laundry and I’d be set.
Thanks for the info