PayByWeb Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (2 out of 5)
Overview:
PayByWeb was a tough review for me, mainly because they seem like a great company on the surface. They've been in business for a while, they have an outstanding BBB score and only a few complaints against them. I was just about ready to give them a nice rating, until I read this thread at PaypalSucks.com. Definitely an important read if you plan on doing business with PayByWeb.
That thread alone made me lose a ton of respect for the company, and probably dropped their score by a couple points.
If that wasn't enough, the fact that they don't offer interchange-plus pricing or seasonal downtime is enough to keep me from giving them my business.
PayByWeb, you get a 2 out of 5.
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Date Established:
1992.
Parent/Partner Company:
No parent company for PayByWeb, but they did operate under different business names in the past, including: ChekDEBIT and Creative Payment Services.
Type:
Registered MSP/ISO of Wells Fargo Bank.
Trust Symbols:
The PayByWeb BBB profile is sporting an "A+" rating with only a couple complaints, as of this review. Not bad at all.
Security/Privacy:
No on-site security features (i.e. Verisign, TrustE, McAfee etc...).
Customer Service:
I was treated well during my "interrogation" of PayByWeb, but that is the extent of my experience with these guys. If anyone reading has had experience with them, please do let us know.
Contract Duration:
The contract length is 4 months if you plan on avoiding the early cancellation fee.
Cancellation Fee:
Fee of $99 if you cancel before 4 months.
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
They do not offer interchange-plus pricing.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is not offered either.
Negative Reviews:
From my experience in reviewing MSP's, having just one complaint (as of this review) on RipOffReport, isn't that bad, especially considering the fact that they've been around since 92'.
However, there were some other negative reviews that I was able to dig up here, here and here, and if you took the time to read through that Paypal Sucks thread, you'll see a few unhappy customers in that as well.
Common Complaints:
The biggest complaint that I found in all of those negative reviews was in regards to the PayByWeb cancellation fee, which is $99. Some MSP's (merchant service provider's) charge that fee to prevent merchant's from submitting applications to multiple provider's in an effort to price shop, which is understandable.
If PayByWeb accepts your application and activates your account, then you're stuck with them for four months, after which you can cancel without paying the fee.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
They have dozens of testimonials listed on their site, and all with full disclosure (i.e. first & last name, company, website etc...). As a possible customer, you could spend all day contacting those testimonials, to see what kind of response you get...time well spent.
I personally shot emails to about 5 of them, and received three responses so far. Two of them were positive, but the other one was quite interesting to me. The merchant told me that they were "urged" to leave a positive testimonial in order to get a $200 sign-up bonus...very interesting. 
Locality:
Pinellas Park, Florida.
Product Offering:
Way too many to list. Visit their "services" page for more info on this. I think they're trying a bit too much by offering so many options. I understand that merchant accounts are strongly tied to other web related services like domain registration and shopping carts, but when an MSP starts offering those services too, they begin to spread their customer service team too thin. MSP's should focus on what they do best...merchant accounts.
Specialty:
None in particular.
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September 1st, 2009 - 07:00
Thanks, I was just wondering how PayPall is rated?
September 1st, 2009 - 10:05
Hi Yolanda,
I haven’t done a review of PayPal yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as I do.
September 7th, 2009 - 12:01
Paybyweb, ummm, where do I start? First of all, I have had Authorize.Net for some time (Gateway). Then when it was “That Time” when your internet business is ready to launch, I was prompted online as I completed the merchant information from Paybyweb. Only to find out that paybyweb are through Authorize.Net. Not only was I charged the $99.00 for the activation fee from paybyweb, but Authorize.Net charged me again as if I was a new client. I can never speak to the person that initially signed me up b/c he never answers his phone. He may communicate via email. But I don’t understand the paybyweb thing if First Data is the merchant bank, Authorize.Net is the gateway, and the Card Service is the company who actually put the money in the owner’s account. So, does anyone know, specifically, what “The Hell” paybyweb is for?
September 7th, 2009 - 20:11
Bill,
I’ts all pretty confusing huh? I’m not sure if you got a chance to look at my “Meet the Sopranos” article, but check it out. Read the part about “Furio Giunta.” It explains PayByWeb’s (and other MSP’s) function. Basically, they’re middle-men. They handle the sales process, customer relationship management, and they offer other little services here and there (i.e. card teminals etc…).
Most of the higher level guys, especially the banks and credit card companies, don’t want to deal with having to sell merchant accounts to the end-user, so they’re more than happy to pass the job off to companies like PayByWeb, to take care of that for them. MSP’s (PayByWeb) are the guys who bring everyone together.
Then you have guys like First Data (CardService) who are technically considered to be a credit card processor, and Authorize.net is of course the payment gateway. All these players fit into the whole process in one way or another, but it also creates this “pass-the-buck” type of environment. When three different companies are handling one service, it becomes easy for your voice to get lost in all of the madness. Especially if your MSP doesn’t fight for you.
My advice is to try and cut out as many middle-men as possible. If you have a credit card processor that also has their own payment gateway, and if they’re willing to work directly with you, then you’ve just cut PayByWeb out of the picture.
February 15th, 2010 - 12:44
HI,
I can answer that.
First, Authorize.net is a payment gateway. They are a conduit or connection between a merchant acct and a merchant’s website. They also provide a virtual terminal for manual order entry. Authorize.net does NOT fund the transactions or payout to merchants. They will allow merchants to sign up directly with them, however, they use resellers like Paybyweb to do this in most cases. Resellers are afforded special pricing incentives. so if a merchant signs up using Auth.net directly, they can expect to pay more.
First Data, or other merchant services providers provide the MERCHANT ACCT. This is the acct that actually processes the transactions. First Data, and others do NOT work directly with merchants. They use Agents and ISO’s (Independent Sales Offices registered with Visa/MC) to do all the front end marketing and setup. Once an acct is activated, the merchants are then serviced directly by the Merchant Service Provider and the Gateway.
With regards to our phones, not only do we answer them during business hours, but we answer them at night and on weekends. Those who leave messages, even on a Sunday, may be shocked to get a return call within a few minutes.
As for the testimonials, no – we don’t offer an incentive to those who post a favorable testimonial. We do offer an incentive to those who complete a feedback form, which may or may not contain positive feedback. This provides an incentive for a merchant to let us know how we performed, no different than Office Depot or Best Buy offering a gift card to selected customers as they walk out of their store so that the company can check on the service that was provided.
Yes, we have been in business for over 18 yrs. We have thousands of happy merchants and a few unhappy. Who doesn’t? Search Google, MicroSoft, or Ford and you can find thousands of compaints. The bottom line is there is no way to please everybody, and those who are unhappy are more likely to make it their life’s mission to make sure everyone knows about it. That’s just how it is.
We work hard to do a great job. The A+ rating with the BBB says it all. And, lastly let’s not forget that we also have raised over $1M in donations to the American Red Cross to help with Disaster Relief. Over $800,000 paid for Haiti as of today.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/pinellas-park-internet-business-makes-it-easier-to-donate-to-charities/1072806
February 16th, 2010 - 17:18
David,
Thanks for the comment. I’m happy to see that you noticed your company’s review, and I’m even more happy that you cleared up some questions that we had about PayByWeb. I’ll be updating your review here very soon, so I’ll definitely take your comments into consideration when that time comes.
Thanks again, and that $800k you raised for Haiti is amazing! Great job!