2Checkout Review
- Date Established
- 2000
- Location
- Columbus, OH
Pros
- Predictable flat-rate pricing
- Month-to-month agreement
- No setup or application fees
- No monthly fee
- Ideal for international merchants
- Good developer tools
- Excellent website & advertising
Cons
- Not suitable for card-present merchants
- Account stability issues
- Not good for high-risk merchants
Overview
Since the early 2000s, 2Checkout (2CO) has served as a third-party payment processor for ecommerce merchants. As the name suggests, 2Checkout allows customers “to check out” and pay when completing an online purchase. 2CO bares similarity to Stripe and PayPal, and competes for much of the same marketshare. You may have encountered 2Checkout as a payment processing option within one of the its many partnered shopping cart, invoicing, or booking platforms. As far as I can tell, the primary advantage to selecting 2Checkout over competitors has been its availability in additional countries — over 200 markets in all.
In March 2017, an ecommerce platform called Avangate purchased 2Checkout and decided to adopt 2Checkout’s branding going forward. Up until the acquisition, Avangate’s platform was specifically geared toward the sale of digital goods (i.e., software and software subscriptions). Avangate now calls itself “2Checkout (formerly Avangate).” Essentially, we have an ecommerce platform that purchased a payment processor, and then took on the name of the payment processor. You know, just to make things confusing.
It looks like Avangate has only just begun to incorporate some of 2Checkout’s capability. The purpose of the acquisition was to expand Avangate’s global reach and to branch into the sale of physical goods in addition to digital goods. However, at the time of this review, the 2Checkout website still exists separately in roughly the same form as before the acquisition. The products and features of 2Checkout have remained basically the same, and it’s still a global payment processor at its core.
Therefore, for this review update, I am still referring to the “original” 2Checkout processing company, not the ecommerce platform that was once called Avangate and is now known as 2Checkout. For now, merchants still come across 2Checkout as a processing option in many shopping carts and software platforms, and can still sign up for 2Checkout accounts when simply adding payment capability to their websites.
There are several positive and negative factors to consider when working with 2CO. Withheld funds and terminated accounts are the main complaints of 2CO users. Still, with more than 50,000 vendors around the globe, including many in under-served countries, 2CO remains a real alternative to competitors like PayPal. If you keep reading, you’ll gain a better grasp of this processor and see if it’s the right fit for your business.
So without further ado, on with our review of 2Checkout — not 2Checkout (formerly Avangate)!
Table of Contents
Products & Services
More often than not, I find myself digging through the depths of a processor’s website to piece together what it actually offers its merchants. You’d think all payment companies would make basic information about their own products and services crystal clear, but you’d be mistaken. The marketing copy is often vague or meaningless, the site is poorly organized, or all of the above. As a result, I’m tasked with essentially rewriting the company’s own website for them in this section of the review. (I’ve yet to receive any thank-you notes.)
Refreshingly, 2Checkout’s main product offerings are outlined very clearly. Take my word for it — this is a minor miracle. Below is essentially the same information you’ll easily locate at 2Checkout.com, organized in pretty much the same way:
- International Processing: Through 2CO, payments are accepted in 87 currencies and settlement is possible in 27 currencies. The platform is available in 15 languages and spans 200+ markets/countries. Your customers won’t have to sign up for 2CO themselves, but can quickly make purchases using one of the eight accepted payment methods (including PayPal if they have a PayPal account).
- Hosted Checkout: A hosted payment page is the classic 2Checkout payment acceptance setup, with two options for redirecting customers to 2CO’s site to complete transactions. Both may be customized to mimic the look and feel of your own website.
- Standard Checkout:Â This solution is marketed to sellers just starting out, or with a smaller number of product offerings. The checkout screen is optimized for the customer’s device (laptop, tablet, phone). Note: this was formerly called “Dynamic Checkout,” and the name still appears in some places on 2CO’s site.
- Inline Checkout: Here, the payment screen is overlaid on top of your own website. While still a 2CO-hosted form, this method gives customers a stronger impression that they’re still on your site. This option also reduces the number of fields that must be completed to finish the transaction.
- Payment API: 2CO has now added a third option for checkout: directly integrated payments. This solution gives you the most control over the payment process and is the most streamlined for your customer. Buyers place sales directly on your website without the need for redirection to a hosted payment page. Card data is tokenized, and you submit the charge from your own server via the 2Checkout API.
- Shopping Cart Integration: In addition to hosted payment pages and direct integration options, 2CO already integrates with an ever-increasing lineup of established ecommerce shopping carts. The current cart count is over 100. Note that invoicing, booking, and other types of software integrations are also included in 2CO’s “shopping cart” list. You’ll also have access to 2Checkout’s simple Plug and Play cart.
- Recurring Billing: 2CO has long catered to clients with recurring billing and subscription needs. An automatic account updater feature minimizes declines when your customers’ credit card information changes or expires.
- Fraud Protection: This part of the site is a little vague (2CO might say that’s because the features are “proprietary”). At least we know 2CO is PCI Level 1 compliant. Ask a sales rep about the “three-tier defense strategy” to pinpoint fraudulent activity, or challenge your agent to list the “more than 300 variables” the system analyzes in under three seconds to identify fraud markers. If they tell you, they have to kill you. One would assume, anyway.
- Developer Resources: You’ll have access to plenty of documentation, FAQs, and a developer sandbox for testing out the features we’ve covered here.
- Virtual Terminal: Okay, this feature is more hidden than the others, probably because you’re not allowed to even ask for one until you have three months of processing history with 2Checkout. Still, the option is worth mentioning, even if it’s not really part of 2CO’s core offerings. A VT allows you to manually enter orders on behalf of customers.
If you’re wondering how each of the three main checkout options play out for your customer, try the interactive product demo. You can toggle between Standard, Inline, and Payment API under “settings” to compare. It’s pretty neat. Additionally, the links on 2CO’s master list of third-party integrations tell you which checkout options are compatible with each cart or service, as well as whether recurring billing is available. Hooray for an organized website!
See how each of the three checkout options (Payment API, Inline, and Standard) looks to a customer in the Product Demo section.
Fees & Rates
The Rates page at 2Checkout.com allows you to quickly view the base processing rate for businesses within your specific country. For the US, this is 2.9% + $0.30, which is in line with competitors such as Stripe, Braintree, and PayPal. Keep in mind that as a US merchant, you’ll be charged an extra 1% for any cross-border transactions. All other supported countries have a cross-border fee of 1.5%.
At one time, merchants were required to pay $49 when signing up, but 2CO now advertises no monthly or setup fees. To see the rest of the rates and fees for your particular country, head over to Appendix B of the Sub-Merchant Services Agreement (for the US) or the International Sellers Agreement (for all other countries). I’ll tell you that the only other significant fees currently listed within these documents are for specific payout methods such as international wire transfers, which range from $15-20 each. Direct deposit/ACH for payout is free for USD, CAD and a few other supported currencies.
Conveniently, there is no additional fee for recurring billing and subscription features. Some processors (such as PayPal) charge extra for this.
Here’s a quick summary of 2Checkout’s standard pricing for the US and Canada:
US:
- 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- 1.0% cross-border fee
- $20 chargeback fee
Canada:
- 3.4% + $0.45 per transaction
- 1.5% cross-border fee
- $25 chargeback fee
Note that I said “standard” pricing — there are a couple of caveats. First, expect to pay more per transaction if, as the website states, “the Products or business practices of a Sub-Merchant create a potential or actual financial or reputational risk to 2CO, such as the sale of Restricted Products or high chargeback percentages.” Meanwhile, lower-risk sellers processing over $50,000 per month may negotiate for better rates than the base package. It’s also worth noting that for several European countries, the base rate is 2.4% + $0.30 — slightly lower than for North American merchants.
Although not described specifically in the fee schedule, the main pricing page indicates that conversion to your home currency incurs an average fee of 2-5% above the daily bank exchange rate. This is in addition to your regular transaction fee and cross-border fee. Yep, international processing can be expensive!
For payouts, 2CO is on a weekly schedule that commences each Thursday. While that seems long in the age of next-day and even “instant” funding, it looks like they’ve chosen to standardize this frequency internationally. When viewed in this light, the length makes more sense. Some international businesses may even want to extend this period by adjusting their payment release level, in order to cut down on wire transfer fees. Still, this schedule will be a deal breaker for some businesses who need their money “now.”
2Checkout may also set up a reserve for your account (see section 4.J of the service agreement). This is separate from your settlement account for managing your regular fees and payouts. The exact amount of the reserve depends on your risk level and chargeback activity, but expect a percentage of your gross sales for each pay period to be set aside and released after 90 days. Reserves often come as a surprise (and resulting offense) to merchants if they haven’t understood their terms of service properly. Be aware that reserves are widely implemented across the processing industry to protect against risk, and 2CO is no exception.
Overall, fees and rates for 2CO are similar to its competitors. Whether or not 2CO is the best deal for your situation will largely depend on your specific country, risk level, processing volume, and cash flow requirements.
Explore the base transaction rate for each of the 200+ markets 2CO serves at the “Rates” page. I picked Zimbabwe. Don’t forget to also factor in cross-border fees and currency exchange fees.
Contract Length & Early Termination Fee
2Checkout’s payment solutions are offered on a month-to-month basis with no early termination fee. Your agreement may be terminated with 30 days prior written notice. Again, be sure to read the full service agreement under the Policies section of 2CO’s website.
While you’re there, definitely scan through 2Checkout’s lists of prohibited and restricted products. If your business is even remotely close to a restricted category, save yourself some future pain and clear it with 2CO from the beginning. Also, merchants with a chargeback rate of over 1% are automatically prohibited, which is fairly standard for this type of provider. You may need a processor that specializes in high-risk industries, or else live in perpetual fear of a frozen or terminated 2CO account.
Know these documents like the back of your hand.
Sales & Advertising Transparency
2Checkout doesn’t appear to use gimmicky marketing tactics. Pricing is straightforward and easily accessed. Advertising is standard and mostly limited to the web. 2CO attracts new customers via its site or referrals, and I found no evidence of an old-school sales force making cold calls to potential customers.
As I’ve already mentioned, the website is clear and quite easy to navigate, which goes a long way toward transparency. The Policies center contains several handy resources such as service agreements and restricted industries. I’d like to see a clearer explanation of the reserve policy with some hard numbers included. I eventually found that 90-day fund release figure within the depths of 2CO’s support resources.
Customer Service & Technical Support
Even though Avangate acquired 2Checkout, you still can (and probably should) go directly through 2Checkout’s original website to access support materials. Not much has changed in this area. Several resources are offered, including:
- Phone Support: Monday-Friday, 8 AM-4:30 PM EST. I reached a live operator with minimal hold time.
- Support Tickets: Inquiries outside normal the operating hours listed above are answered ASAP.
- FAQ: A dozen or so basic topics are covered.
- Glossary: Not extensive, but better than nothing.
- eCommerce Resources: Topical, short ebooks and longer PDF articles on the industry, written a few years ago.
- Blog: Looks like this could eventually be phased out in favor of Avangate’s blog.
- Developer Resources: Includes a knowledgebase and API documentation. I’d definitely suggest perusing these resources if you’re considering 2CO. I found very important bits of information here, such as the existence of a virtual terminal and details on payout options.
You may also still reach out on 2CO’s Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages. I’ll be interested to see if and when these channels merge or are replaced with Avangate’s. I get the impression Avangate was actually more active on social media, and 2CO has begun referencing more content created by Avangate in its posts. At the time of this review, the @Avangate brand is still alive in places like Twitter, so it’s probably worth following those accounts if you’re interested in staying up with the effects of the acquisition on 2Checkout.
Negative Reviews & Complaints
Remember how Avangate bought 2Checkout and then started calling itself 2Checkout? (That’s a rhetorical question at this point.) Well, I’ve already noticed some confusion amongst reviews around the web regarding which entity in which form is being critiqued. Unfortunately, I suspect the confusion will only get worse before it gets better. Another source of confusion is end-customers complaining about the sellers 2CO serves, not 2CO itself. Despite the slightly muddled feedback, however, we can identify a couple of consistent patterns on both the positive and negative side.
First of all, 2Checkout maintains an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, with 39 complaints issued in the past three years. This number has remained relatively stable since our last check-in, with eight complaints filled in the last year. Trustpilot, Google reviews, and other sites gather up a few more complaints. Overall, the first two issues I’ve mentioned below come up most often:
- Account Termination: 2CO appears to closely monitor accounts, with users reporting account closure with no notice or a highly inadequate explanation. Some sellers claimed the rules about what’s prohibited and what’s not suddenly changed, resulting in an immediate boot out the digital door. If your business could be considered high-risk, you might want to choose a processor such as Durango Merchant Services. Before filling out a 2CO application, learn how to avoid freezes, fees, terminations. Most importantly, review that prohibited products list.
- Withheld Funds:Â Some merchants report dissatisfaction with 2Checkout’s reserve policy — the automatic holding of a certain percentage of each payout for 90 days to protect against risk and chargebacks. Occasionally, merchants have complained of an increase in the reserve percentage without notice (even though this is specifically allowed in the service agreement.) Most often, sellers were frustrated that their money was (or still is) being held for an indefinite period after an account is suddenly frozen for review or just plain closed. This period is typically at least 90 days and sometimes much longer.
- Poor Customer Service: The most common complaint of this type is a frustration with the lack of urgency and clarity in the resolution process with 2CO. Merchants feel strung along or left in the dark for long periods.
That all sounds pretty bad at first glance, but it’s important to point out that for 2CO, dissatisfaction is the exception and not the rule. Compared with its prominent competitors, and even considering its smaller size, the overall complaint total for 2Checkout seems “reasonable” to me.
I know — we’d all love a company with a perfect track record. Yet, when pretty much anyone can initially sign up and start selling, things are almost guaranteed to go awry a certain percentage of the time. Some accounts will never make it past “further review.”
I don’t believe 2Checkout relishes closing accounts or holds funds simply for its own gain. On the other hand, it’s clear that improvements could be made to 2Checkout’s communication and notification process. My best advice is to not leave the tiniest bit of ambiguity about what you do and don’t sell, keeping 2CO updated at all times.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
There are no obvious case studies or testimonials at 2Checkout’s website. Around the web, I found bits of praise for 2CO in the form of written reviews and Youtube videos made by merchants:
- Widely Available:Â 2CO works in multiple payment methods, currencies, and languages. Most significantly, there are only handful of countries 2CO does not serve. Some merchants have selected 2CO essentially by default, but have been happy with the option nonetheless. Several sellers expressed gratitude that 2CO is available in countries where companies like Stripe or Shopify Payments are not.
- Convenient Checkout: Sellers appreciate that the one-page checkout is fairly straightforward.
- Easy To Use:Â Merchants report that 2CO is quick to set up and operate.
By now, you might also be wondering about Avangate’s reputation. The Artist Formerly Known as Avangate does include several testimonials and case studies on its site, and has some pretty big-name clients. HP Software is probably the most recognizable. Elsewhere, reviews are mixed. The G2 crowd folks seem to like Avangate overall, while the Trustpilot outlook is not as good. This is another one of those situations we’ll just have to watch as the acquisition progresses.
Final Verdict
We’re still waiting for the marriage between Avangate and 2Checkout to fully manifest long-term results. Although Avangate is now “2Checkout (formerly Avangate),” I still felt comfortable reviewing 2Checkout in its own right as a payment facilitator for this update. Meanwhile, we’ll be keeping an eye on both parts of the larger company that is now named 2Checkout.
Along with its easy-to-navigate website, I appreciate 2Checkout’s two simple hosted payment page options, as well as its experience handling payments for both physical and digital goods. I also like that they’ve added a third option to host checkout yourself using 2Checkout’s direct API. (Note: If they dare change their name to “3Checkout” because of this, I’m going 2Befurious.)
Anyway, the point is, there are now three payment setup options — so no coding needed unless you want to — plus compatibility with virtually all shopping carts. 2Checkout is most definitely a viable option when compared to other merchant account alternatives like Stripe or PayPal, especially in under-served countries. Considering this, along with 2CO’s fairly solid reputation up to this point, I’m giving the company 4 stars.
Like other third-party processors, 2Checkout is more likely to take on sellers with less than flawless credit scores and is better at dealing with risk than a lot of traditional merchant account providers. At the same time, the meaning of “risk” is always a bit subjective. 2Checkout reserves the right to close your account if you’ve crossed the acceptable threshold in its eyes. If you choose to work with 2CO, familiarize yourself with the processor’s procedures, as well as the fee and payout structure, so you’re one step ahead of the game. Talk to a live risk department employee before applying for an account if there’s a modicum of doubt.
If possible, apply for a traditional merchant account as well as a third-party processor like 2CO. That way, you’ll have access to funds in case there’s ever a problem with either resource. Whether or not the commission you earn after paying 2CO fees makes sense with your bottom line is important to consider. Lastly, I’d suggest reading through the comments at the end of this review, at the BBB, and around the web. That should help you wrap your mind around the types of sellers and products that most of often result in account instability with 2CO.
Rose Holman
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31 Comments
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the vendor or bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the vendor or bank advertiser. It is not the vendor or bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Organization Name: First Option Industry
2Checkout do not bear single mistake against their polices. Make sure what you are doing if you are or want to use 2Checkout!!!!!!
Organization Name: raisa.
bad customer service and no support , they are scammers
Organization Name: Optix
They’re complete fraud do not use them. They closed our account without any notification and hold our balance for 180 days initially after 180 they refused to pay the balance stating that we need another 180 to review your closed account. Not sure what was there to review in a closed account that was shut down 180 days ago. Well after a good year. They stating now that they need another 180 days. … Really a scam! FRAUD ! BeAWARE ! This is probably the paid blog about them.
Hi Ali,
Thank you for sharing your experience with our readers! To address your concern about the validity of our reviews, please read our post on negativity bias and how this site makes money to better understand how Merchant Maverick delivers real, unbiased reviews to our readers.
They basically say that they can close any account whenever they want, for no reason whatsoever:”Thank you for your response. We can certainly understand your disappointment at the closure of your account. Please know there are many factors taken into consideration when an account is closed. Any one of these factors may, in and of itself and at our sole discretion, warrant the closure of an account. We sincerely apologize for any disruption this may cause you or your business.”
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Way too expensive. An average of about 4% for European Card payments, 5% rolling reserve (supposed to be released after 90 days, after 95 it is still not released!), plenty of US tax office paperwork even though we are an European based company, slow support. The checkout experience required our customers to re-enter all of their address details, … We have moved over to Stripe and it’s much cheaper (about 1.5% for European Cards, no rolling reserve).
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
They refused our application, citing the “prohibited products list”.We sell books. No hate stuff, nothing political and such, just stupid poems or novels.I don’t understand.Maybe they are racist because half of our books are in Arabic? Or maybe they are afraid of dealing with a middle eastern country?I have always recommended them, and thought they were a good option. However they don’t seem to live up to my expectations or their claims. So I can’t recommend them anymore.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
after going through all your shitty verification process & waiting for 1 month their risk team allowed us to use this gateway on our website. when our payment day arrived they cancelled all orders by themself without any prior notice/call/email. I should have gone through all their 99% negative reviews on InternetTHEY ARE FRAUD, PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS GATEWAY/MERCHANT FOR YOUR BUSINESS, THEY CAN SUSPEND ACCOUNT ANYTIME WITHOUT ANY INFORMATION, THEIR RISK & FRAUD TEAM ARE ARE DOING SHIT ON THEIR JOB
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Shawn,
Can you tell us what types of FB ads you were running?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
DO NOT USE THIS MERCHANT. I used 2CheckOut for one of my business for almost 2 years we had many transactions until December 2016 when we had our first chargeback. Because of this one charge back 2CheckOut sent us an email and locked our account said we went over our 2% chargeback rate. They then sent us an email we have to send them back the funds via PayPal. We send them back the funds via Paypal and they still refused to open back our account. Also a note please make sure the % they state on the website is the actual % they take out they said they were charging us 5% in transaction fees when we calculated it they were charging us over 11% during our service period and even after many emails they never refunded us our agreed %.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
just one word: AVOID. Let me explain why: my company is located in Lithuania (European Union) and in 2016 year we ran an online store selling guitar strings. We used a one payment gateway (famous one you all know) and wanted to offer an alternative payment option for our customers. We contacted PayMill, Adyen, Stripe, 2 checkout and so on. Only Adyen and 2checkout worked with our region and we found their fees reasonable. So we subscribed for both. We explained what purposes we need a payment gateway for (European store, payments in Euro, then company bank account in European bank and so on). They told that the rates on their website is correct and we started to work. Our partnership ended after 1st transaction. First of all we were a little bit confused by the amount we received. We double checked 2checkout fees and calculated amount didn’t match the actual amount. So we contacted support team. And there it started to surprise. Response time before we subscribed had been short. After that we could write a few times before we get something from them. They explained: as they’re an American company all the transactions not in USD are conversed to USD during payment and then it is conversed again before appearing on our account. So we have a lame double conversion from EUR to USD and then again to EUR. Why didn’t they tell that, when we asked if their payment gate worked well for Europe companies in Euro currency without any hidden tricks? Well, that’s their business and how they do that 🙂 Tricky. Ok. So we asked them to close our account, it required a lot of docs for USA, despite that we never worked there, so why we should justify ourselves before their TAX system. Ok, it’s rules and we followed them. Than we asked to transfer money to our bank account and once again. We’ve been shocked. Their support team member saw that we had only 20 something euros on our account and they knew that transfer would not be from European bank, so we would have to pay international transaction fee of 15$.Just realize. 15$ from 23$ dollars on our account balance. It’s ridiculous. And their team member could tell us that we should pay 15$, we would rather have refunded our customer and leave him a product as a present then receive a funny 8$ from that 29$ order after all the fee charges. But we can see that they don’t care, they answer after a long time or don’t answer at all. That’s their service.Conclusion: no need to say that using some of the biggest payment gateways you save time, nerves, money and there’s no any hidden tricks. It’s up to you.We were mad at the whole situation with 2checkout and only a few months after decided to tell about it. Maybe it will help someone, because if we had known someone else’s experiences before we subscribed, we would have never worked with 2checkout.Regards,Anton (MB Revolo)
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
this is the worst possible payment gateway. think 10000 times before using their service. because once you become a customer, there is no support. your emails willnt be replied, to and you will literally have to beg to get support.despite being a paying customer for more then 85 years everyday we are facing hardship with their services. just looking for an option to switch out. hence suggesting users not to install this poor service provider
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Worst payment gateway ever… in more than 10 years I never had such a terrible experience with payments. Everything was really fast at time to approve my account and make sales but when I tried to get my payouts your system got suspiciously slow. Around a month and my money is still retained for no clear reason… my clients can’t get their services. I refunded all sales. Bye bye 2 checkout… never ever again.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I was just terminated. Liked them at first. Spent 7 months and 15 grand setting up a subscription based forum, a first for my industry.Quickly realized the people are so used to free info that the format was not going to work and switched it to free. Not feeling it was fair to keep the first 9 peoples monies who paid to get in while the new people got access for free I refunded the monies for the first nine subscribers. No one asked i just thought it was the right thing to do. 2CO sent me a threatening email I responded by email and spoke to a supervisor, walked her through the forum and told her why I gave the refunds and that I had considered moving the account to my main business that does 6 figures online per year. She said she understood and “promised” to call me back the next day. No call, I hate that, just an email that said I was terminated for too many charge backs. They listened so well.I dont like the hold back of the monies on top of the use charges. They should have listened better, much better. Not impressed!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
THEY TAKE YOUR FUNDS A MONTH LATER THY WILL REFUND THOSE FUNDS BACK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS YOU LEFT WITH NOTHING !!!CALLED 2CHECK OUT COMPANY SAME LADY ANSWERS A PHONE AND SHE BASICALLY DOESNT DO ANYTHING THERE!!!BEWARE OF A HUGE SCAM COMPANY 2CHECKOUT!DO NOT FALL INTO THEIR SCAM HANDS!!! FOR THIS EXPERIENCE I WILL LET THE WHOLE WORD KNOW THAT THIS COMPANY “2CHECKOUT” TAKES PEOPLE’S MONEY!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
2co is very disappointing when they list your products as “unsupported” suddenly when I made sure to read the prohibited list and herbs and personal care products like soap and oils are not mentioned , what’s “unsupported” about some oil and certified herbs ?! very disappointing !Which service is better to use? I don’t live in the US therefore I need international merchant service
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Do not ever use them, anytime they will disable your account by giving funny reasons. I had very bad experience with these guys.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
This is how we have been robbed by 2Checkout in the pretext of global payment:Transaction ID: 105412472144Payment done by customer in INR: 75500/-Payment converted in USD: 1150.65/- (Payment is less, as very high conversion rate is applied which 2CheckOut says this includes hedge charges, third party fees etc. which was never communicated nor disclosed, they write 5.5% + 45c only, it was expected to received approx $1234 USD based on FX conversion INR 61.15 / USD, but charged INR 65/USD) Reserve Held: 57.54 USD2CO Fees: 63.74 USDAdjust: 15.00 USD (At the time of wire transfer, this money was deducted)Final Payment: 1014.37 USDTotal Charged: 17.79 % vs of 5.5% + 45c Do you really think, merchant like us will survive our business paying through 2Checkout?When contacted customer care: All vague replies and never got the answer. Ticket raised:4704-WTFN-41139005-WAHN-5941PS: Those who are outside US and want to transact with 2Checkout, think twice before dealing with fraudsters !
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Been with 2checkout for 3 years. Never a problem. A+!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Completely, do not recommend 2CO. No way, just don’t do it. I lost 2K USD + account closed. Same sad story as previous posts.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
@ Sara,
Really??? Have you done your research on 2CO before writing this review? Simply write “2CO chargeback” in google and sit back and read hundred of stories.
You said: “Like other third-party processors, 2Checkout is more likely to take on sellers with less than flawless credit scores and is better at dealing with risk than merchant accounts. As mentioned above, the company also deals with fraud for you, which is a big perk.”
A Perk? FGS. They have no protection what so ever for seller or buyer.
Let me add my story of being victimized by 2CO. I am the seller. 2CO is the heaven for people who intend to fraud. Why? Hear me out.
I am in the business to establish good earning wordpress blogs and then sell them. I became the part of 2CO and that was my bad day. One person bought one of my site and told me that he will pay only on 2CO. He paid for the site and i handed over him all the details of website like files, hosting, passwords, domain etc.
Once everything is handed over to him, after one week, i got an email from 2CO that they have made the chargeback. They also put the chargeback fee on my account. They blocked my account as my account went in negative after chargeback. They said if i want to challange then they will charge $15 more for that.
They gave me reason that, the transaction was made using the credit card illegally. Means the card was actually hacked and then payment was made. Now i am in a state where i lost my money, and my asset which was my website.
If you consider Google, Godaddy, Paypal, escrow, they act as bridge between buyer and seller, and confirms if there is any dispute. Here, they refund all the amount because they have mentioned it on their terms and conditions. No support whatsoever for the seller here.
Now if you want to make a fraud. Ask your seller to come to 2CO, pay him there, get the product, and then ask your credit card company for chargeback giving the reason, that those transaction was false and you didnt made that transaction. So according to 2CO will refund automatically.
But on the other side i found dozen of examples, where the buyer are complaining that they didnt get the proper product and asking for refund, but 2CO is telling them that they cannot refund.
Who knows if they really refund the amount? Who knows if the refund is actually asked? After research i also found dozen of examples where people got the same email that they chargeback the amount because of illegale use of credit card.
Now if the hacked card is used then whose job is this to check that? As seller, i know that someone wants to buy my product for the amount i want. If that person is buying by robbering even a bank, what wrong i done?
They have few clauses mentioning in “Intenational seller agreement” nad based on those clauses, they simply dont protect, either seller or buyer. But at the same time they say that they have a department which checks and control frauds.
Interestingly they give a reply, that they cannot protect every transaction. Now if you do your research you will find out hundred of complaints. Even there are groups who are planning to submit a petition against them as they believed that 2CO is actually involved in fraud.
Simply stay away from 2CO. Do your research first. e.g. check few of the links like:
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/2cocom-c20818.html
Fraud: http://www.minibb.com/forums/other-1/from-history-of-minibb-fraud-gabriel-candiani-5731.html
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?231092-Urgent!-2Checkout-Suspends-Account-amp-Demands-128
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=387697
Be Safe….
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
2co.com / 2checkout.com service is the worst of the industry. Their payment proccessing takes way to long, their fraud prevention is a joke, and their customer service…. well there is NO customer service!! Sent in a ticket over 4 days ago, and not a response via email or ticket… Will NEVER use again!! having to wait 5 days (at least that’s what seller states) for 2 refunds totaling over $600 that’s not back in my bank account yet!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Do you guys know from which bank 2C0 do wires to its customers?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Yardy, thanks for checking in. At the moment we do not know, but if an answer comes up in our research we’ll pass the info along.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Be aware before you signup with them if you have serious recurring business. I have been loyal 2checkout client for many years until they started experience when they first lost their mastercard processing and then in 2013 visa was giving them hard time. When mastercard processing was lost, my revenue dropped almost 50% and when they started to have problems with Visa, they cleaned up their member base buy getting rid of what they called risky accounts. Thousands of vendors were affected including my business. One chargeback in 4 year history, few refunds account is gone with 400 active recurring memberships worth thousands and thousands of recurring business is all gone.
Reason given, they claimed there were too many people tried to pay with stolen cards. How is this my problem or how can I control that, isn’t it their job? They are third party processor with high processing fees which suppose take care of this.
The best thing, once they told me that they are closing my account they gave me 10 days to find new processor.
Be careful guys.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
2checkout now request 500/usd montly sales and prove of that sales(scanned bill).
they not read my email saiing it is new site, they just not care about.
Be aware about that
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
2checkout is one of the worst if not the worst merchant in my opinion.
after doing two years of business they decided all of a sudden that my site have a high fraud ration (which was never above 4%) and decided to shut down my account of new site which i just started on 5 days notice (which was really small time and not enough to get another merchant without losing credit card paying customers),
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I agree that the chargebacks have increased as they have shifted their processing to Hong Kong.
Seriously, which customer would not dispute a charge billed in Hong Kong especially when 2Checkout.com mentions itself as a US company.
May be they will move to Vietnam and Pakistan next for processing the charges.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
The charge posted by 2Checkout.com appears as “Internet Services” – Hong Kong in the credit card statements of customers.
This is an amazingly foolish step of 2Checkout.com and is leading to high amount of chargebacks across its customer base.
As I said, it is a stupid step by a credit card processor which will lead to greater customers and sellers dissatisfaction.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi – I’m posting on behalf of 2Checkout. I am in the Marketing Department here. I ran across this post and just wanted to make sure it’s up to date. Our pricing has changed. For US sellers we are now 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. International sellers remain at the 5.5% + 45¢ per transaction.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out. https://www.2checkout.com/contact/
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thanks for the heads up Anne. We’ve made the adjustment.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.