2Checkout Review
- Date Established
- 2000
- Location
- Columbus, OH
Pros
- Predictable flat-rate pricing
- Month-to-month agreement
- Ideal for international merchants
- Excellent website & advertising
Cons
- Not suitable for card-present merchants
- Held funds
- 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 appears similar 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 other competitors has been its availability in additional countries — over 200 markets in all. Global payments tools like this aren’t exactly common, and so when they are available, it’s worth taking note.
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). To make things simpler, sometime in 2018, Avangate and 2Checkout re-branded and re-launched the service solely as 2Checkout, but now calling itself a “monetization platform” rather than a payment processor or eCommerce software. The Avangate website redirects to the 2CO website, and it appears the two companies are now fully blended into one.
I will say that the new launch and rebranding seems to have both simplified and complicated 2Checkout’s services. On the one hand, the tools available to merchants are fairly clearly spelled out. On the other, calling a payment-related service a “monetization platform” seems a little vague, and doesn’t totally describe the services that 2Checkout offers.
There are several positive and negative factors to consider when working with 2CO. For starters, withheld funds and terminated accounts are the main complaints of 2CO users, which isn’t surprising given that the company is a third-party processor (also called a payment service provider or PSP). Other companies using this business model — PayPal, Stripe, and Square, to name a few, have the exact same complaints levied against them. However, I can’t deny that 2Checkout’s offerings are some of the most sophisticated I’ve seen. If you need a robust yet flexible way to accept card-not-present payments, I can certainly see the allure of a service like 2CO.
I’d like to take a moment here to say that 2Checkout is only able to process card-not-present transactions. These transactions occur online or in-app, or they’re keyed-in transactions. In addition, 2Checkout offers more features than your average online payment processor, which is great if you need recurring billing and an online store builder. However, it also means that 2Checkout is more expensive than more basic options. So, if you just need a basic online processor, or if you need a way to accept card-present transactions, you might consider taking a look a few of our other preferred payment processors.
So, does this “monetization platform” fit your business’s needs? Keep reading to find out.
We've done in-depth research on each and confidently recommend them.
Table of Contents
Products & Services
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 on many sites (especially for low-quality, predatory providers that use a massive sales network) is often vague or meaningless, the site is poorly organized, or both.
I’m happy to say 2Checkout’s main product offerings are outlined very clearly. Take my word for it — this is a minor miracle.
2Checkout breaks up their product offerings according to pricing plan. Merchants on higher (read: more expensive) plans will have access to more features. That said, you can always add on more features a-la-cart style via 2Checkout’s add-ons. You’ll need to decide what features you business actually needs before you’ll be able to really evaluate cost. Here is a brief breakdown of the features included in each plan:
(It’s worth noting again that 2CO is for card-not-present purchases only. If you’re hoping to process a lot of card-present transactions, you’ll want to use another processor in addition to or in place of 2CO. Take a look at a few of our recommended providers for card-present transactions.)
2Sell
- Sell Internationally: Sell in 220+ countries and territories. List your checkout in 29 languages, and accept payment in 100 currencies. Your customers won’t have to sign up for 2CO themselves, but can quickly make purchases using one of the 45 accepted payment methods (including PayPal if they have a PayPal account).
- Integrate With Shopping Carts: 2Checkout has already pre-built integrations with 120 of the most popular software options.
- Checkout Features: Make your checkout page mobile-friendly and customize the look to match your brand. Localized checkout is also available.
2Subscribe
All of the features from 2Sell PLUS:
- Recurring Billing: Recurring billing is available globally through nine specific payment methods. Take advantage of 2Checkout’s subscription management tools. Customize your subscription’s billing frequency and determining your pricing model (you can choose from flat-rate, usage-based, and hybrid). Subscription reporting is also included.
- Revenue Recovery Tools: 2Checkout claims to help merchants recover up to 20% of their revenue using their account updater and their retry logic tool.
2Monetize: For Selling Digital Goods ONLY
All of the features from 2Sell PLUS:
- Conversion Rate Optimization Tools & Services: I wasn’t able to find more detailed information about exactly what these tools and services include.
- Cart Abandonment Prevention: These tools typically include cart abandonment reports.
- A/B Testing: See what inspires more purchases.
- Invoice Management: Send invoices to customers.
- Global Taxes: Use 2Checkout to manage VAT and sales tax collection and handling.
- Risk & Fraud Protection: Reduce chargebacks with fraud protection tools.
Add-ons
As I’ve already mentioned, you have the ability to add more features to your chosen plan through add-ons. Some of these add-ons are already included as features of specific plans, and some you can purchase at additional cost. I like how this add-on model lets you customize your features set. On the other hand, I don’t like that prices for add-ons are not listed, making it difficult to determine the overall expense of your custom plan. Here are those add-ons:
- 2Convert: Conversion rate tools. Already included in 2Monetize.
- 2Bill: Subscription management. Already included in 2Subscribe and 2Monetize.
- 2Comply: Tax and VAT handling and compliance tools, compatible with digital products only. Already included in 2Monetize.
- 2Partner: Increased channel distribution and automation. Available only for 2Monetize at additional cost.
- 2Service: For Premium Services and Dedicated Support. Available at additional cost.
In addition, the following features are available to all merchants using 2Checkout:
- Hosted & Inline Checkout: You can choose between 2CO’s hosted cart or their inline cart (or the integrated payments option we discuss below). The hosted cart allows you to offer checkout on 2CO’s servers. This checkout is mobile responsive and customizable. Alternatively, you can use 2CO’s inline cart to offer checkout on your own site. Customers will not be redirected to checkout. 2CO recommends the inline cart for merchants with a smaller product catalog.
- 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.
- Reports: View executive, financial, and marketing reports. Merchants on the 2Subscribe plan can view subscription reports, including renewal and churn rate, active customers, etc.
- Security: 2Checkout provides tools for fraud management. In addition, 2Checkout complies with a whole slew of security standards. They are PCI DSS compliant, ISAE 3402 and SSAE 18 compliant, and GDPR compliant (for the EU). 2Checkout also boasts a 99.98% uptime.
- 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 120. 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 with both hosted and inline checkout.
In addition, 2Checkout offers an optional and unique selling solution that they’re calling “Merchant of Record.” In this model, 2Checkout becomes a reseller of your digital and physical goods. Your goods are sold on a “co-branded” website, and 2Checkout is responsible for order processing, payment processing, and tax collection. You, as the merchant, are able to change the look and feel of the website and monitor your sales through a dashboard. You are still responsible for shipping your physical products, but aside from that, the daily operations of your business are passed on to 2Checkout. 2Checkout also offers add-on services for building integrations and marketing, which are available for purchase. I was not able to find pricing information about any of these services online. I imagine pricing depends upon your business and current sales.
Keep in mind that this Merchant of Record service is entirely separate from the payment processing service. If you choose to use 2Checkout’s payment processing service, you will not be required to sign up for Merchant of Record.
All in all, I am impressed by 2Checkout’s range of features. I like especially that 2CO offers three different ways to add their checkout services to your website (Standard, Inline, and Payment API). You can see which of these checkout services are compatible with your shopping cart by looking in 2CO’s master list of third-party integrations. Each integration lists the available checkout options, as well as whether recurring billing is available. Hooray for an organized website!
Fees & Rates
2Checkout bases their pricing on a pay-as-you-go model. That means that you’ll pay per transaction. There are no monthly fees or early termination fees, and that’s great!
That said, 2Checkout’s transaction rates are higher than we’re used to seeing. The lowest plan charges 3.5% + $0.35 per transaction, which is 0.6% + $0.05 more than the industry standard rate for online transactions (2.9% + $0.30). If you are just looking for a basic online processor, that price might be a deal breaker for you.
However, in return for these higher transaction rates, you’ll gain access to a few features that aren’t available with cheaper competitors. For example, compared to Stripe, 2Checkout has much more extensive international capabilities. While Stripe is open to merchants in 34 countries, 2Checkout is available in over 200. In addition, 2Checkout is often praised for its usability; the same cannot be said for Stripe. And of course, 2Checkout comes with features that cost extra with other services, such as recurring billing and an online store builder.
As you explore your payment processing options, be sure to consider the features you need and what those features will cost you with each processor.
2Checkout’s pricing is divided into three pricing plans. Each step up in pricing includes access to more features. We’ve already covered which features are included in each plan, so I’ll just list the transaction rates here:
- 2Sell: 3.5% + $0.35 per transaction
- 2Subscribe: 4.5% + $0.45 per transaction
- 2Monetize: 6.0% + $0.60 per transaction
There is also an enterprise plan for high-volume sellers. If you sign up for this plan, you’ll be able to negotiate your pricing and features. The enterprise plan includes premium on-boarding, dedicated support, professional services, custom integration, and an affiliate network.
2Checkout charges very few fees on top of their flat transaction rates. You’ll only need to be aware of the chargeback fee (which is charged by all payment processors) and the cross-border fee. 2Checkout’s chargeback fee depends on your business’s chargeback ratio. If your chargebacks make up less than 1% of your transactions, you’ll pay $15 per transaction. If your chargeback ratio falls between 1%-2% it’s a $20 fee, and if your ratio is higher than 2% it’s $45. You’ll want to keep your chargeback ratio under 1% to avoid higher fees and to keep your account in good standing with 2Checkout.
In addition, you’ll need to consider the cross-border fee. If you are operating in one of 23 select countries (including the USA, Canada, and the UK), you can expect to pay an additional 2% cross-border fee to accept payments from customers outside of that country.
Also, note that transaction rates can vary for a few advanced localized payment methods (like Boleto Bancario and Kombini). One of these “advanced” payment methods is 2Check (eCheck)/ACH. I’ve been told that the additional cost for this type of processing is 2.6% + $0.15, and it only available for certain packages. Ask about rates for any local payment method that you plan on using.
Add-ons are also available at additional cost. I have not been able to find any information about pricing for add-ons. Let us know in the comments below how much your business has paid for 2Checkout add-ons!
Contract Length & Early Termination Fee
The 2Checkout website includes two Terms & Conditions documents, however, both of these documents appear to be written for the end consumer, not the merchant. In order to get ahold of a Merchant Agreement, you’ll need to contact 2Checkout directly. Upon request, you may be sent two different documents: one for 2CO’s payment processing services as a PSP, and the other for the Merchant of Record model that we discussed earlier. In this review, we will be focusing exclusively on 2CO’s payment processing.
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. Upon termination, 2CO may decide to reserve a portion of your funds as a “deposit.” The purpose of this deposit is to guarantee security for 2CO by covering any remaining refunds, chargebacks, fees, and penalties that your business may incur after you terminate your 2CO account. 2CO can choose to hold this deposit for as long as they deem necessary; they state in their Merchant Agreement that it is typical to hold these funds for up to 180 days (the standard window for chargebacks on credit transactions). I have seen many complaints online that mention this deposit. You’ll need to consider the potential of having your funds help for up to half a year before you commit to 2CO. And always, always, read the full Merchant Agreement before you sign.
In addition, you’ll want to check out 2CO’s Legal Overview, including 2Checkout’s lists of prohibited and restricted products, listed under Compliance > AUP (that’s Acceptable Use Policy). A lot of these businesses are commonly found on the no-fly list for third-party processors, but I will say that 2CO’s policy is one of the most comprehensive and detailed. The lack of ambiguity is a huge plus. If your business is even remotely close to a restricted category, save yourself some future pain and clear it with 2CO from the beginning, or just look elsewhere. You may need a processor that specializes in high-risk industries, or else live in perpetual fear of a frozen or terminated 2CO account.
Finally, information on payouts and 2CO’s rolling reserve is available in the knowledge base. Here’s a quick overview on 2CO’s policies:
Payouts occur on a weekly basis for merchants on the 2Sell and 2Subscribe plans. Sellers on 2Monetize will have monthly payouts by default. One week is a long time to wait for a payout, and one month can feel like an eternity! In fact, slow payouts is one of the negatives that we’ve seen users mention on third-party review sites. If you decide to go with 2Checkout, try to negotiate a more frequent payout schedule. As always, get your negotiated payout schedule in writing.
2Checkout operates on a rolling reserve: the company will withhold 5% of your transactions for 90 days, on a rolling basis. 2Checkout also maintains the right to raise the reserve rate (hold more of your money) if your business experiences too many chargebacks or refunds. This is another frequent cause of complaints. Read 2Checkouts’ information on how to maintain a low reserve rate in their knowledge base. However, keep in mind that this issue (held funds) is typical of all PSPs. Check out our article, How To Avoid Merchant Account Holds, Freezes, And Terminations, for more advice on how to avoid this problem.
Overall, 2Checkout is on par with similar providers as far as processing agreements go, maybe even a bit better thanks to that super-clear list of prohibited businesses. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Make sure you read every word of each document you sign. You don’t want to be surprised by held funds or a terminated account later on down the road.
Sales & Advertising Transparency
2Checkout doesn’t appear to use gimmicky marketing tactics, which is great news. Pricing is straightforward and easily accessed, as is the fact that 2CO is a PSP, not a merchant account provider. 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 Legal center contains several handy resources such as privacy policies and restricted industries. One way I think 2Checkout could continue to improve in transparency is to make this list of restricted industries even more available for onboarding merchants; negative reviews indicate to me that many merchants sign on with the processor without having read this list. Overall, though, 2Checkout does very well in this area.
Customer Service & Technical Support
2Checkout offers technical support through a few different avenues. You can get help for order and payment issues 24/7 through phone and email. And true to 2Checkout’s international approach, that support is available in nine different languages.
Take a look at all the ways you can contact 2CO, as well as a few of the learning resources you can access:
- Phone Support: Monday-Friday, 8 AM-4:30 PM EST. Not great hours, but the fact that phone support exists at all is a mark in 2CO’s favor.
- Support Tickets: Inquiries outside normal the operating hours listed above are answered ASAP.
- FAQ: This webpage covers a dozen or so basic topics.
- eCommerce Resources: Whitepapers, webinars, infographics, and data sheets are available for download. You’ll have to hand over some personal information (name, phone number, and email) to access these resources. You can also view product release videos (no personal information required).
- Glossary: Not extensive, but better than nothing.
- Blog: 2Checkout publishes articles regularly, covering selling strategies and industry news.
- Developer Resources: Includes a knowledge base 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 details on payout options and the rolling reserve.
You can also contact 2Checkout via social media (although this is more of a last resort option). 2Checkout is active on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. They occasionally respond to customer complaints and concerns on these platforms.
User Reviews
Negative Reviews & Complaints
Every processing company receives its fair share of complaints, and 2CO is no exception. Reviews of 2Checkout cover a wide variety of opinions. Some users love 2CO, others call it a scam. In total, I found more negative reviews than positive, however, this is not abnormal for a payment processor (take a look at our article on negativity bias). After reading hundreds of reviews, I was able to identify a few trends in these comments, both positive and negative.
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 23 complaints filed in the last year. Of these 39 complaints, 10 have been resolved to the customers’ satisfaction. Trustpilot, Google reviews, and other sites gather up more complaints. Here are the issues that come up the most:
- Account Termination: 2CO appears to closely monitor accounts, with users reporting account closure with no notice or a highly inadequate explanation. Some merchants said that 2CO closed their account after performing a final review of the business, even after those merchants had been using 2CO for years. Before filling out a 2CO application, read our article on how to avoid freezes, fees, terminations. Most importantly, review that prohibited products list. If your business could be considered high-risk, you might want to choose a processor such as Durango Merchant Services.
- Withheld Funds: Some merchants report dissatisfaction with 2Checkout’s reserve policy — the automatic holding of 5% of each payout for 90 days to protect against risk and chargebacks. Most often, sellers were frustrated that their money was (or still is) being held for an indefinite period after their account was suddenly frozen for review or just plain closed. This period is typically at least 90 days and sometimes much longer (up to a year!).
- Poor/Slow 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 compared with its prominent competitors, 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
2Checkout includes a brief list of testimonials on the “Clients” page of their website. These reviews were originally written on third-party review sites, and 2CO provides links to those original comments. 2Checkout also lists a handful of video testimonials on their Youtube channel. Around the web, I found bits of praise for 2CO in the form of written reviews from users. Here’s what those positive reviews tended to mention:
- Widely Available: 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 such as Stripe or Shopify Payments are not. Merchants also like how 2CO is able to manage international tax rules.
- Easy To Use: Merchants report that 2CO is quick to set up and operate.
- Support: Some comments report positive interactions with customer service and support. Note that overall I’ve seen many more negative comments on customer support than positive.
By now, you might also be wondering about Avangate’s reputation. The Artist Formerly Known as Avangate has garnered an equal mix of five star reviews and one star reviews across the web. Now that Avangate has completely transitioned to 2CO, we likely won’t see any new comments about this specific company name.
Final Verdict
All in all, I’d say that 2Checkout is a good solution for a couple specific categories of merchants. If you are selling exclusively online, and you need access to comprehensive subscription management features, 2CO may be for you. In the same vein, if your business is located in a country without many payment processing options, it’s likely that 2Checkout will in fact be available. Merchants who fall into either of these two categories — and who don’t mind paying a little more per transaction — should consider 2CO.
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. Considering this, along with 2CO’s decent reputation up to this point, I’m giving 2CO a score of 4.5 stars.
Like other third-party processors, 2Checkout is more likely to take on sellers with less than perfect credit scores, and it 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. In addition, it is important to consider how 2CO fees will affect your bottom line. 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.
We've done in-depth research on each and confidently recommend them.
Rose Holman
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To learn more about how we score our reviews, see our Credit Card Processor Rating Criteria.
The worst customer service !The application process is so tiring and dealing with them is so painful.Just stay away from them.
Horrible support!In February we contacted them asking to update our homepage URL and some additional info so that we are compliant with their rules. These updates can be done only by them. They did a partial update but never completed the request. We sent a couple of additional requests in June and all of them went unanswered. Now they blocked our funds and sent a notice AFTER the fact. It means they didn’t even give us time to respond. This seems like a regular practice at this company. They don’t care about their customers (merchants).Unless they fix these practices and poor support I recommend to stay away from them.
Organization Name: Directory Maximizer
The payments would not redirect back to my site after an upgrade they made. I had to raise a technical issue, which they took many weeks to resolve.The statement descriptor did not show on one my customer’s card statements and so he placed a dispute for 59 orders that he placed with us. On realising the mistake, he quickly contacted the card company to revert. However, 2Checkout found it prudent to charge $1475 in chargeback fees ($25 for each chargeback on transactions that were $30 each). They’ve been unrelenting in my quest to get them to revert those ridiculous fees. This has led to a huge unexpected loss for us. They’ve literally taken away all the earnings we made from the customer and pocketed them under the guise of chargeback fees even though the customer also clarified that it was a mistake on their end.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: GIRO
This company are thieves with the worst customer support ever , they suddenly blocked my money transfers not answering any of my emails , and they stole our money , AVOID
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Seems good. But found a very mixed review. So, I have to thoroughly check their site and if feels good then I must contact them for my new business setup.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Mars Software
Don’t even think about using this crappy company. They stole my $260. Total garbage, scammers and brainf**kers. I was their client for about 15 years and finally these idiots asked me to send scans of my ID and other documents. I refused (anyway was tired with such ugly service, slow payouts, useless antifraud where you pay for chargebacks). Asked them to close my account. They wrote I have to wait 180 days to release “chargeback fund release”. Ok. It’s just $260. No problem. I will wait. About two months ago these 180 days passed and I still cannot get my money back. First of all the bank account I have as payout method was closed years ago and I’m the citizen of another country. There is no way to change name of the owner of the account and this name will apply for bank account automatically (I don’t have bank account on my name they can accept so I need to change it). No way to remove non-existent payoneer card from their system. I don’t have that bluesnap payoneer card for about 10 years but have another and they cannot use it. So I cannot get my money back. Now they ask me to send photo of my ID and proof of the company/residence. Idiots. DO NOT MAKE ANY BUSINESS WITH THEM!BTW switched to Stripe and I’m damn happy. Payouts every 2 days, you can modify everything, no brainf**king.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Webji Hosting Pvt. Ltd.
I have informed their team that securehostbilling.com is our official billing system and they approved it from compliance desk. But still their risk team suspended our account.This company 2checkout even don’t have any form of proper internal team coordination. Now when all details are shared their risk team is enjoying our account suspension. Their staff reads but they dont bother themselves to act based on the situation.They are full of careless staff who dont care of services for merchants. @2checkout remember this is your merchants who made your company stand. You shall not ignore value of your business you get from your merchants. I have list of all such cases where your company just failed to deliver service support.Anyone of your manager who is interested to listen all those written records and feedbacks along with act to compensate the same let me know I will suggest you more such cases maybe you can find out all those careless staff and can take management action on them.Very bad service support.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: RAISA HM
Really they are bad and their support center does’t solve anything and all of their a gents lies
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
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!!!!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: raisa.
bad customer service and no support , they are scammers
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
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.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
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.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
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 %.
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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.
Hi Anton, thank you for your complete review. Yours especially caught my attention because our business will be in a similar situation within EU..
After having experienced this with 2checkout, did you find another Gateway payment that was satisfying enough? We would like to propose our client the usual and well know but also another one like Stripe that allows the client not to get out of the website to process payment. Unfortunately, Stripe is not yet in Malta so we can’t use their solution.
Many thanks for your feedback.
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
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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.
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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!
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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!!!
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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
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Do not ever use them, anytime they will disable your account by giving funny reasons. I had very bad experience with these guys.
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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 !
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Been with 2checkout for 3 years. Never a problem. A+!!
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Completely, do not recommend 2CO. No way, just don’t do it. I lost 2K USD + account closed. Same sad story as previous posts.
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@ 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….
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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.
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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.
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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
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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),
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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.
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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.
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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.