Braintree Payment Solutions Review
- Date Established
- 2007
- Location
- Chicago, IL
Overview:
Is it a brain in the shape of a tree, or a tree that grows brains? I’m not entirely sure, but either way, I can tell you that Braintree is definitely smart — smart as a business, and smart for businesses that want to accept payments through websites, smartphone apps, and mobile devices.
Braintree Payment Solutions offers a high degree of customizability and invaluable services that make it ideal for forward-thinking app developers, social market-style businesses, and other Internet-based, tech-driven merchants. It also provides seamless, frictionless billing while maintaining access to billing information in a way that most providers don’t allow.
A word of caution: There’s no brick-and-mortar POS solution here. For that, you’ll have to look at Braintree’s parent company, PayPal. Itself owned by eBay at the time, PayPal acquired Braintree in September of 2013 but has maintained it as an independent subsidiary. That doesn’t appear set to change, despite the Great eBay/PayPal Divorce of 2015.
After all, from Q2 of 2013 to Q2 of 2016, Braintree’s total number of payment transactions grew 25 times over. Mind you, that isn’t the payment volume; nevertheless, it does offer solid proof of the company’s continuous growth since being acquired by PayPal. In fact, Braintree says it is the preferred integration for accepting PayPal, which is no small consideration.
So we know Braintree is big, and it keeps attracting new merchants who clearly see something in the company. I’m sure it’s the flexibility and wide support for payment types that are the big draws. Whereas Braintree’s biggest and most obvious competitor, Stripe, focuses on making commerce available everywhere, Braintree is more focused on making commerce available no matter how consumers want to pay. That’s not to say Braintree doesn’t have a global reach — it absolutely does, with support for 130 currencies and more than 40 countries. It’s just a matter of priorities for the company.
I think few companies understand mobile and digital commerce as well as Braintree does, and the tools provided and the huge assortment of supported payment types just prove that.
I wholeheartedly recommend Braintree Payment Solutions. If you have no need for the developer tools and other capabilities beyond simple payment processing, then you might want to look elsewhere for the lowest rates. In my mind, though, Braintree offers incredibly valuable services at a fair price, and almost any merchant could benefit from processing with the company. Congratulations, Braintreeps (Braintree reps, get it? I didn’t make this up). You’ve earned a perfect 5-star rating.
Read on to learn more about what makes Braintree unique. To find a merchant account that accommodates brick-and-mortar sales, check out our guided merchant account finder.
Products & Services:
We’re not looking at just a simple merchant account provider here. There isn’t even a brick-and-mortar solution with Braintree; it’s mobile and digital products only. If you’re into e-tail, app development, or mobile anything, you need to take a closer look. But with so many incredibly useful features, you might need to take a couple of days to process the possibilities. Everything is customizable, with the most painless integration you’re likely to find anywhere in the industry. Offerings include:
- Merchant accounts: Braintree is a direct processor, so your payments account comes directly from this provider, which translates into greater stability than you see with an aggregator such as Stripe or Square.
- International accounts: Available in the US, Canada, Europe and even Australia (some 40 countries total), Braintree is a truly global provider. Not to mention that you can accept payments in over 130 currencies AND 6 languages. Businesses that cater to a truly global customer base will benefit from how flexible Braintree is when it comes to serving an international customer base.
- Payment gateway: The in-house gateway comes as part of your account, although you can purchase it separately — for a fairly steep fee — if you already have a merchant account. One of the big advantages to the Braintree gateways is unprecedented freedom (see below).
- Data portability: The Braintree gateway uses its “vault” system to give you access to your customers’ stored payment information while maintaining PCI compliance. With other gateways, you lose access to this information if you decide to switch providers. This means that all of your recurring payments would be interrupted (a really bad thing). So I’m really impressed to see Braintree offering this wonderful feature.
- Drop-In UI and Custom Fields: When it comes to checkouts, it’s your choice — select Braintree’s ready-to-go checkout UI for your site or app, or use the custom hosted fields to create a unique checkout experience while maintaining PCI compliance.
- Recurring billing: While a bunch of providers can hook you up with recurring billing, not many execute the service as well as Braintree. Customization is king with the Brain. This includes customized failed transaction management, pricing plans, discounts, promos, push notifications, rewards, and add-ons, automatically prorated subscriptions, as well as search/reporting capabilities. And let’s not forget the secure storage in Braintree’s vault.
- Payment Updater: Never lose a subscriber to a new or re-issued card. Braintree will automatically obtain and update that info for you, so you don’t have to reach out to customers.
- One-touch payments: App developers will love Braintree’s One Touch Payment option. We first saw this through Venmo, but now PayPal has adapted that into its own One Touch solution for apps and websites. Users can pay securely and easily, and PayPal will remember their information, so they can complete purchases more quickly in the future.
- Braintree Marketplace: For market-style merchants, you just cannot beat Braintree. If you fall into this category, I’m legitimately excited for you to try this service. Braintree will effortlessly split payments between you and your providers, keeping track of your 1099-K tax forms along the way. The flexible escrow service gives you the option to pay right away, or wait for fulfillment. Plus, it’s free. You only pay the normal processing rate for the initial transaction, and nothing else. Be aware that the marketplace feature only works for US-based companies with US-based providers.
- Venmo payments: While we’re on the topic of Braintree’s marketplace, this service allows you to pay your market providers using their email addresses or mobile phone numbers, so you don’t have to deal with collecting and verifying bank account numbers.Not only that, but you can actually accept Venmo transactions from consumers as well.
- Bitcoin support: Braintree allows merchants to accept Bitcoin payment via Coinbase digital wallets.
- Support for digital wallets: Braintree is really good at making sure that consumers can also make payments via their preferred digital wallets. This is significant because everyone and their mother is trying to create a mobile wallet, and no one’s managed to quite claim dominance yet.
New to Braintree:
In early June of 2015, Braintree introduced a beta program for buyable pins on Pinterest. The same technology that powers buyable pins and enables secure information sharing is also powering a newer partnership, Yelp’s Cash Back program, as well as SkyScanner, an online airline booking site.
In addition, Braintree is the company powering the payment tool linking Facebook Messenger and Uber, as well as Facebook/EventBrite sales.
The most noteworthy additions to Braintree recently are new payment methods. Now merchants can accept (or will soon be able to accept) Apple Pay on the Web, MasterPass, Visa Checkout, PayPal Credit, and in Europe, Union Pay.
PayPal Commerce bears the PayPal name, but make no mistake: It is absolutely a Braintree offering. It’s actually powered by Modest, a recent acquisition that now shares space with Braintree in its Chicago office. Commerce is what I have been hoping to see — “contextual commerce.” In short, with a little bit of code, you can create buy buttons in apps, in blog posts, in emails, and plenty of other places on the web. No more redirecting people to your website. The one downside is that Commerce is still in beta and isn’t available to the public. I really want to see Commerce do well and reach the masses of merchants because it’s so far beyond what is available elsewhere.
What’s Missing from Braintree:
The only thing missing from Braintree that I really would like to see added is support for ACH payments. Stripe now supports ACH, and while it’s definitely an archaic form of payment, it’s one that’s still in demand.
There’s a long list of integrations that work with Braintree, including a couple of mPOS apps that will let you swipe cards. Given that the payments space is moving toward omnichannel commerce, seeing a company like Braintree offer a solution that works with mPOS makes me happy. I just wish that the options were better. Like Stripe, this is something we could see change with a bit of time, and it is far from a high priority.
Fees & Rates:
For most of us, the rates and fees charged by Braintree Payment Solutions are incredibly simple:
- 2.9% + $0.30 transaction fee for everything except Bitcoin
- 1% for Bitcoin (after the first $1 million processed)
That’s it. There are no surcharges, no fees. That means:
- No monthly minimum
- No monthly fee
- No annual fee
- No PCI compliance fee
- No early termination fee
- No set-up fee
- No gateway fees (monthly or setup)
- No statement fees
You’ll be responsible for chargebacks, though, which come with a reasonable $15 fee. This is industry-standard and unavoidable. If you knew how much of an expensive pain in the ass it is for processors to deal with chargebacks, you’d consider $15 unbelievably low.
The two-day payout is another plus. That means you’ll get your money quickly. It’s not as fast or as convenient as next-day payouts, or even Square’s instant deposit, but it’s absolutely on par with a lot of the best processors.
While I like that Braintree provides incredibly accurate and plain disclosure here, flat-rate services will never be as transparent as itemized fees and interchange-plus rates. All costs just come out of the 2.9% + $0.30, and you have no way of knowing the actual expense behind the scenes.
Still, I like this system for Braintree and the rest of the world’s pay-as-you-go processors. It simplifies costs into something extremely predictable.
A Quick Example:
For a point of reference, 2.90% + $0.30 is what you’d expect to pay for non-qualified e-commerce payments with a good-quality processor, along with maybe 1.90% + $0.30 for qualified. Figuring a half-and-half split between the two, you’d pay about 2.40% + $0.30 on average, making Braintree about 0.5% more expensive that I might like to see. So if you’re doing $5,000 worth of sales each month, you might expect to pay an extra $25 with Braintree. But when you consider that standard monthly service and gateway fees usually come in at about $25 anyway, you can see that Braintree is actually offering competitive pricing, most of all for low-volume merchants. In my opinion, it’s absolutely worth it, especially if you’re going to take advantage of the unique marketplace, partner APIs, recurring billing and data storage features.
High-volume merchants may qualify for customized pricing. Aside from that, though, don’t expect to be able to negotiate. Braintree is what it is, and it’s not going to make exceptions for just anyone.
Contract Length & Early Termination Fee:
You’ll have absolutely no early termination fee with Braintree, which makes sense given that it’s a PayPal company. You can see the standard Braintree Merchant Agreement if you’re interested. It’s pretty standard fare as far as merchant agreements go, and nothing that should worry you. As we’ve already said, there are no extra costs or hidden fees, so you don’t have to worry about early termination fees or monthly minimums or anything.
Another plus: If you do choose to leave Braintree, you get to take all of your customer data with you. That’s a really good deal. You’ll just want to make sure the new system is PCI compliant.
Sales & Advertising Transparency:
With such a simple pricing structure, Braintree has an easy job when it comes to transparency. It discloses all rates, fees, and important contractual stipulations in plain sight, with absolutely no surprises.
The much tougher task here is properly describing all of Braintree’s many features and customization options. It’s a big job, but Braintree performs outstandingly. The website is very well organized, with answers to just about every question you could conceive of. The navigation is simple, not pages buried inside pages, which is nice.
Braintree also has a fairly active blog filled with all kinds of useful information. I’ve said this in many reviews — I do look closely at the kind of information and support processing companies offer merchants. I like the resources that Braintree puts out. It’s catering to all sorts of merchants with ways to address some of the most pressing issues they’ll encounter and letting people know about new features. However, it’s not quite at the level of Square, which is pretty much the gold standard for educating merchants.
I think Braintree makes up for that in its other resources: its developer guidelines, its article center (which is your self-service knowledge base), and its FAQ (a starter help center).
Braintree doesn’t have thousands of independent agents hitting the pavement to try to sell its products. All salespeople are in-house, and they know Braintree products inside and out. This is an optimal sales situation because it tends to lead to far more transparent practices and much happier merchants. It just seems like there’s far less pressure in these kinds of situations to close the deal at whatever cost — even if that means lying to a merchant and promising the world. While there are some companies that manage their independent reps well, they’re definitely few and far between.
Customer Service & Technical Support:
While many providers struggle to maintain an acceptable level of customer support, Braintree has a reputation for excellence in this category.
Braintree offers an extensive knowledgebase in its article center — an essential support feature in my opinion. Sometimes you just want to look something up without getting on the phone with customer support. By using this resource, you can solve the vast majority of issues on your own time. And don’t forget there are also many developer guides to help you with the more technical aspects.
If you need to get a hold of a knowledgeable “Braintreep” (Treep for short), you can do so during these hours:
- Email: 5 a.m. to 12 a.m. CST, Monday-Thursday; 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. CST, Friday
- Phone: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST, Monday-Thursday; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST, Friday
If it’s an emergency, you can get service 24/7/365 via email from reps and engineers on-call.
You’ll be impressed by Braintree’s Status page, where you can find information about outages or other technical difficulties in real time. This is becoming a more common practice among online service providers, and I do like it. Rather than getting a bunch of inconsistent anecdotal evidence, you can see direct from the source whether something is working.
Negative Reviews & Complaints:
Braintree has just six complaints with the BBB in the past three years. That’s an extremely low number of complaints for anyone, but when you consider just how large Braintree is, it’s outstanding.
Unfortunately, the BBB has lowered Braintree’s score to a B+ because it seems customers aren’t happy with the company’s response to their complaints. However, looking over the complaints, a couple relate to the chargeback process, another relates to an account being terminated for high risk, and one is about the fee structure in the Asia-Pacific region. One is from a customer who claims a Braintree merchant never shipped their order.
All in all, nothing is a red flag here. It’s unfortunate about the B+ rating but I feel like it’s not necessarily warranted in this case.
Braintree has 3 reviews on the BBB site, all of which are negative — but one is a complaint about chargebacks, which are industry-standard. The other complaints about an account termination…but notes that Braintree transferred funds to their account instead of leaving it in limbo for months, as many third-party processors do. The third relates to a hold placed on the account after a series of fraudulent transactions.
There are no actual complaints against Braintree on Ripoff Report, either. While you can search for “Braintree,” the results you’ll get are mostly for a town called Braintree, Massachusetts.
I don’t know how to communicate to you how unspeakably low this complaint volume is for a processor of Braintree’s size and type. Even Stripe Payments, a Braintree’s major competitor with a similar business model, has over 350 complaints with the BBB. Somehow Braintree manages to move billions upon billions of dollars per year without enraging entire armies of disgruntled customers. That’s a serious feat!
I scoured the internet for Braintree complaints and found only a few. A few are rehashings of BBB complaints, a few are merchants who took issue with the signup process. A few other complaints relate to account holds and terminations.
One of the advantages to Braintree is that because it’s not a third-party processor the same way that PayPal and Stripe are. That means greater account stability, but it’s not totally infallible. We highly recommend that you check out Braintree’s Acceptable Use Policy, including the list of prohibited businesses. if you’re in a high-risk field, you’re better off pursuing a merchant account with a processor that specializes in working with those kinds of businesses, including Payline Data and Durango Merchant Services.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials:
Braintree’s client list speaks for itself, in some ways: GitHub, Uber, AirBnB, OpenTable, LevelUp, and StubHub, just to name a few. Each of them revolutionary in some way or other. And Braintree has helped each of them along the path to greatness.
But if you really want something remarkable…
Braintree has some of the most comprehensive and impressive case studies I’ve ever seen, along with kind words from very successful companies. I mean, its client list is chock-full of unique apps and Internet businesses, many of which provided complex challenges for payment processing. In the case studies, Braintree walks you through these challenges and the solutions. It’s really fascinating reading material if you’re interested in this sort of thing. Check them out.
That’s not the only source of good reviews. In looking online, I found Braintree merchants who have praised the company’s ease of use. Specifically, access to the sandbox for testing is a huge draw, as well as the extensive support for various programming languages.
Final Verdict:
Braintree is probably the only provider I’ve rated 5 stars without a widely available interchange-plus option. That would usually be a deal-breaker for me at this level, but the company pulls it off because it offers both consistency and affordability. When you consider the absolutely enormous number of unique features and services you get at absolutely no additional charge and for no monthly fee, Braintree may have the best value in the entire e-commerce/app-commerce processing industry. I’m beyond impressed.
With everything Braintree has accomplished in the past three years, it’s poised to own the e-commerce and m-commerce worlds. With Paypal as its parent company, it also has access to some spectacular resources. And that’s only going to get better as PayPal keeps finding ways to innovate and reshape the payments space. Keep an eye open and your ear to the ground for new offerings.
App developers would be crazy not to thoroughly consider working with Braintree Payment Solutions, and market-style businesses would be, too. These people are not only delivering a developer-friendly medium; they’re bringing ethical, transparent, high-quality processing services to the table. When you put these two attributes together, you get a solid 5-star processor. Good work!
Melissa Johnson
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72 Comments
Worst payment processor ever.If i see braintree as payment handler from now on i wont bother.Lost sales lost sales lost sales!
All these negative reviews however they still have a 5 star rating? Stay away from Braintree/Paypal, once your business picks up and you start taking in high dollar transactions they will randomly lock your account and freeze the money for 140+ days. We have already shipped out the computer we sold to a customer only to find out the money will not be available to us and that our account was closed because it’s considered High Risk even though we clearly provide all documentation and information in the application process of what our business does and sells, got approved and then after there is a few thousand dollars available in the account they freeze it. Enjoy the interest on that for 140 days, we are going to our bank to open a merchant account where the funds will be available the next business day and not dealing with Braintree/Paypal/Stripe tactics of locking people out of their money.
I sell earrings, pill boxes, cribbage boards and potpourri items. I can’t get approved because I’m considered high risk and they will not tell me why – stay away from these clowns!
We began our online store with Braintree this past November and as of June have had a measly 7 web sales. The first 2 sales were fraud sales. They were fraud because Braintree’s associates failed to assist in setting up the back end and leaving major holes in security. Now months after the chargebacks have been settled and refunded in full, Braintree’s Risk Team decides to investigate our account for the “large” chargeback ratio. After weeks of deliberation and failing to meet Braintree’s own deadlines they were giving us, we were finally contacted saying that they had closed our account effective immediately and any funds processed within the next 30 days will be withheld by them. Braintree has made it apparent to us that they do not specialize in customer service and that they are not willing to work with small, growing online businesses. Extremely disappointed in this service.
First of all there are security holes in Braintree, from the first 3 transactions using Braintree all three were used via stolen cards. You get billed 15 bucks for each fraudulent credit card that someone uses on your site. Plus you are still paying Subscription charges that are not applied if you just use the PayPal buttons. Security hole is too big for the turnover and danger that is present. Much easier and safer to use PayPal and not over the Braintree interface, you as the Seller are liable for any fraudulent cards a Customer uses, that is unless you pay even more for CC checking which raises the costs.
I have been a licensed private investigator for over five years. I have had two merchant service accounts with different providers prior to signing up with Braintree. The first one “came with” a suite of case management software that I use and I never had any problems with them. Looking back, they were great. About 6 months ago, I moved all my commercial and personal banking business to a local bank with whom I was developing a great relationship. To go “all in” with my new bank that I really loved, I got signed up with their merchant service provider, too. It was actually a 3rd party merchant with whom they contracted, but I figured my new banker might get a spiff, so that was fine with me. Turns out I really hated working with that merchant provider. Clunky web interface, slow to pay, etc., so I started shopping around.When I found Braintree, I was very excited about the possiblities. They seemed like a great company, I studied all the fine print, and I decided to sign up. In a matter of minutes, I was logging into my bright, shiny new Braintree merchant account and was excited about the possibilities.In those five-plus years with my previous merchant providers, I have never once had to issue a refund, nor have I had a chargeback. I process anywhere from $5k-10K in credit cards every month, which is only a portion of the overall revenue of my company. My business operates like a small law firm. I work on retainer and my investigative clients pay me up front for my services. My investigative license is issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Ours is a very heavily-regulated industry as you can imagine. I carry ten times the state minimum of insurance. I also carry E&O insurance. I maintain a professional office in a first-class downtown highrise that is almost entirely populated with attorneys. 90% of my clients are attorneys and law firms. I run a very tight ship and am very selective about the private cases that I take…So imagine my surprise when I attempted to log into my Braintree portal to process a credit card and I learn that my account had been suspended. I contacted customer service, and was quickly forwarded to some mid-level sales monkey who informed me that while my account was initially approved through the automated system, underwriting went back and looked at my information and PERMANENTLY SHUT DOWN my account because I listed my business as private investigations. Braintree underwriters consider private investigations “high risk” and Braintree will not under any circumstances provide merchant services to private investigators. Period. End of story.I plead my case with this sales monkey to no avail. I laid out how my business is structured and how it operates. I questioned why Braintree happily provides merchant services to Uber drivers, but a professional private investigator is a persona non grata. Of course the sales monkey couldn’t do anything about it, he was “just doing his job,” and I wasn’t allowed to talk to the underwriters because they don’t take calls from the frowzy masses of the great unwashed. There was nothing I could do. Braintree was not going to take my money no matter how hard I tried to give it to them.The bottom line is that Braintree is duplicitous and dishonest. My business was never listed in any of their material I could find as one that they consider “high risk.”Braintree discriminates against one of the most highly-regulated segments of the legal services industry on one hand, yet has no problem whatsoever extending services to any idiot with a driver’s license and an auto insurance card on the other hand. Braintree is a sad example of idiotic coporate policies that are likely based on outdated t.v. shows instead of reality.The bottom line is this: If you don’t mind being lied to, Braintree might be right for you. If you don’t mind having your account mysteriously suspended and the rug pulled out from under you without warning, Braintree might be your new best friend. If you don’t mind the old game of bait and switch, you might really love Braintree.If you DO mind all of those things, avoid Braintree at all costs, and be sure to tell your friends and business associates. I know I’m telling mine.
Hello, I am looking for something to use as a Point of Sale for local government. Any suggestions?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Annette,
We have a great filtering tool that you can try here. I hope this helps and if you have further questions please let me know.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
So I am a cam model starting up my own monthly subscription website selling my pictures, calendars, and social media sites. I have been using PayPal so far but resently they shut my account down do to “PayPal may not be used to send or receive
payments for certain sexually oriented materials or services or for items
that could be considered obscene.” Holding all of my funds. I was devistated because I still had to send out the products. Yes my material is definitely R Rated. What would be the best processor to use that will not care what I am selling. I’ve looked at KERPAY which states it can be used for any personal or business purpose. But they are back ended with STIPE and seems to be a new company with little to no reviews. Reading all of STRIPE reviews of people getting there funds with held definitely discouraging me from using them. And since BRAINTREE is back by PayPal another red flag for me. Is there any other good subscription based pay portals that are more lenient on so called “obscene material”? I have been having to keep up with all of the book keeping and payments myself manually and as my following grows it is getting a bit out of my control. I want a modem that will automatically deduct these monthly payments. Preferably without having to set up an account or profile. Please help me
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hello,
I would recommend taking a look at Instabill.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hello, thanks for posting your review of Stripe and Braintree. I am a tour operator based in the USA and sell custom travel group packages to Europe, which means I do not have a catalog, or ready made itineraries with set prices, but get requests throughout the years, to arrange for custom tours based on clients needs. I am saying this, as I applied for payments thru PayPal, but they told me I needed to have a website with prices and shopping cart set up, but I cannot really do that in advance of a group/quotation request. Once a tour is set up and ready to be sold, I would like to be able to accept deposits and payments by credit card. So far group leaders that have worked with me for the past 15 years, had no problem paying with checks, but I would like to offer my services to new clients, and I know I need to be capable to accept payment by cc. Would Braintree be good for me, or can you suggest another merchant that processes cc for travel?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Veronica,
Thank you for your inquiry, I am happy to help you with this. Travel related industries are general considered “high risk” so Durango Merchant Services and Payline Data might be better fits than Braintree. I hope this helps and if you have further questions please let us know.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Tom,
I’m looking for a new payment processing partner for sales in Europe (we are a start up based in the UK) with low rates and good customer service/technical support. I was looking at stripe, braintree and beanstream and all of them have pros and cons and a fair share of bad reviews. Are there any others you would recommend?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hello Tom DeSimone,
I have few questions. I am from Bangladesh but Braintree don’t support Bangladesh. But one of my uncle live in Greece which Braintree support. So am i able to use his details to open an account in Braintree? Also will they require any verification? Like: National ID card, Driver License or Passport? How much am i able to receive without any problem? I am planning to make an eCommerce site. So is it possible to receive $5K to $10K each month? Or less? If i will do that much transaction, will they require national document verification? And how often they are paying and how they are getting paid? Like direct bank or PayPal?
Please reply me if you know these.
Thanks in advance
Regards
Nayem Hasan
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
My biggest knock against Braintree is that they do not offer a mobile dashboard option to keep track of all purchases on the go.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi there, question: what is the turn around time on the processing of payment for deposits into an account?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Help ! I recently found that my merchant services “Flint” will no longer have the ability to service my account. Flint has suggested that I move to Stripe. This does not make me happy and the only information I can get from Stripe is via email which takes forever. I have extremely low volume business. My volume ranges between $150-$400 per week. I take copay for services. I have checked with Payline and they are not really made for small volume business too many fees.
Can you suggest a merchant for very low business. I only want to process credit card payments, no frills.
Thank you,
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi,
Checkout Intuit GoPayment. It sounds like they’d be a good fit.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
This company are theifs
After being accept as a client and paid all the setlements to that date I start working normaly and charging credit cards regulary, one day I reveived a email from someone saying that my account was blocked as I was working only on the dashboard and not the way they intended. Starting thay date I never again get a deposit from them and now they have 10.000 euros in their account that are mine.
Everyday I send them a email asking to make the deposit and every day the aswer is the same, that my problem is in the risk department and the email will be sent to them.
Until today I only get silence from them, for 2 months no answer what so ever. I think I’ll have to hire a lawyer to get my money back. So if you are thinking in make business with this company, think again and save yourself a headache.
Cheers
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
from the braintree website: ” How much does Braintree Marketplace cost?It’s free for Braintree merchants. You’ll pay 2.9% + $.30 when the customer makes their purchase, but we don’t charge for distributing the funds to you and your sellers.”The merchants in the market place solution are the market place vendors, not the marketplace itself, so the marketplace gets charged the fee, then the money moves for free to the people supplying the marketplace. Not exactly “clear” as they state in the headline.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
This is all assuming they even accept you into the marketplace product tier, which is a BIG if! They will probably push you into the normal merchant account where you have to transfer funds manually without the API slit integration and 1099 record keeping.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thanks for the reply Brandon and you’re right: it’s clear as MUD.
I don’t even know what Braintree Market is, never heard of it. I was just looking into them because they are integrating with BigCommerce and my merchant provider is pissing me off so I was looking for a backup solution.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I like others on these reviews have had a terrible time just trying to open an account with them. I am running a marketplace app, basically what Braintree was intially designed for. They called me high risk and said they wouldn’t split payments and I would have to do it manually (defeating the whole purpose of using them). Their advertisements are also misleading saying their are no fees until you hit a certain dollar amount. This is untrue; for the marketplace clients, you will pay all fees immediately, but they hide that truth in the faq section. Do yourself a favor and just use Stripe, if your company grows you can negotiate lower rates with them, with paypal/braintree you are stuck at the same rate no matter how big you grow. Braintree will interrogate you and request very personal information like copies of your passport and and drivers license via insecure email, where they could easily/accidentally forward this info to people that shouldn’t have it. The whole process takes way too long with Braintree, it’s madness! Take my advice, if they are this bad upfront, think about how bad they must be when you are already a customer. Just avoid the madness and use Stripe
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Having a terrible time with this company. They currently have my funds on hold and despite assurances that they have lifted the hold I am still not in receipt of my money.
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I really had a bad experience with them. I signed up my company, everything was running well and smoothly. And a week later they send me a email saying :we regret to inform you that we are unable to underwrite your business.
So I called them and asked why and again they weren’t very friendly trying to find a solution with me. They didn’t give a lot of information for the denied process — only: you business is high risk for us.
I got very mad, because I was ready to launch my company and I needed to push further to figure out the situation. And they took a week to notify me that I was not a good fit for them.
On their website there’s no information however about this.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Great site.
We’ve got an internet based/US incorporated online travel agency. Have been using PayPal invoicing since inception, and now w/ the elimination of their volume discount (2.2% + 0.30 per transaction) we are looking into alternatives.
Aside from the first $50K free (which is nice), I don’t see any other advantage to switching to Braintree. Am I missing something?
Other better alternatives?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Eliot,
Braintree’s advantage is the ease of which the gateway can be integrated with web apps. For someone that doesn’t have a web app, there’s really no benefit to going with Braintree over say Payline Data. You can probably negotiate lower rates with Payline whereas Braintree has some pretty high rates after that free $50K that you get. Payline is my choice for you.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thank you.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Just awful, but what can you expect from a paypal company. Their barely literate call center morons will take weeks and weeks to setup your account. Even though they claim you can signup in minutes and start processing transactions right away, if you do they will simply steal all that money from you in the case that they decide to arbitrarily decline your account application. Nevermind if you have already provided goods or services to the clients who’s transactions you processed, you will just be cheated out of this money.This is a truly awful company .
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
My experience with brain tree has been beyond poor, pretty much laughable. Way too much time wasted on set up and experienced many issues with their system during set up. I really wish I would have went with another processor.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Outstanding…we are launching another website and selected Braintree because the site will have International versions and we beleived it was the best to stretch across all the site…having said that, my German counterpart had a long list of issues with Braintree which made me wonder…Do the International versions differ from the US version? Could the German Braintree be that different than the US’s??ThanksDHN
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi DHN,
There are likely some differences between the experiences of German and US Braintree users. We’re interested in experiences from all countries, but most of the feedback we have is from US and Canadian users, and that feedback has been predominately positive. Electronic transactions are handled in slightly different ways across the globe, which can definitely impact the overall merchant experience.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Well on my way to sign up with Braintree. I have been on the fence for a while. My developer was talking about signing with Stripe. So I figured I better get some facts researched quick. Braintree is a clear winner in my mind.Great Review!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Love your reviews! We are a fashion company building our site through Wix and looking to select a suitable online merchant. SquareUp and Stripe were on our short-list of potentials until we came across your wonderful page. Thank God! Braintree now seems to be leading the pack on our list for good reason. Can you please help us out with some info.
How is the ease-of-use in terms of integrating Braintree to your website/shop? During checkout will the customer have to leave your site page? Lastly, would there be a monthly cost to have PayPal as an alternative payment option to Braintree (since they are the parent company)? Your advice will be invaluable. Keep up the amazing work! Cheers.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi,
I also would like to know if paypal would apply their charges if I signed up to braintree for online payments which currently are shown as free up to the first £30k. But then on reflection I also thought, Paypal may still want to charge their fees alongside and once I go over free £30k frees transaction limit would I get a double whammy of fees charged per transaction. Sometimes free is to good to be true so could you clarify this?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Chuck,
Great questions. Have you received an answer to your question? I’M currently in the same situation you were a year ago. I was leaning towards stripe but this review has me asking more questions.
Thanks Brian
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hello Tom – I was researching the best company to process credit payments. My only product is a book and would need a card reader for selling the book at conferences, etc. This will probably mean that the sell volume would be low and sporadic. Does it make any sense for me to sign up with Braintree? If not, can you provide a recommendation. Thank you.!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Cecilia,
We also have just a book to sell occasionally at conferences and also on a simple website. What solution did you end up choosing? Any recommendations?
Thanks.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Is Braintree good for high volume?
We do 6k-10k in monthly volume, but are looking to ramp up to 15k-25k.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Mark,
Braintree can work for high-volume, but it’s a better deal at low volumes.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Would braintree be a good deal for non-profit fundraising? Do they have special pricing for non-profits?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Joe,
Braintree doesn’t offer non-profit rates. Check out Dharma or Helcim to qualify for lower rates based on non-profit status.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thanks for the quick reply. I’m caught up between using a merchant account service or a fundraising service that would collect donor information to reach out to them in the future.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Joe,
If Dharma or Helcim doesn’t work out, try PayJunction. I don’t know if they offer non-profit rates, but they have a good customer management program built in. Dharma offers services tailored to non-profits though, so I really think they are your best bet.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Just to clarify, I just spoke to Braintree and they do offer non-profit rates. 2.2% + .30. You do have to ask for it as it is not marketed. The one catch is that you do not get the first $50,000 free. Hope this helps.
-Morgan
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Braintree is far and above my choice for ALL my clients. Easy to set-up – Sandbox for testing, LIVE Person to to talk with on integration and or security issues. Lowest Cost of ALL the other major players and the first 50K earned NO FEE.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Braintree stole my money. They said it was easy to set up a merchant account. They sure did set me up: so I took my first two big payments. Days later I check my account. Weeks later I checked my account. Today I checked my account. Still no money. Now they are effectively ignoring all queries I make to hunt down the missing money or give explanation as to why. I am now having to contact my clients (very embarrassing) to assist with chargebacks so they clients can keep their money rather than it end up in Braintree’s pockets. I have lost over five hundred pounds (seven fifty) dollars to Braintree. AVOID BRAINTREE LIKE THE PLAGUE.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi,
would you recommend strip or braintree for a company who starts accepting payments ?
Thanks a lot for your advice.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi,
Braintree is a great option. Very inexpensive and simple setup, low level of commitment. This is assuming you are an internet-based business. Otherwise, maybe consider Helcim.
Good luck,
Tom
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Is there a minimum transaction volume to use the service? I see that there are no fees (except charge backs) until you reach $50,000/year which leads me to believe they are trying to attract start-ups. (I will only have ~$500.00/month in subscription fees for my 3-6 month beta period.)
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Ben,
No minimum required for Braintree‘s current pricing model. It’s entirely pay-as-you-go, meaning that if you don’t processes any transactions you won’t be charged a dime. Even if you process over $50K annually, you won’t be charged any subscription fees. You might be refering to their current promotion, which allows you to process $50K with no fees whatsoever. This means that if you process $50K, you keep $50K. To quote Braintree’s site:
And there are no time limits on this offer. You will have to be located in the US to qualify for it though. So you could end up payig basicically nothing for a low-volume business over the first year.
Let me know if I can help you further!
-Tom
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Just FYI: The same promotion is currently available in the UK (the first £30,000).
So chances are that similar promotions are available in other countries where Braintree operates.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Great review! I am interested in starting an ecommerce business, but I am really confused about gateway providers, merchant accounts, and shopping carts. What is considered a good deal for a small ecommerce business? Is there a monthly service fee for the three accounts needed to operate an ecommerce business? Do you think shopify is a better option for me? I greatly appreciate your advice.Regards,Ramiro Aguirre
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Ramiro,
Thanks for checking us out! The answers to your questions depend on your specific needs, desires and processing volumes. If you want to build a good looking online store with as little effort and investment as possible, and get your payments account integrated as easily as possible, and you don’t need a lot of customization power, then using a service like Shopify will make the most sense for you. You’ll have to pay their monthly fee, but you’re paying for the convenience of using their tools to set up and maintain your online store. This comes with your gateway and merchant account included if you choose to use Shopify Payments. If not, they’ll charge you a transaction fee AND you’ll have to pay for the merchant account elsewhere, so it almost always makes more sense to use Shopify Payments if you use Shopify.
If you use a service like Braintree, then you don’t pay any fee for your merchant account or your gateway. You just pay the 2.9% + $0.30, and that covers everything. But you’ll have to get your shopping cart and webstore design elsewhere, like through a service such as LemonStand.
I know this is confusing. Let us know if we can help you further!
Good luck,
Tom
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Just wanted your advice for my business credit card needs..FYI I’m located in Canada ….I have a unique contract that will need a credit card terminal or swiper for only one customer exclusively also located in Canada but parent company is in US. This contract will pay approx 100 000$ per year but the terminal will only be used for this one customer. Monthly this would vary but obviously average over the $ 5000$ mark.
I initially thought that a phone app might be the easiest but I’m not sure after reading everything, I am so confused about what would be most cost effective, and holds on funds over the $5000 amount. Any info would help thanks!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Tamar,
You have a few options, each with varying costs and ease of use. The best solution will depend on exactly how you will be taking the payment. For most Canadian merchants, I suggest that they first give Helcim a look. Most of the time this the best, most reliable option. If you will be taking the card in person, then a card reader or terminal will help you to get the best rates (swiped transactions are cheaper than manually entered ones). If you’ll be taking payment over the phone (ie, without the cardholder present), then you’ll just need a virtual terminal to process cards from your computer. I wouldn’t suggest using any mobile/aggregating providers if you’ll be processing large transactions.
Since this will all come from a single client, the amount you pay for processing will have a lot to do with how that particular client chooses to pay. For instance, what type of card they use and what country their payment account exists in will have an effect on the amount you pay to process. But all of that aside, I believe that Helcim will be the best deal for you. They even have a reasonable terminal rental program that won’t rip you off. Just make sure to give them an accurate picture of how you will be processing, including a good estimate of the largest transaction you could need to process. This will help to prevent funding holds as much as possible. If you need to process a transaction larger than your approved high-ticket amount, you’ll have to call up the processor for approval or else your funds will almost definitely be held. Many merchants are not aware of this and it leads to a lot of headaches.
Good luck, and feel free to follow up if you need more help!
-Tom
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
While ive been using braintree for 5 months now they switched me to a second merchant so i am getting double charged. I signed up thinking Braintree was the merchant and the gateway. But now they are the gateway and Bank card USA is the merchant? I am getting doubled charged now. i dont like it one bit. I still like braintree because they do a good job but seems like im getting screwed both ways.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Daniel,
Braintree is a direct processor, so there is no reason Bankcard USA should be involved with your account in any way. It sounds to me like Bankcard USA set you up with a separate account. I would contact Braintree right away about this. Please come back and let me know how this plays out.
Good luck,
Tom
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I received quotes from 8 different processors and Braintree was the highest price of all of them. They also were unwilling to negotiate at all. Companies like Paymentech, Merchant e-Solutions, First Data and Blue Pay Go!, were all cheaper.
Of the 8 companies I compared, they had the highest per transaction cost ($.30) and the highest monthly minimum ($75). They had the 2nd highest setup fee ($99) and the highest monthly fee ($35).
I actually wanted to choose them over the others because they are so forward thinking about data portability. But, why would I pay more money to choose them? If your bottom line is important, you may want to shop around – you may be able to get a much better deal elsewhere.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
They do look very top notch, alas, as a Canadian business we can’t use them unless we create a legal U.S. presence. Hopefully they expand their reach …
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Here is a quick update on the earlier conversation, Braintree has recently expanded to Canada as well as Europe. Check out our payment APIs and apply for a Braintree merchant account. We can help you accept international credit card payments in more than 130 currencies, and settle in 13 major currencies, including GBP, AUD, and EUR. Disclaimer: I work at Braintree
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thanks Lisa. Braintree review updated coming soon. Take care!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I love your site and all the useful information, but Braintree is clearly out. You see, I’m a sketch artist and writer looking for a good merchant rep to handle credit card transactions by cell phone. What solid company would you recommend for a little guppy like me. ;>
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
T.Falcon,
I just sent you a private message. Let’s see if we can find you a good provider.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Wow. This company seems very forward thinking. Impressive! I LOVE the fact that they also offer data portability. Everyone reading reviews of merchant accounts should take a VERY SERIOUS look at data portability. A LOT of gateways (like Authorize.net *ahem*) will inadvertently LOCK YOU IN since you can’t get YOUR customers data out of the gateway once it’s in there. So if for any reason you ever wanted to move your merchant account elsewhere, you have to hope that your customers will re-enter any reoccurring subscription billing info! I got burned on this once and learned my lesson. Not enough people talk about this downside of gateways and data management. Remember merchants, these are YOUR customers and therefore you should consider it YOUR data. Don’t let someone keep it hostage from you!Their PCI compliance solution seems pretty clever too.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
$75 minimum, $35 monthly fee, $99 set up? You must be kidding!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Thanks for the comment Bob. I wasn’t going to let this one through because, I can’t really say it adds anything to the conversation per my policy, but it does raise some good questions…
Just by looking at those three incidental fees, do you feel that you’re able to accurately determine that Braintree is more expensive than any other providers? Wouldn’t you need to take other fees into consideration? Especially the discount rates? You’d probably actually have to have a full rate proposal from Braintree and the other provider in order to get a better idea of what the true cost of your merchant account would be…right?
Additionally, do you think price is the only thing a merchant should look at when shopping for a merchant account? Is it that much of a commodity that price becomes the only thing that matters?
I’m not trying to pick on you here Bob, but it’s difficult for me to add any validity to an argument that doesn’t present me with anything new or enlightening. I love being proven wrong, because that means I can get better at what I do, which in turn will better my reviews, but you gotta come with something better than “You must be kidding!” if you plan on being heard.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Just an FYI for everyone. The reason for the B- rating could very well be because they don’t pay the BBB. Good info. Thanks for the review!
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What a pleasant surprise. Thank you for the kind words.
Bryan Johnson
Braintree
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
No sweat Bryan. You guys deserve it. 🙂
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“Braintree Payment Solutions doesn’t have any complaints or negative reviews because they’re choosey with whom they do business with. By being selective, they can focus on a smaller number of big merchants, thus providing great customer service and support to them all.”I can clearly see that Braintree is the best in the business. But my small business doesn’t even earn enough revenue at this point to sign up with them. The little guy is stuck with PayPal etc, I suppose…
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I wouldn’t say that you’re stuck with Paypal. There are other third-party providers like Google Checkout or 2Checkout as well, but you are right, it’d be much better for you to start off working with one of them until you have enough sales volume to justify the expense that will come with a merchant account. See this article here.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.