Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS) Review

Pros

• Large, direct processor
• Full line of products and services

Cons

• Only offers expensive tiered processing rate plans
• Standard long-term contract with an automatic renewal clause
• High early termination fee ($595)
• Heavily reliant on independent sales agents

What Is Electronic Merchant Systems?

Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS) is a merchant services provider company that serves over 35,000 merchants. The company is a direct processor, meaning that it processes all of its transactions in-house rather than partnering with another organization to handle this function. Although EMS offers a complete range of merchant services for retail and eCommerce businesses, it falls short in many critical areas, including pricing, contract terms, and customer service.

EMS is also one of a dwindling number of providers that aggressively pushes overpriced credit card terminal leases onto unsuspecting new business owners. Naturally, it has received a high number of complaints from merchants on these issues.

With a below-average overall score, we cannot recommend EMS to small businesses.

If you’re looking for a good deal from a company that excels where EMS does not check out our article on the best credit card payment processing companies for small businesses.

 Products & Services

As you would expect from a large provider, Electronic Merchant Systems advertises a host of products and features in addition to providing you with basic credit card processing services. Among its many offerings are the following:

While EMS offers a full range of services, its website provides very little detailed information about them and no information whatsoever about pricing. You’ll have to talk to a sales agent to find out enough about the features that interest you if you want to make an informed decision on adding them to your account.

Fees & Rates

Electronic Merchant Systems does not disclose any fee or rate information on its website. That’s usually a bad sign, but it’s certainly not alone in the credit card processing industry for following this practice. The good news is that rates are very much negotiable, and, depending on the nature of your business and your average monthly sales volume, you might be able to haggle your way into a fairly good deal. The bad news is that it apparently only offers a tiered pricing model, which is usually more expensive than the preferred interchange-plus pricing model which is more transparent.

You’ll also want to watch out for the numerous fees that EMS charges. In addition to the previously mentioned $595 early termination fee, you can also expect to pay the following:

• $15-$30 per month account fee
• $75 semi-annual technology upgrade and update fee
• $15 per month data breach insurance premium
• $25 per month monthly minimum
• $25 per occurrence chargeback fee
• $50 per month PCI noncompliance fee

Expect to pay even more — possibly a lot more — if you lease your processing hardware through EMS or sign up for any of the company’s “extra” services. Overall, Electronic Merchant Systems will charge you fees that are notably higher than the industry average — if you let it. You can avoid some of these fees, primarily by ensuring that your business is PCI compliant and buying your terminals instead of leasing them. Other fees, such as the early termination fee, can be waived if you negotiate firmly. Nonetheless, some of these fees, such as the monthly account access fee and the fee for chargebacks, are unavoidable. The bottom line here is that if you accept the sales agent’s initial offer without reading the fine print on your contract and negotiating aggressively (read our guide on how to negotiate the perfect deal), you’ll almost certainly end up being charged a lot of money for nothing.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

EMS doesn’t offer very much in the way of transparency or ethical sales practices. The first strike against it is its use of independent, third-party sales agents. This practice has consistently led to a poorly-trained and poorly-supervised sales force throughout the industry. As a merchant, this means that you are likely to find yourself negotiating with an agent who doesn’t have a full understanding of the standard EMS contract provisions. They are also highly motivated to conveniently “forget” to mention some of the more onerous fees and penalties you might be liable for in their rush to close a sale, making it essential that you read your entire contract thoroughly before agreeing to open an account.

The EMS website, while visually appealing and easy to navigate, offers very little in the way of concrete product information, and no pricing disclosures whatsoever. It’s also liberally scattered with ‘Request A Consultation’ buttons, which take you to a contact form. While the labeling is straightforward, we suggest that you only submit one of these forms if you’re seriously considering signing up with the company and want to receive a pricing quote.

EMS has a robust presence on social media, with accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. These accounts are updated regularly and feature useful educational articles and a handful of testimonials from users. The company particularly emphasizes its partnership with the Cleveland Browns.

Contract Length & Early Termination Fee

Electronic Merchant Systems currently offers a standard contract that runs for 18 months, with an automatic renewal clause that renews for another 18 months. There’s also an early termination fee (ETF) of $595 that you’ll have to pay if you close your account while you’re still locked in your contract. While the standard contract form does disclose these terms, there’s no mention of them on the EMS website, and your sales agent is unlikely to divulge them unless you specifically ask about them. Insist on waiving the ETF before you sign your contract, and be aware that EMS probably won’t notify you when your contract auto-renews. Canceling also requires 90 days’ written notice, so you’ll want to plan ahead if you decide to stop using EMS.

$595 is a lot to pay for an ETF, and there’s proration based on how many months are left in your contract. There’s also no accounting for your sales volume. While it’s arguably better than getting hit with liquidated damages (which are the most expensive termination fee ever) in addition to the ETF, the fact remains that EMS will charge you a fee that is significantly higher than the industry average if you try to break your contract and switch to a different provider. In fact, the “industry average” is increasingly trending toward not charging an ETF at all but instead allowing month-to-month contracts that can be easily ended by either party.

Customer Service & Technical Support

EMS provides customer service and support primarily through telephone and email. These options are advertised as being available 24/7, 365 days a year. However, there is also a high frequency of complaints about poor or unavailable customer service from merchants in our Comments section and across the internet. Calling during regular business hours is probably your best bet if you want to improve your chances of reaching someone who can help you. If you’re located in a city with an EMS branch office, you might also get better service by contacting them, rather than going through the 1-800 number provided on the EMS website.

Self-help options are, unfortunately, minimal. If you have a merchant account with EMS, you can log into the EMSData website to access account maintenance options and reporting data. Additionally, there are a few educational videos relating to some of its services on the EMS YouTube channel. Beyond that, EMS doesn’t offer any sort of FAQ or knowledgebase on its website that might help you solve a problem on your own.

Electronic Merchant Services Reviews, Complaints & Testimonials

Feedback from merchants who are EMS customers presents a confusing picture. On the one hand, the company has over one thousand positive reviews on Google, a fair number of which appear to be genuine. On the other hand, if you look on the BBB website, you’ll find dozens of merchants reporting serious problems with the service they received from EMS. Below, we’ll attempt to sort out what this all means.

Final Verdict On Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS)

According to the criteria we use to evaluate and rate payment processors, Overall, Electronic Merchant Systems earns a below-average score. While EMS offers a commendable range of products and services, its lengthy contracts, excessive fees, and overall lack of transparency bring the score down and make it hard to recommend the company to most merchants. If you own/operate a larger, well-established business that has plenty of experience in negotiating toe-to-toe with processing companies, and you’re looking for a one-stop solution to your needs, EMS might be a good fit. For most other merchants, particularly small businesses, you’re almost certainly better off looking elsewhere. Small business owners looking to save money on credit card processing (and avoid getting ripped off) should check out our article on the cheapest credit card processing companies.

Credit Card Processor Review Methodology

We evaluate and test each payment processor that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on certain key characteristics in order to generate our granular ratings for merchant accounts and credit card processors.

For payment processing reviews, we use a 24-point rubric to evaluate the provider. First, we look at pricing structure – interchange plus, subscription-based, tiered, or hybrid – giving the most points to providers that provide fair, transparent pricing and docking those that rely on tiered models. Then we examine rates, the presence and transparency of early termination fees, and any additional fees.

We also look at contract length and fairness and test out sales staff and customer service channels ourselves to ensure that the company uses reputable, above-the-board sales techniques. Finally, we take the company’s online reputation into account, reading customer reviews and comments.

Read more about how we rate payment processors.

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