Stax Review

What Is Stax?

Stax is a merchant services provider whose integrated payments platform includes merchant accounts, eCommerce, mobile processing, inventory management, advanced invoicing and billing, detailed reporting, and much more.

Stax’s pricing model makes it a solid value for merchants processing upwards of $15K-20K/month and is a strong value proposition for many eCommerce merchants, who often get charged a highly inflated rate by payment processors. However, many small businesses will find that Stax’s monthly fees are simply too high.

So, does Stax deserve to be counted among the best credit card processing providers? Read on to find out.

Products & Services

Stax supports just about any business type through a full package of in-house and third-party products. Stax’s membership-based pricing plans come with a full-service merchant account, including 24/7 customer support. Overall, there’s a lot to like here, leading to Stax’s high category score.

Let’s start by breaking down the company’s core services. We’ll then explore the Stax Pay integrated platform.

Fees & Rates

Stax now offers its core services in all-in-one packages. Merchants processing under $5 million annually will get a subscription plan with pricing based on their annual sales volume, while merchants processing over that amount will need to get a custom quote. However, the high monthly fees and the recent reduction in pricing transparency from Stax means that their score must take a hit in this category.

Of course, there are per-transaction fees as well. Unfortunately, Stax no longer publishes its per-transaction rates on its Pricing page and instead simply states that you’ll pay “0% Markup on direct-cost interchange” (of course, there is a markup; it just comes in the form of the monthly fee). However, do a Google search or two, and you’ll find pieces in Stax’s blog that still advertise the following rates:

• Swiped/Dipped/Tapped Transactions: $0.08 + interchange fee per transaction
• Keyed-In Transactions: $0.15 + interchange fee per transaction

Formerly, Stax advertised three subscription plans (Growth, Pro, and Ultimate), each with its own monthly fee and feature list. However, Stax now states that all Stax plans come with the same core features and that additional features, such as ACH processing and next-day funding, are available as optional add-ons.

Here’s what you’ll pay per month:

• Process under $250K/year, and you’ll pay $99/month
• Process $250K-500K/year, and you’ll pay $199/month
• Process over $500K/year, and you’ll need to negotiate a custom quote

Stax isn’t very cost-effective for small businesses that want an all-in-one payment platform. Without the large volume to deliver cost savings, the monthly fees add quite a bit to that overall markup. If you’re processing less than $15,000 per month, you’ll be better served by finding another platform that offers more affordable pricing for multiple payment channels.

While we’re fine with Stax offering services like ACH processing, its one-click shopping cart, and next-day funding on an a-la-carte basis, the company offers no pricing information regarding these add-ons, and we never like to see a provider going in the wrong direction when it comes to transparency. In particular, we wish that monthly pricing for Level 2 processing, which can lower your interchange rates for card-not-present transactions, were listed.

Monthly subscription fees typically cover just about everything beyond the payment processing, so you shouldn’t be paying:

• Batch fees
• Gateway fees
• A monthly minimum
• An early termination fee (ETF)
• A PCI compliance fee

However, recent Stax complaints posted by merchants indicate that some merchants are being changed some of these fees on top of their monthly subscriptions. If you sign up with Stax, confirm with the company exactly which ancillary fees you’ll be expected to pay.

Additionally, Stax offers a processing package tailored to SaaS software platforms called Stax Connect. Described by Stax as a “fully managed payments facilitation ecosystem for your platform,” Stax Connect has no publicly listed prices, so you’ll have to contact Stax for pricing details.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

Stax’s website is professional and easy to navigate. There’s a decent amount of useful information for prospective merchants and clear listings of the monthly fees you’ll pay. However, we wish the company would divulge pricing information regarding its optional add-ons, and we don’t like that Stax no longer publishes its per-transaction rates on its Pricing page and instead makes you hunt for this information. That’s why Stax doesn’t get excellent scores in this category.

Stax also has an active social media presence on Facebook, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. Finally, Stax offers some customer testimonials on its Customer Reviews page.

Stax relies on an in-house sales team and an online signup process to bring on new merchants. The online setup process is a good choice if you’re in a hurry to get your account activated ASAP. We recommend talking to a sales representative rather than signing up online if you doubt how well Stax will work for your business. We like that Stax has an in-house sales team because using third parties tends to present all sorts of troubles.

Contract Length & Early Termination Fee

Regarding contract transparency, Stax publishes its Terms and Conditions right on its website — something few providers will do for you.

All Stax accounts feature month-to-month billing with no early termination fee. You’ll need to provide thirty days’ notice when you close your account, but that’s it. This is exactly what we like to see, and it’s what you should be looking for in a payment processor. We encourage you to read your entire merchant agreement very thoroughly before signing up.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Stax’s extensive knowledgebase reduces the likelihood that you’ll need direct support from the company. We appreciate that there’s a functioning search bar.

If you need to reach out to a customer support representative, Stax offers free 24/7 technical support via an email ticketing system. You can also call Stax for direct support.

It’s common for merchant services providers to receive a lot of negative feedback about customer support from frustrated merchants. In past reviews, we found that Stax reviews posted by users were unusually positive about the quality of the customer service. We’re now seeing more complaints about Stax’s customer service than we had previously, but overall, the picture doesn’t look terrible here.

User Reviews

User reviews of Stax are mostly positive, but complaints have been getting more frequent lately. The company currently gets an average rating of 4.2 out of 5 at Trustpilot (955 reviews) and 3.6 out of 5 at Capterra (32 reviews). Over at the BBB, the company is accredited with an A+ rating but with an average customer rating of 1/5 (31 reviews). Of course, visitors to a company’s BBB page are likely to be there with complaints in mind.

Stax has seen 75 BBB complaints against it closed in the past three years and 25 complaints closed in the past year. For a processor of Stax’s size, this is roughly average, but not great. It represents a significant increase in complaint volume since the time of our last review update in 2022, when Stax had received 46 complaints in the preceding three years and 19 in the preceding 12 months. Stax does respond to each disgruntled merchant individually, however.

Final Verdict

Stax’s membership pricing model has the benefit of being easy for merchants to understand, and we like that the company now offers the same standard feature set to all new users, regardless of subscription level. However, we can’t help but notice that the company has grown less transparent about its pricing and services with each of the last few review updates we’ve done.

Additionally, the company’s user reviews have gotten less rosy over the last few years as well, with increasing reports of poor service, undisclosed fees, and inadequate integration support.

In terms of costs, Stax is not a great value for low-volume merchants, especially ones with small ticket values. Merchants processing less than $15,000 per month or so will save money overall by using a payment service provider (PSP) such as Square. However, merchants consistently processing above that amount will likely find that Stax’s pricing suits them.

All in all, the total value provided by Stax’s platform — including credit card terminal sales, centralized invoicing, data analytics, inventory management, and other features — makes the service compelling to larger businesses, especially considering the stability a full-service merchant account offers. However, when you look at the company’s overall level of transparency and its public reception among merchants, the trend lines are headed in the wrong direction.

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.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

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After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Stax for yourself.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Stax	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Stax for yourself.