Helcim Review: Does Helcim Credit Card Processing Offer The Best Of All Worlds?

• Credit Card Reader: Helcim’s primary credit card reader is its proprietary Helcim Card Reader. This small, multifunctional device can handle all of your in-person credit card processing needs. In addition to its support for magstripe, EMV, and NFC-based payment methods (including Apple Pay and Google Pay), it can sync up with your smartphone, tablet, or laptop/desktop computer. It’s compatible with most of the recent versions of iOS, iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS and can connect via a USB cable, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi. This interoperability allows it to function as a fully-featured point of sale (POS) system, countertop terminal, or mobile card reader. It can also work with a virtual terminal to accept card-present transactions. The Helcim Card Reader comes with a charging cable and stand. Rental options are also available in Canada. Our one caution is that the Helcim Card Reader is powered by a rechargeable battery only, so we recommend keeping a charger handy for all-day in-store use.

• Smart Credit Card Terminal: In Summer 2023, Helcim is launching its newest terminal, the Helcim Smart Terminal. This device features a color touchscreen and has the Helcim POS app pre-installed. It has a built-in receipt printer and can accept magstripe, EMV, or contactless payments. The Helcim Smart Terminal connects via Wi-Fi and can run off of a battery for fully mobile use. While it’s very similar to the Clover Go in terms of form factor and capabilities, there are no monthly subscription fees to pay.

• Point Of Sale (POS) System: Rather than selling you a clunky, full-sized point-of-sale (POS) system, Helcim lets you install its Helcim POS software on just about any device you’d like to use. Paired with the Helcim Card Reader for accepting card-present transactions, your business can enjoy full POS functionality without the expensive hardware and costly software subscription fees that come with most traditional POS systems. Software features include the following capabilities:
  • Product/service catalog
  • Accessing invoices
  • Inventory tracking
  • Built-in credit and debit card payments
  • Unlimited invoice creation
  • Custom fields, including drop-down menus
  • Discount codes
  • Automatic tax calculations
  • Automatic email reminders for invoices due
  • Virtual terminal for card-not-present sales

Of course, you’ll need to provide the hardware for this setup to work. You may or may not also need to invest in the optional cash drawer or barcode scanner.

• Mobile Payments: The Helcim Card Reader can also provide full mPOS capabilities. Simply install the Helcim Payments app on your iOS or Android device, sync it with the reader, and you’re ready to start taking payments. The Helcim Smart Terminal will provide similar functionality in a dedicated device when it becomes available.

• Online Store: Helcim offers a fully hosted online shop with customizable templates that you can adjust to fit your brand (e.g., brand colors and logo). You won’t pay extra for web hosting with this service, and you can add your existing inventory to your shop and any other pages to your site that you want (such as a blog). Additionally, you can add a shopping cart with discount codes, tax calculations, and shipping integrations — and the payment flow is built right in. Folks with existing websites can still use these features, but Helcim also offers advanced DNS services if you have more custom needs.
• Hosted Payment Pages: Helcim’s hosted payment page option lets you take payments on an existing site with no programming required. Helcim’s “payment page wizard” enables you to customize the template to add the fields you need, including recurring payments, invoice payments, customer registration, and shopping cart.
• Buy-Now Button: Whether you have a site or not, you can utilize a buy-now button anywhere on the web, including your website, blog, or email, through the hosted payment page feature.
• Online Food Ordering: With this feature, you can opt to have Helcim host your site or embed your menu and order form on your existing website. You’ll get the shopping cart, discount code feature, tax calculations, and tip recommendations. Like the online store, Food Ordering is customizable with branding colors and your logo.
• Helcim API: You’ll have access to developer docs so that you can integrate payments and have customizable solutions for whatever you need, including your website, shopping cart, billing system, and application. You can take credit cards, debit cards, other tender transactions, batches, and settlements and have a fully secure card vault to store info and charge your customers. You can use it with the features included in your Helcim account or like a traditional payment gateway API. In all, you’ll have over 80 different API actions at your disposal.
• Helcim JavaScript: Helcim.js uses (CORS) AJAX (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) to tokenize and process credit cards or bank account information. Used with Helcim API, you can create a fully customizable web presence to take payments securely.
• Virtual Terminal: All Helcim Commerce plans include an integrated virtual terminal. This web-based application allows you to enter credit card transactions manually from any computer and is designed primarily for mail-order or telephone-order businesses. It also works well as a backup solution if your credit card terminal isn’t working correctly. Note that keyed-in payments cost you more to process, so this should only be used if it makes sense to do so as a card-not-present payment option.

• Fast & Easy Setup: You can sign up for an online account with Helcim in as little as five minutes. Underwriting to approve and activate your merchant account takes a little longer but usually occurs within 24 hours. While eCommerce businesses can begin accepting payments as soon as their account is approved, retail merchants will have to wait for their Helcim Card Reader to be delivered before getting started.
• Product & Inventory Manager: This product is built into the Helcim Online Store and automatically syncs sales data across your sales channels. Reporting features are included and can be customized to provide the information you need to run your business.

Helcim’s primary hardware offering is the Helcim Card Reader, which you can use as a countertop or mobile device. The Helcim Card Reader can also be used with a tablet, laptop, or desktop device to create a full-featured POS system. Helcim currently advertises the following costs for its equipment:

• Helcim Card Reader: $109 per unit (includes free countertop stand)
• Helcim Smart Terminal: $349 per unit (when available)

The Helcim Card Reader is also compatible with the OtterBox uniVERSE Case System for tablets and phones (sold separately through OtterBox).

Unlike most traditional providers, Helcim keeps your additional fees to a bare minimum. It’s eliminated most of the extraneous fees that other providers love to tack on to your bill, including the following:

• No account setup or application fees
• No monthly account fees
• No PCI compliance fees
• No statement fees
• No monthly minimums
• No early termination fees

Other incidental Helcim fees, some of which you may never encounter, are fully disclosed in your merchant agreement and on the company’s website. For example, if you incur a chargeback, you can expect to pay $0 to $15, depending on the outcome.

Helcim is one of the few providers we’ve found that will refund your chargeback fee if you prevail in the investigation. As a merchant, it’s a good idea to understand how to prevent a chargeback in the first place. For some helpful information, check out our post on how to keep your processor from holding your funds.

While Helcim is a very transparent company, we always recommend that merchants read and understand their merchant services agreement to prevent misunderstandings and frustration. Your agreement discloses all fees, including ancillary charges that may come up under certain circumstances (e.g., chargeback fees).

Helcim has been accredited by the BBB since 2014 and currently has an A+ rating. The company has received only two complaints within the past three years, with only one complaint being filed within the past twelve months.

Feedback from merchants on other review sites has likewise been overwhelmingly positive. Here’s a summary of what we found for Helcim merchant services reviews:

• Trustpilot: 4.2/5 stars (251 reviews)
• G2: 4.2/5 stars (15 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/5 stars (22 reviews)

Overall, we didn’t see any issues that came up repeatedly enough to indicate a problem. As to the few merchants who had a less-than-perfect experience, Helcim responded to every complaint and offered to resolve the issue.

We did see a few complaints from merchants who either weren’t approved for an account or had difficulties with the “fast & easy” account setup process. As we’ve noted, Helcim does not accept high-risk merchants. However, even low-risk merchants have to go through an underwriting process that is controlled by the company’s back-end processor (in this case, Elavon). Issues such as a low personal credit score on the part of the business owner can create unexpected problems in getting an account approved, but this process isn’t entirely under Helcim’s control.

We also saw some complaints that the Helcim Card Reader wasn’t easy to use. However, Helcim provides full technical support and training for this proprietary product, so merchants should be able to resolve any problems relatively quickly.

As most Helcim reviews indicate, users are generally quite happy with the level of service they’ve received. Business owners praise the company’s customer service and transparent rates across the board. Helcim also includes fully attributed testimonials on its website, which is somewhat rare and a great indication of its trustworthiness.

As noted above, feedback on Helcim from popular consumer review sites is mostly positive, with the majority of users giving the company a 5-star rating.