PayAnywhere Review
- Date Established
- 2010
- Location
- Troy, MI
Pros
- Predictable flat-rate pricing
- Inexpensive chip card hardware
- Numerous features
- Advanced inventory management
- Free sub-user accounts
Cons
- Sudden account terminations
- Funding holds common
- Poor customer support
- Buggy app
- Limited device compatibility
Overview
PayAnywhere is facing a tough market, as mobile processing is getting awfully competitive these days. If a company doesn’t offer a truly unique product or service, chances are it’s just not going to cut it. More and more, merchants are looking for integrated solutions — ones that can harness the best of all the options and provide a seamless experience. Your customer service needs to be spot on too.
PayAnywhere was established in 2010 by credit card processing company North American Bancard. In the beginning, PA just felt like a knockoff of Square but without the refined and sleek appeal. PayAnywhere has historically suffered from the same shortcomings as Square, namely lackluster customer support and poor account stability, with long-term holds happening quite often.
Back in January 2017, the company announced a “new” PayAnywhere, with a new focus on “the commerce that connects us.” It came with a brand new version of the app, with new features and a snazzy looking new logo. It’s more than just a token baby step forward, but is it enough to keep PA competitive?
PayAnywhere is trying to keep up. Really, it is. While I almost want to say it’s doing an adequate job in that department, there are some noteworthy issues we’re not happy about. Gimmicky sales offers, undisclosed fees, a lack of transparency, and poor customer service are easy ways to a poor rating, and PayAnywhere continues to flirt with all of these.
I’m also not at all impressed by PayAnywhere’s communication skills as far as dealing with merchants is concerned (read the full review for more info). It’s pretty clear that when people have problems with the service, they’re likely going to have trouble getting a resolution. I find the contract to be intentionally complicated and convoluted, which stands in contrast to the simplicity of most other pay-as-you-go processors. Not only that, but the pricing scheme is full of caveats.
Some merchants may find a good deal with this service, but many others will not. My advice to you is to be careful and make sure that this service will work for your processing needs, especially if you are interested in the so-called “free” tablet. Make sure you read and understand every bit of your contract.
PayAnywhere continues to hold steady at 3.5 stars out of 5 stars, exactly where it was last time we reviewed the service. The features are right; there’s no question there. But the reliability of the service is doubtful. Customer support appears to be equally dubious. And if you’re interested in that storefront plan, I promise you can find a better deal elsewhere. It might not be a free tablet, but it won’t include an $80 monthly penalty if you fall below the minimum.
I really do think PayAnywhere is capable of redemption. I dare even say it’s trying for redemption. Overall complaint volume is down, but I still see the same complaints, and they’re troubling to me. Maybe next time we take a look at PayAnywhere it will have fixed some of the issues, and it might merit a bump in ratings.
Check out our full PayAnywhere review below for a complete analysis! Or see how PayAnywhere stacks up against its competitors with our mobile payments comparison chart. Good luck!
Table of Contents
Products & Services
PayAnywhere offers two plans: Storefront and Mobile. But apart from pricing and hardware, there appears to be no difference as far as features or capabilities.
- Storefront: If you’re looking for a low-budget countertop setup, Storefront is PayAnywhere’s tablet-based POS. For a $12.95 monthly fee, you get a discount over standard Mobile plan rates. You also get an EMV-enabled tablet stand and a free Android tablet. The tablet is technically a “rental,” so you’re responsible for any damages, but otherwise there’s no charge. However, there’s a $5,000 monthly minimum for the Storefront plan, and the fee if you don’t meet the minimum is pretty steep — $79 each month.
- Mobile: If you don’t need a countertop register system, or your monthly volume is below $5,000, you can skip the Storefront option use PayAnywhere on your phone or tablet instead. Note that the terms and pricing are different with the mobile option. For one, there’s no monthly volume requirement, and you pay rates more on par with other mobile services.
We’ll get into pricing and hardware in a moment, but I want to call out two features of PayAnywhere that aren’t specifically related to the app:
- Next-day funding: In theory, you should have access to your funds within 24 hours, but I’ve seen reports of deposit delays. Combined with the holds issue, take this with a grain of salt.
- In-app and online reporting: This allows you to track your sales and learn more about the spending habits of your customers. With the branding refresh, PayAnywhere has upped its game and expanded its reporting capabilities. I am not super wowed by the in-app reporting functions, but this is what dashboards are for, right?
PayAnywhere App Features
- Accept credit and cash transactions
- Split tender
- Item library
- Custom discounts, tips
- Disable signature for transactions less than $25
- Customer database
- Email and print receipts
- Unlimited sub-users
- Include tax by location: I honestly wish more apps would include this feature, but I don’t have a good frame of reference for how reliable it is. Still, looking up tax rates manually can be a pain, as is remembering to update them as you move around.
- QuickBooks Online integration: I’m surprised to see this, but also glad about it. Easy bookkeeping is a perk.
- Pre-Auth: This isn’t something I see often. PayPal offers it, as does Spark Pay. With a pre-auth (or pre-authorization), you can hold funds on a customer’s card, but not charge them until later. This is good for appointment booking as well as an inn or bed and breakfast. PayAnywhere’s pre-auth lasts for seven days.
Something else worth noting in PayAnywhere is its Test Drive mode. You don’t need to create an account to explore the app and see how it works. When you download it onto your phone or tablet and open up the app, you’ll see the welcome screen. Look near the bottom to find the “Test Drive” button.
Once you enter this demo mode, you can explore the app as if you had an account (minus actually processing payments). This is a rarely seen feature, and I like it. (I’m a reviewer. I have a lot of accounts to keep track of, OK?) However, Square, SumUp, PayPal Here and others often allow you to signup with no commitment so you can essentially test those apps for free too.
What’s New in PayAnywhere
Remember we said that PayAnywhere did a branding refresh that includes a brand new app. I’m honestly impressed with the new features. It looks like PayAnywhere is gunning for Square with some of these features.
- Multiple roles for sub-users: PayAnywhere doesn’t just allow sub-user accounts. Now you can designate people as a manager, admin, or even reporter if you just need someone to crunch the data for you.
- Item scanning: PA’s new scanning feature allows you to add items to the customer’s cart, items to the item library, and even barcodes to existing items. What impresses me most here is that you can get a Bluetooth scanner or use your phone/tablet’s camera.
- Bulk import/export: Add products to your library all at once instead of one by one. This is a useful feature considering the other addition to PayAnywhere: item inventory counts.
- Inventory counts: Now you can keep track of how many of each item you have in stock, as PayAnywhere will deduct every sale from inventory automatically. The inventory system doesn’t appear to be super complex, but the count option is more than many other providers offer.
- Add social media accounts to receipts: Connect Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Yelp to PayAnywhere.
- Customer feedback: In addition to the customer database PayAnywhere offers, the newly redesigned receipts prompt customers to rate their visit.
- BCCs on email receipts: You have the option to enable BCC emails to yourself (or a designated email address) on all receipts.
I like these features. I really do. I dare even say that strictly in terms of features, PayAnywhere is in the upper echelons of mPOS systems. It’s not going to unseat Square just yet (or ever, given how quickly Square rolls out new features). However, you won’t find many systems more advanced than this.
PayAnywhere Hardware & Compatible Devices
PayAnywhere doesn’t have a BYOD (bring your own device) option for Storefront. You get their tablet (an Android device) plus the stand, and that’s that. The tablet stand has a built-in reader that supports magstripe and EMV, but not contactless payments. However, it looks like you can add a secondary reader, a device called the WisePad2, which connects via Bluetooth and supports swipe, EMV, and NFC/contactless payments. No word on what it costs, though I’d expect upwards of $100. It is not compatible with the mobile plan.
On the mobile side of things, I’m not fond of how small PayAnywhere’s list of supported devices is. It’s clear PA favors Apple. On the Android side of things, your options are pretty much a Samsung Galaxy or another flagship model. Only a couple of Android tablets are compatible beyond PayAnywhere’s custom build, which is a little disappointing.
I also don’t like that both of the mobile readers PayAnywhere offers connect via the headphone jack.There’s a free two-in-one EMV reader when you sign up, which is a nice touch. No one else is offering a free EMV reader at this point. There’s also a three-in-one reader with contactless support. It’s only $40, which is the lowest cost I’ve seen for an NFC-capable reader. However, I think Bluetooth is the way of the future, especially for all-in-one devices. Neither of PayAnywhere’s readers has that technology. So while the price is right, I think the hardware designs could be a little better.
As far as compatible equipment goes, PA only officially supports Star Bluetooth receipt printers. However, many AirPrint-enabled receipt printers will work with iOS devices. Android users may have success with Cloud Print receipt printers. Just don’t expect any tech support from PA. The knowledgebase doesn’t make this information clear, either. I had to contact customer support to clarify.
You can rent a receipt printer and cash drawer for $13.95/month or just a Bluetooth printer for $8.95/month. Not a bad solution for the short term, but long-term you’ll probably pay more than you have to. Buying is going to be less expensive after a year or two.
PayAnywhere says on the website a “select” number of cash drawers work with the setup, but in typical fashion, doesn’t tell you which ones! The customer support rep told me that it’s any cash drawer that supports a data cable connection, though.
Fees & Rates
PayAnywhere offers merchants a choice of two service plans: the Storefront plan, which gives you a register-like setup and lower rates as a trade-off for paying a monthly fee, and the Mobile plan, which gives you just the reader.
Storefront Plan: $5,000+ per month (monthly fee, includes tablet and stand rental)
- Monthly fee: $12.95
- Swiped: 1.69%
- Business/Rewards: 2.69%
- Keyed: 3.69% + $0.19
Then, if you don’t read the fine print, you might miss this fee:
- Minimum Volume Fee: $79/month
This is a substantial penalty. If you don’t process at least $5,000 in card transactions every month, you will be charged this fee on top of your normal fees. (At 1.69% per swipe, it’s more than $4,500 in total transactions.)
It looks like PayAnywhere has gotten better about disclosing it at least. Still, I find this frustrating when you look at Spark Pay or Intuit GoPayment, both of which offer free and paid plans but don’t assess a monthly minimum for them.
And of course, if you opt for the Storefront plan and want that register setup, you’re still going to have to buy the cash drawer and receipt printer.
Mobile Plan (pay-as-you-go, includes card reader)
- Swiped: 2.69%
- Keyed: 3.49% + $0.19
This is not an awful plan for low-volume merchants. Pricing is on par with Square (2.75%) and PayPal Here (2.7%), and the costs for keyed transactions is marginally lower than either. The feature set is all around solid.
You’ll also see that PayAnywhere promises “no setup, monthly or hidden fees” for its mobile plan. However, I’m a little bit wary of this given PayAnywhere’s history and the way it handles contract information on its site. (We’ll get to that in the Sales and Advertising Transparency section.)
It’s worth mentioning that PayAnywhere does offer customized rates for high-volume businesses. You’ll have to negotiate to get those rates, as they seem to be subjective based on your total volume.
Other Fees
- Chargeback fee: $25 every time a customer charges back a transaction.
- Inactivity fee: This has been around since December 2015, and yet I’m still getting reports from surprised merchants. If you don’t process payments with your PayAnywhere Mobile account for more than a year, you’ll be charged $3.99 monthly until you process a payment. This has a lot of people upset because, well, many of them randomly had money taken from their accounts by PayAnywhere when they haven’t used the service in years, and some of them only used it once or twice. PayAnywhere claims it sent notices out, but a lot of customers (or former customers) seem to have been unaware of the development. Frankly, it feels like a money grab to me, or an attempt to get rid of inactive merchants without being the one to close their accounts.
Sales & Advertising Transparency
I’ve always been a bit wary of PayAnywhere because the company has previously advertised big bonuses for third-party sales reps who sign merchants up for the Storefront plan. That language is gone from the site in question, but it appears the relationship between PA and the sales organization Global is still in place. That continues to make me cautious. Third-party sales reps tend to over-promise and under-deliver, so merchants end up with the short end of the stick.
As far as sales gimmicks go, when you buy the 3-in-1 reader, PayAnywhere promises it will let you process your first $5,000 in contactless transactions completely free. Here’s the exact wording:
Get $5,000 Free in Apple Pay™ and other contactless transactions. A $135 value!
Note the lack of asterisk. Note the lack of fine print. I’m very suspicious of this because the previous sales gimmick was only available to brand-new merchants who bought the reader from the Apple store. AND the offer only applied to Apple Pay transactions within the first six months. The takeaway? There’s always fine print. Here, I am just not sure what it is. Always remember: Nothing is free when it comes to payment processing.
PayAnywhere does have a blog, and it is fairly active. There’s an interesting mix of content, and it’s pretty decent quality. I like that its content isn’t focused exclusively on why you should sign up with PayAnywhere. It’s more focused on how to help your business grow in many different areas.
There’s also a Facebook page and a Twitter account (@PayAnywhere), but neither is particularly engaging. The profiles are definitely active, but fans are barely interacting with either account. There’s no Twitter support channel, either. I find this a bit odd, but then again PayAnywhere isn’t nearly the size of, say, Square. Plus, PayAnywhere offers alternative ways to get in touch.
There’s also a YouTube channel with some videos, but posting is sporadic at best. However, there are a couple of videos showcasing the new features, which is nice.
Apart from my general concern about their sales reps, my other issue is with PayAnywhere and their contract. If you click on the “Legal” link in the footer, you’ll be taken to a copy of their agreement. And if you look closely, you’ll see a secondary “Merchant Processing Agreement” to supplement it. I assume that one is for the Storefront plan and the merchant processing agreement is for the Mobile plan. But, if you dig, you’ll find a third user agreement in the FAQ. The first two run counter to the terms that PA offers, including references to a 3-year agreement, early termination fee, and other costs. The third doesn’t mention them at all.
The agreements on the Legal page could be out of date (in which case: REALLY?), or it could just be that PayAnywhere is trying to confuse and mislead you. For most mPOS apps and mobile processors, the agreements are LOT easier to navigate than this.
My advice to you is this: READ YOUR CONTRACT. Yes, that’s in all caps this time. We can’t reliably tell you what’s true in this circumstance, and plenty of merchants feel they’ve been scammed by PA. So read every bit of the contract. Make a note of every fee. Ask questions if you don’t understand something. If they can’t explain it, walk away. If someone promises to waive a fee, get it in writing. We have some complaints about major billing issues and fees, and verbal agreements count for nothing in this business. It’s so important that know what you are signing.
Customer Service & Technical Support
PayAnywhere has eliminated its 24/7 phone support, now operating the line Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET. However, judging from the negative reviews, the quality of that support is debatable. If you hate the phone but need to get ahold of someone right away, try the live chat feature.
In addition to phone and chat support, PayAnywhere also offers:
- Email support: If you’re not having any luck via phone or live chat, try emailing the company.
- Knowledgebase: There’s a help center on the PayAnywhere website that you can also access through the mobile app. It’s nowhere near as in-depth as the knowledgebase offered by Square and many others I’ve seen, but it is usable. I found a couple of contradictions, and there’s no information about EMV or some of the other topics I wanted to know about, but it did walk me through the basics.
- YouTube videos: The PA YouTube page has a bunch of YouTube tutorials that can come in handy if you need a visual walkthrough, but don’t expect frequent updates.
Negative Reviews & Complaints
PayAnywhere has a separate BBB profile from North American Bancard, its parent company. PA has an A+ rating with 146 complaints (down just slightly from 160) in the past three years. Of them, 32 occurred in the last year (down from 50). The complaint volume is down overall, and down in the past 12 months too. Unfortunately, no details are available for any of these complaints. That’s problematic because only a small portion of these complaints have actually been resolved — 17, in fact. For the rest, either PA was unable to resolve the issue, or the customer never gave an indication they were happy with the agreement. Given the chatter from other sources, I’m more inclined to think that the issue was unresolved. I’m glad to see the volume dropping, but there’s another aspect of complaints to consider: content.
I read quite a few complaints about PayAnywhere over the course of this review. That includes pulling data from several sources, including iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon reviews, and other places where user reviews have been collected. I even looked at the BBB consumer reviews. Overall, I see the same sort of complaints that I’ve seen previously about PayAnywhere:
- Withheld funds, freezing of accounts, and termination of accounts: PA seems to be pretty trigger-happy when it comes to suspicion of fraud, which is very common for this type of processor. That said, I have noticed more complaints about sudden holds and freezes — and even 100% reserve funds — than I have about account terminations. That stands in contrast to other mPOS options like Square, which will often just close your account instead.
- Delayed fund transfers: There were a bunch of complaints from unhappy business owners claiming that their funds took too long to reach their bank accounts (usually as a result of a sudden hold). This is something to be wary of, especially if you think that your business falls into the high-risk category. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your e-cigarettes business won’t have any problems with using PayAnywhere. It will, and so will any other sort of high-risk business.
This is what PayAnywhere has to say in the Agreement:
Suspension/Reserve/Recovery/Pooling of Funds: PA may temporarily suspend or delay payments to you or withhold or reserve your funds in order to secure your performance of your obligations to PA. This action may arise for any reason, including the occurrence or suspected occurrence of Transaction chargebacks or refunds, for which you are responsible. A chargeback will occur if the Transaction (a) is disputed, (b) is reversed for any reason, (c) was not authorized or PA has any reason to believe that the Transaction was not authorized, or (d) is allegedly unlawful, suspicious, or in violation of this Agreement. The amounts suspended, delayed or reserved shall be initially determined, and may be increased or decreased, in PA’s reasonable discretion as necessary to cover potential financial exposure on the part of PA. You grant PA a security interest in and lien on any and all funds held in any such reserve, and also authorize PA to make any withdrawals or debits from such reserve, without prior notice to you, to collect amounts that you owe PA. This security interest survives for as long as PA holds your funds in reserve.
- Poor customer service: Another common complaint was in regards to PayAnywhere’s customer service. More specifically, the issue is phone support. There were just too many complaints for me to ignore this one. Lack of callbacks, lack of reps who can solve the issue, reps putting customers on hold and going to lunch, and no one knowing who to pass off issues to are some of the complaints I’ve heard.
Less-frequent complaints include:
- Hidden fees: If you read the “Fees and Rates” section above, you’ll know why there were a few complaints about this. Even two years after implementing an inactivity fee, people who signed up with the company are still just now discovering the charges, and have no trace of the email supposedly alerting them to the issue.
- Unclear, subjective limits on processing: PayAnywhere at least acknowledges that it puts limits on what you can process per transaction and per month. Sometimes its staff will tell you what those limits are. Other times, it appears that the rep who sets up the account will promise merchants whatever limits they need. PayAnywhere disagrees and sets them much lower. (This is a common problem when you have an independent sales force.) That can be a problem that ultimately leads to long holds or worse, account terminations. I strongly recommend you get everything in writing. The good news is you can appeal the decision and request an increased limit… but it’s not guaranteed.
- Charges on transactions never completed: This also doesn’t come up as frequently as mentions of poor customer service, but enough to merit mentioning. Sometimes when funds get stuck in a hold and PA won’t release them, it’ll still charge merchants for those fees. Sometimes they’ll still charge you to refund customers after a hold is placed, even though you’ve never seen any of that money. I really, really don’t like this, and for obvious reasons, neither do merchants.
- Owed fees after closing accounts: This is a new complaint and one that is mind-boggling to me because PayAnywhere is essentially a month-to-month processor. It deducts its processing fees before sending funds to your account. Yet I am seeing complaints of PayAnywhere claiming merchants owe them hundreds to over a thousand dollars after closing their accounts.
- Glitches: There isn’t anything specific that I can point to here because the glitches are so varied. Merchants seem to feel that the card readers don’t work well, the app doesn’t sync well, or transactions will be processed multiple times.
Like I said, content matters as much as the number of complaints and the content here is worrisome. I don’t expect any processor to be perfect, but the quality of a service is important. This kind of stuff tends to be more of a red flag than general complaints that can’t be replicated or just a general feeling of “meh.”
Merchants seem to either love or hate PayAnywhere. I don’t see many in-between reviews. It seems like when it works well, it works well. When it doesn’t, it’s a disaster for merchants. Still, I’m curious to see how the content of complaints changes in the future. It could be a sign that PayAnywhere is improving.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
Here are the most common positive reviews that I read about PayAnywhere:
- Easy to use: There were plenty of comments about this one. The app has a 3.8-star rating in Google Play (more than 3,300 reviews) and a 3.5-star rating for the current version in iTunes (7 reviews; 4 stars with over 3,100 reviews for all versions).
- Nice features: A lot of people like the inventory itemization feature. I can see an influx of praises about the new features possibly coming in the future, given everything that PayAnywhere has added.
That’s about it. There wasn’t anything else that really blew people away about PayAnywhere. As far as offerings go, it’s a decent mobile payment option with good features, end of story. The issues lie in service and support and the user experience, which is where a lot of companies can go wrong. However, we have seen some people praise the customer service; they’re generally long-term customers.
Final Verdict
I want to like PayAnywhere. The new app shows a lot of promise as far as features go. The hardware could use a little work (especially on the mobile side), and I’m not thrilled about the accounts of customer service and long holds for funds. The complaint volume is down overall, but I’m not quite ready to believe PA has turned over a new leaf.
As far as mobile POS systems go, there are better options if you need a low-volume, pay-as-you-go app. But you’re better off with the Mobile plan than the Storefront plan. For one, the tiered pricing plan for Storefront means you might not actually save all that much if you handle a lot of rewards cards and commercial cards. Secondly, if you dip below $5,000 per month, you’re going to be hit with a hefty penalty. If you are consistently above that amount, you can find more stable processing at a good rate with a merchant account.
So for now, PayAnywhere holds steady at 3.5 of 5 stars, with a general hope that it will fix some of the service issues. Good or bad, if you have experience with PayAnywhere, please leave us a comment with your thoughts. (Be sure to check our content guidelines before you post!)
Still hunting for a mobile processing option? You can check out the rest of our favorite mPOS solutions here. Good luck in your search!
Melissa Johnson
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41 Comments
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the vendor or bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the vendor or bank advertiser. It is not the vendor or bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Organization Name: 911 Honey Bee Removal
TERRIBLE! Where do i start ? The customer service beyond lacking in the merchant awareness dept! I have had so many issues with this company with transactions its not even funny. First there no company client relationship building here at all been with the for almost 2 years and still get holds on transaction from the same merchant and card everytime? I tried to raise my limit and they wanted 3 months bank statements? I have been doing clean business for almost 2 years no chargebacks at all guess that doesnt count for anything no relationship at all. Your just a number to them , also i did the suggested alternative by sending the actual invoice with my customers info which i wasn’t comfortable with and still they took their sweet time approving them. So at the end of the day still haven’t got my funds any earlier than if they put a hold on them. I truly regret choosing this comapny and at the moment transitioning to another that will appreciate my business. I don’t see this company being around long if they continue with these bad business behaviors good luck!
I am going to give them two stars at best, and it is not because of the service, or even the hardware, both of that seems to be working fine. I am giving it two stars because of the app! This app should have NEVER left beta testing because it is terrible! They have tried to get me to switch from Square, the lower rates, the promise of more features such as barcode scanning, etc.Well here is where Square does better, the customer database allows me to save an address, which PayAnywhere does not. They allow me to add any customer info I need to to the file, whereas PayAnywhere does not. It is now integrated with an appointment system which works perfect for me, whereas PayAnywhere does not.And HERE is the kicker, one time while running a $90 charge, the screen said “insert card’ which I did, then “Do not remove card” and then “Remove Card”…I removed the card and the words “remove card” didn’t go away, just hung there, after 2 minutes, it finally said approved, and then no signature screen or anything came up, just went back to the insert card screen. I am not even sure if this customer got charged, and it doesn’t seem to be in the batch of deposits. Stuff like this is what makes this app infuriating! Needless to say, until they can release an entire new app that doesn’t feel like a bunch of webpages stitched together, I am going back to Square, even if they do cost more money.
Organization Name: Sam's Notary
Zero customer service, I call them before I process $2000 transaction because I know my ticket limit $350they ask me some questions & they told me you are approved you can run the transaction now. after 3 days I didn’t receive any deposit from them & I call them back they said the transaction on hold because it’s over your limit & they ask me for some information about the transaction & they said it will take 48 hours for reviewafter 72 hours I call customer service the told me for sure you will see the transaction amount in your bank tomorrow morning we already sent the fund to your bank account, next day nothing I call them again they said we need more information & it will take 48 hours to review I e-mail them back & I am still waiting & no responce, the problem i didnt receive any e-mail from them asking me for any information, They alwyes waiting for my call to ask me for new thing last time i use pay any where not recomended
After not using this service for five years, I was suddenly hit today with an “inactivity fee.” I thought that my account was cancelled, so was very surprised when this charge showed up. One of the reasons I stopped using the account was an inability to connect via my iPad or iPhone when trying to put through a charge. It was embarrassing to be standing with a client, and not able to complete a transaction. Customer service was a useless drone who seemed to be reading from a script.
Just for grins, I tried to engage with the company to see if there has been any improvement. There hasn’t. The mobile application is broken, telephone customer support hangs up on you and their chat operators are both unknowledgeable and incompetent. Stay far, far away – I don’t see how this company survives another year and when they go down, they will take your funds with them.
They charge $3.99 per month for non activity. Its hidden in the fine print. They refuse to close account unless I pay up. I haven’t used in three years. They did nothing to remedy the situation.SCAM! STAY AWAY!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Like so many other reviewers, I wish I had looked here FIRST. Their software has serious compatibility issues, including super popular Samsung tablets. They charge differently than you were promised and try to keep you from changing. When they did open a new account for me to get the flat rate they didn’t close the old account I am stuck with their PCI compliance fee. I had to stop payment on their access to my account and nave now filed a complaint with the Oregon Attorney General…like so many others have…Switched to Square four months ago and still cleaning up this mess…
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Pay Anywhere is the a hack and fraud of a company. DO NOT USE PAY ANYWHERE!I did everything I was supposed to do, I had a booth at the Carlsbad Village Faire and due to my bank not getting me my swiper in time I had an old Pay Anywhere swiper so I used that as a last ditch attempt to have the ability to swipe cards. We set up our booth and had a great day we sold over $4000.00 in thedragonbox.com ( The Dragon Box ). They are not threatening or for no reason holding over $2000.00 of my money in an interest bearing account for 180 Days. The swiper was old and did not have a chip reader so I had to manually enter in my credit cards, each customer presented the card and the license for the card and we charged the card and gave them a receipt via email or text they walked away with the card and the product. We have their street address and signature on file that matches the credit cards and Pay Anywhere refuses to release my funds. I would highly suggest using another processor and DO NOT USE PAY ANYWHERE they will illegally freeze and hold your money for 180 days or more. If there are more of you out there please come forward.I am 1 42 year old male with 4 years in business with my current company and process over 1 million dollar a year and this company wants to hold my money for 180 days for no reason no one called no one charged back there were no issues whatsoever and they want to hold my money for absolutely no reason to hold any of my money at all. This is a scam and has to be illegal on some level and I will use all the resources I have to get my money released!I am out of product and I am out of money right now and Pay Anywhere is playing GOD with my hard earned money! Do Not Use Pay Anywhere there are better alternatives!Gina C is a ( supposedly supervisor ) and Dimitrius B ( is her supposed supervisor ) My company is thedragonbox.com
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
ok so I just got a charge of $25 and a reversal of a legitimate sale from a few days ago…Turns out because payanywhere doesn’t support the EMV chip all bank of america charges that have a chip and are swiped are subject to the reversal and the $25 fee per occurence. I called them up and said it’s not my fault they don’t have a solution. They just said sorry and they would not give me my money back. I intern closed my acct the same day.
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Terrible — impossible to login and use, so when you find a reputable company like Square or Paypal and use them instead, they start charging your bank account (which they hold hostage) a 3.99 monthly ‘inactivity fee’ which you can’t stop/block through your own bank. Fraudulent and dishonorable….users beware.
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I closed my account because they stopped supporting my mobile device. So their reader became useless to me. My bank was charged user fees after my account was closed, without my consent and or my knowledge. I called their customer service… they were not surprised. I contacted my bank and a fraud alert was placed on their transactions. I think this was an internal hack, because the transactions changed names. Once they have your bank account number….who knows what becomes of it. No security, so Be aware.
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I can not stress enough that people read and trust the reviews on this company. I wish that I had of done more research before going with them for my small business neads. I provided them with more information about me and my business than was even required. Business lisence, three months bank statements, copies of my current certifications, drivers lisence, invoices, my clients address and phone number, and even had my clients contact them on the phone to verify that the credit transactions where legit. After all this they froze a portion of my funds for forty five days after an amazing amount of time spent on the phone, and said they would release the remainder of the funds into my accout within 24 hours. True to their word the release half the funds the following day and then cancelled my account with them via email for no reason and told me I would have to wait 180 days for the remainder of my funds. I sent them an email and issued refunds to all my clients who’s money they had on hold. At which point they took all the money out of my bank account. Upon looking at recent transactions on my account I noticed they had also attempted to deposit fifty dollars out of a five hundred and twenty dollar tranaction and then stopped that as well. I recieved emails cancelling my account, and then two hours later another email telling me congratulations on my first transaction and my money would be in my account within one to two days. This was after they had stopped payment into my account and told me that I was good to continue transactions. If any of this is confusing to you, I am even more confused. The money in and out of my account makes no sense, the email make no sense, the customer service reps seem even more confused and are unable to answer my questions after spending hours on the phone trying to either get my money, or refund my customers. This company as the hundreds of reviews state on this site and others is a fraud. My clients and myself are still waiting for our money. I have contacted the BBB and the State Attorney Generals Office. This company must be stopped. It’s hard enough to start up a small business, but being robbed in the process is the worst. Like I said believing one disgruntled customer is one thing but do your research and read the rest of the reviews they all mirror a very similar image. Don’t get scammed, do your research before you choose a company that’s going to keep your money from you, when your out their busting your butt to make it.
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DO NOT USE THEIR CUSTOMER SUPPORT!! I WAS HACKED BY ONE OF THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE REPS. I called customer support for an issue I was having with the app and was my checking account was compromised and had to be locked due to fraud activity.
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I called in to up my daily limit and they cancelled my account for no reason. What a bunch of assholes! DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM!
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Even though my limit got ironed out ,it took way too long and too many incompetent people behind the scenes . I used them one time ,and it was a horrible experience . Hard to find anyone competent to answer any questions that works for PayAnywhere . My experience left me dealing with a bunch of what seemed to be adolescent girls who were PMSing .Used them once and never will again.Found another place that blows these guys away with service and information.
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Who did you find that you like ????
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The biggest mistake Ive made was to consider giving this a try ,then actually getting signed up. Not only was I not given clear cut information from the start but consequently left on hold for long periods of time . If i was aware of the hoops that need to be jumped through to receive money in access of $100 then I would have opted for a check from the customer. I had to wait for over 15 minutes first time and second time about the same so I hung up. I would NOT try this “Pay anywhere” ever again if faced with collecting money issue ever .I will accept checks all day long. I feel like I have to put in a long 40 hour work- week of phone calls just to get 1 payment . Its been 5 days and still no money in my account . Stay clear from “Pay A Lot Later”
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I decided to open an account a few years ago because of the number of CL transactions i do, and as a payment alternative for the tenants of my rental properties. i tested it using one of my own cards, and everything seemed to work as advertised. Jun of 2015, a new tenant needed to make a payment while i was out of town. i offered the PA, and he gave me all of his cc info, everything needed, to include CIV number and billing address. i talked with PA, and they walked me thru the process of doing an authorization without the physical card. a few days later, i receive an email telling me the funds (over 1200.00) were on hold, and they required months worth of bank statement, business license number, contact with the cardholders, my business statement, and that it would most likely take about 3 weeks for the payment to clear their hold.keep in mind, it has already been pulled out of my tenants account. at this point, I decided that I would rather just refund it, and gove my tenant a little leeway on the payment(after all, i know where they live, right? lol). so on the 5th of Jun, I refund the money, and everything seems okay.today is the 25th of June. My tenants have been telling me this whole time that they never got the money back. I call PA to verify that the money got refunded, and come to find out, they have been holding onto it for 3 weeks. a “computer glitch”. and it will still take another week before the refund will be back in my tenant’s account. I would recommend people avoid this company like the Plague.
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Please do not work with this company .They are lair .They are cheating people . For no reason they will charge you and remove money from your bank .Be care full .They are scam . They are cheating many people every day . Please read these comments .If you work with this company you will lose 1000s dollars.
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I have been using PayAnywhere credit card processing service for a year and recently when we had a customer pay $4,750 PA refused to pay me the proceeds. They requested all sorts of documentation including an invoice which they then said it did not match the person paying the bill. Since they refused to give me my customer’s payment I asked that the transaction be returned to the customer and they said they were charging me $167.97 for collecting the money that they refused to give a me and then would charge me another $167.97 to refund it. They are charging me $335.97 for not giving me the proceeds from a sale to my customer.
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I received a promotion from Pay Anywhere to use their swipe card. I have used their swipe card in the past so thought why not. HUGE mistake. This company is a fraudulent company. I had two transactions with pay anywhere where customers paid me and the customers were charged. I am a small business owner and a new mommy so I need the money I work hard for. I have not received my funds and it has been 10 days. The email confirmation stated it would be two days. I have emailed the customer service 5 times with no answer from them. I called the main number today and Marquita simply said my account was closed and transferred me to a voice mail of Nakeita. I will be seeking legal counsel if I do not receive my funds by the end of the week. I will be reviewing Pay PayAnywhere everywhere I possibly can to warn other business owners NOT to use this card swipe. I have been a business owner for over ten years and am very upset that the money I work hard for is being kept by this fraudulent and unethical company.
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This is the most suckiest company you will ever deal with!!!! DO NOT USE THEM!!! You will not get your $!!!!! We have over a $1000 in transactions and still to this day have not received them!!! I have called 100s of times and get sent from one department to the other and all I get for the reason for them holding my funds is because of an issue on my account!! Still have no clear answer of what the issue is!!!! On hold with them now as we speak!!!! I will be contacting a lawyer today!!!! They are in business to rip small business owners off!!!
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Melissa,I am having the same issue. Did you receive your funds?
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Charges for their own failures.On Jan 21st 2015 I processed two charges. The money was NEVER deposited to my bank and after a number of days and exchanges of emails I was told the funds were “on hold” pending an audit and verification.I was told the customers would be contacted to verify the validity of the charges. My customers informed me no one ever made such attempt. In a phone call I was told to have my customers call Pay Anywhere and given a phone and extension for a Tara. When one customer attempted to call they were told they could not proceed without providing their merchant number. My customers don’t have a merchant number as they are not the merchant but the card holders.Since I needed to fulfill my customer’s orders I needed to have the funds in order to pay my supplier before they would ship. My customers were becoming impatient with me due to the delays by Pay Anywhere withholding funds.In order to avoid losing customers because I was unable to fulfill their orders on time it was necessary to refund their charges and collect via another method.Last week Pay Anywhere debited my company account for $36.50 and claim it was for the transaction fees plus an additional fee for the refund. I repeat, NO FUNDS were ever deposited in my account and they never followed through on verification so there WAS NO COMPETED TRANSACTION. I would not trust this company with my business and terminated my account. They wanted to charge me for their failure.
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I have only used them a fairly short time, about a year.The first time things went without a hitch. Right now I face losing two customers because I am waiting on foot-dragging in getting funds deposited to my bank so I can order products for customers. Needless to say when my funds are delayed customers complain to me about shipping their products. I can’t ship until I have funds and PayAnywere has recently caused me problems depositing funds. They email me asking for copies of invoice. My drivers license, social security card etc. documents they already have from when starting my account.Then they say they are waiting on MY CUSTOMERS to call them to verify the charge! I asked them and neither of these two customers were ever contacted about their charge so I sent them the phone of PayAnywhere to call them.I plan on closing my account once these transactions are done and stick with PayPal as I have had very few problems with them over a number of years. Now that they too have a mobile app I really don’t need PayAnywhere and their hassles.
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Having had personal experience with this company, and reading the poor reports above, I can only suggest that anyone considering this company stay as far away as possible. They find reasons to hold your money, make excuses and don’t return phone calls. Repeat, stay away.
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I recently bought this reader so I could take credit from my customers I am a make up artist I did a wedding and got paid $400 of which $360 the customer charged as credit payanywhere “audited” me and asked for my customers information I sent it and then they asked me for a brief description of what I do so I gave them a very detailed paragraph and with no explanation they closed my account saying it was a “Buisness decision” and decided they were going to hold my money for 6 months. They are a fraud company this is how they make there money by auditing people I read the reviews. I read a book about this exact same situation maybe they read the same book it’s called the rainmaker. If they thought they were going to con me out of my money they chose the right one. I told her she would be hearing from a lawyer shortly she said ok well it’s in the contract. I’ll find out Monday even if it is they are running a scam Buisness and I’m going to make sure I get justice.
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Don’t even THINK about using them. They are not legitimate with their bad-faith practices and their love of holding your funds on a whim. Certainly if fraud or unauthorized transactions are suspected you start with the card holder, not the merchant. The credit card company is the watchdog for suspicious activity, not Pay Anywhere, but they enjoy holding your money and collecting interest. I will never do business with this sorry pile of camel dung again.
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I plan to open a small Nail Salon, so can you please recommend a merchant service?
New monthly est $3000 – $6000
Thank you!
Nhoc Ty
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Nhoc Ty,
If you can get by with a simple mobile-based solution like Flint or PayPal Here, that is probably going to be most cost-effective for you. Of those two, I find Flint to be the most reliable. Both come with no monthly fees.
If you need something with more options, I’d recommend checking out Payline Data or CDGcommerce. These are more complicated in terms of fees/rates, but would allow you to integrate with the POS/credit card machine of your choice. As your volume grows, these options would end up being more cost-effective.
Let us know if you need any help getting set up!
Best,
Tom
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Thanks!
I gonna try paylinedata. I will post a review about their service later.
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thanks for this info! i will try all you suggest… however “palAnywhere is far too much a risk to take just to lose my money.”
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Thank you for your in depth review. I in beginning an online bargain hunters business. I plan to start with one of the online auction sites to build reputation and following. Then graduate slowly to my own website. Both phases will require the ability to accept debit and/or credit payment. Thought pay anywhere was my solution. Now I do not want to use it. Can you recommend a couple POS systems for my review?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Hi Cami,
Your ideal payment solutions will differ depending on the specifics of your business, but three to consider might be Payline Data, CDGcommerce, and Braintree Payments. As your business grows and changes shape, you may need to change providers. All of the providers I’ve listed here do not charge early termination fees, so you will not be penalized if you need to change.
You should be aware, though, that for lower volume eBay stores, PayPal is usually the most cost-effective option.
Let us know if we can be of further assistance.
-Tom
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Hey Im opening a coffee shop and planing on using ipad as pos. which company would you recommend for this. thank
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Dimitry,
I’m going to send you an email right now.
Best,
Amad
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This company is a criminal company, and literally took $950 of my own money out of my Wells Fargo Account. I was given a bad check for $950 by a client. The broker had their credit card as a backup for payment. I started a pay anywhere account(where you give them all your personal information, as well as access to your bank account) to collect the $950. The next day after making the charge, I was called by Pay Anywhere, and told that the customer was disputing the charges, and therefore not only would I not get the $950, they were shutting down my account. Fine, there are many cc companies. One month later, I notice on my Wells Fargo Statement that Pay Anywhere, one month after not paying anything to me, took out $950 out of my Wells Fargo account. Payanywhere claims it was the computer that was the criminal. After not less than 15 calls to Payanywhere, to this day I don’t have my $950. That is a total of $1900 they cost me.
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I just wanted to thank everyone for their input here, saw one of their ads, was intrigued with their options, as well as their pricing, and as I quickly looked into this company I saw this and several other negative comments, and if you can find this stuff, that quickly & easily, it’s more than a good enough sign to stay away, and I will be doing just that.
thanks again!
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This company has the worst customer service ever… glad I never set the account up… phone calls 7-8 times a day starting at 7:30 in the morning. 1st customer service rep Michael was rude … when I said I will be staying with the company I am with and wouldn’t not provide them a name was told “I was cutting off my nose spit my face” because they are the best around with lowest fees… asked for manager .. Supervisor was just as rude… very argumentative… don’t know how to take “I will not do business with this company, cause you are rude and have poor customer service” close the account.. this is after I was called a lair after tell him about the number of calls… well guess my phone records lie too…
I would never tell anyone about this company and will never give them my business.
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I tried this once. Never again, this company cost me more money by not putting the draft into my account as noted 24hrs. This is not a company to used for credit card transactions. I don’t recommend PAYANYWHERE to any business. Find another way. Very unhappy customer.
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Do not deal with this company it is the worst ever. I set up an account and ran my first payment and they wouldn’t let it go through. When I called they said they don’t deal with my type of business??? They okayed everything through the application though??? I then had to call my client and tell them I would have to refund them and then charge their card how I normally do it. I was told it would take 7-10 day to reverse by one dept. and 2-3 day by another dept. No one knows what is going on with this company. Go to Amazon and read all the bad reviews as well. There are many other creditable companies out there that offer this same device, do not deal with this sorry company.
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