Payanywhere Review
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- Date Established
- 2010
- Location
- Troy, MI
Pros
- Free card reader (magstripe + chip card)
- Free mobile processing app
- Free virtual terminal
- Good for low-volume merchants
- Same-day funding available
Cons
- Nontransparent tiered pricing
- Numerous public complaints
- Poor customer support
- Limited pricing disclosed online
- Deceptive sales tactics
PayAnywhere Overview
Payanywhere is facing a tough market since mobile processing continues to be a very competitive segment of the credit card processing industry. 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 that can harness the best of all the options and provide a seamless experience. The customer service needs to be spot on, too.
Payanywhere is a mobile processing service that was established in 2010 by merchant services provider North American Bancard. In the beginning, Payanywhere 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, new features, and a snazzy-looking new logo. It was more than just a token baby step forward, but was it enough to keep Payanywhere competitive?
Since then, the company has taken some small steps to improve its services and how it markets them. Pricing plans have gotten simpler and more transparent, and the Payanywhere website is better than most we’ve seen in the payments industry. At the same time, customer support continues to be very poor, judging from the sheer number of complaints about this issue from merchants. We’re also not impressed with misleading equipment offers that include “free placement” but come with a monthly subscription fee for the software needed to run the “free” equipment. Perhaps most importantly, the company’s complicated contract that automatically “upgrades” your account to a full-service merchant account (complete with a three-year commitment and an early termination fee) once your processing volume exceeds the limits of the Pay As You Go plan. That can dramatically drive up your business’s credit card processing costs if you don’t pay careful attention.
As to the contract, there’s much room for improvement just on the clarity of the language itself. Substantively, once you process over $100,000 on a rolling twelve-month period on Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or PayPal, you are automatically switched over to a merchant account agreement. That agreement comes complete with tiered pricing, hefty early termination fees, and multiple monthly charges and fees. Other than in the body of the contract itself, none of this is disclosed on the website.
Smaller merchants who are confident that they will never process more than this amount may find a good deal with Payanywhere, but many others will not. Be careful and make sure that this service will work for your card processing needs, and make sure you read and understand every word of your contract.
Payanywhere scores a mediocre 3 out of 5 stars. The products and services the company offers are fine. The Pay As You Go plan also continues to be a good plan. But we haven’t seen improvement elsewhere. The reliability of the service remains doubtful, and customer support appears to be equally dubious. If you’re interested in that “free placement” hardware that comes with the Custom plan, you can probably find a better deal elsewhere without having to pay monthly software usage fees. Also, the lack of disclosure on the Custom plan and the lack of warning on the website about the automatic switch to a more complicated contract is a poor sales tactic that destroys trust.
Check out our full Payanywhere review below for a complete analysis! If you are a current or former Payanywhere customer, please share your thoughts about it in the Comments section below.
Table of Contents
Products & Services
While Payanywhere’s services are provided by North American Bancard, all transaction processing is handled by that company’s back-end processor, Global Payments. However, this relationship will rarely, if ever, affect you directly, as Payanywhere handles all sales, marketing, and customer support functions.
The company offers two distinct pricing plans: a Pay As You Go plan and a Custom plan. While you’re more or less free to choose either, Payanywhere recommends the Pay As You Go plan for businesses processing $10,000 per month or less. All other businesses should select the Custom plan. As we’ve discussed above, you’ll also be automatically switched to a Custom plan with a full-service merchant account if your processing volume exceeds $100,000 in Visa, Mastercard, or American Express transactions in a 12-month period.
With either plan, you get access to the following software:
- Payanywhere App: This is the app that runs on your smartphone or tablet to process credit or debit card transactions.
- Payanywhere SDK: This developer’s kit allows you to add in-app purchases to your own app if you have one.
- Payments Hub: This is an online merchant portal that allows you to access analytical data, reports, statements, and many other features from any web browser. It replaces the old Payanywhere Inside product and has essentially the same features.
With either the Pay As You Go or Custom plan, you get the following services for free:
- Offline Transactions: If you are using the mobile processing app at a location with poor reception, you can still take payment card information, then send the transactions to Payanywhere when your reception has improved.
- Customers: You can get insight into your customers’ behavior by seeing their spending amount, visit frequency, and whether they’re repeat purchasers. You can ask for the customer’s feedback by printing an automatic message on their receipts.
- Reporting: You can generate many reports based on all the data the software tracks to see various trends, such as sales volume, payment type, customers, employees, and inventory. You can create reports for transactions, refunds, and deposits as well as export them to third-party accounting software (such as QuickBooks). You can view these reports from a computer, a mobile device, and even a wearable device.
- Dispute Management: You can view and manage chargeback activity, upload supporting documentation, and receive notifications when action is required.
- Open Tickets & Tabs: If you operate a restaurant and wish to create open tickets for food or drink orders, you can use the Open Tickets & Tabs feature to help you add items or tips to an order.
- Employees: You can hire, schedule, and pay your staff through the Payments Hub. You can designate employees as administrators, managers, cashiers, or staff with customizable levels of access. Through these roles, you can control who gets access to what information (e.g., employees can view their timesheets, but only managers can view sales reports) and who can operate cash registers.
- Inventory: With the Payanywhere inventory tracking feature, you can store your catalog in the cloud and track product availability from any terminal or mobile device. If you currently track your inventory through some other method, you can bulk import the file into the Payanywhere inventory tracking feature. As you make a sale, the item is automatically deducted from your inventory, so you’ll know when to restock. You can place items into different categories (e.g., luggage, jewelry, etc.), add modifiers (e.g., large, medium, small), and set discounts. You can even use bar code scanners to scan and add items to an order. Lastly, you can generate reports to see how your merchandise is performing.
- Next-Day Funding: Like other payment service providers (PSPs), Payanywhere can provide next-day funding to its merchants. Transactions processed by 10 PM Eastern Time will be funded the next business day. Transactions processed after Friday 10 PM Eastern Time will be funded the following Monday. All funds will be deposited, less processing fees. On various rating websites for the Payanywhere service, we continue to see merchants report late funding. Still, it’s difficult to tell if the issue is with Payanywhere, if the merchant simply processed the transaction after the daily cut-off time, or if Payanywhere was withholding funds due to chargeback concerns. Unlike many other providers, Payanywhere includes this feature for free with all accounts.
- Same-Day Funding: If next-day funding isn’t fast enough for you, Payanywhere has you covered. The company has recently introduced a same-day funding feature, which can, in some circumstances, get you your funds on the same day as the sale. There’s one very important caveat, however. A transaction must be submitted and processed by 10:30 AM Eastern Time to be deposited by the end of the day. That’s 7:30 AM Pacific time, making this feature essentially unusable for merchants on the West Coast. Unless your business is open 24 hours a day, we don’t see this feature providing many benefits. There’s also a 1% fee in addition to normal processing charges to skip to the head of the line. Depending on your bank’s deposit schedule, there’s a real possibility that you could pay this fee and still not see your funds until the following business day.
Payanywhere App Features
The Payanywhere app is a free download from either the App Store or Google Play. The app allows you to access all of Payanywhere’s services as long as you have wireless reception. We’ll go through some of the major features below, but note that the app has a “Test Drive” feature, so we encourage you to download the app to your phone or tablet and test the software out yourself.
When you open up the app, a numeric keypad ready to take a new transaction appears. On the upper right-hand side, there’s a small receipt icon. Tapping on it will print your receipt on any Bluetooth printer synced to your mobile device. Below the numeric keypad, three more icons allow you to select from either a cash payment, a credit card keyed sale, or Alipay.
On the upper left-hand side, there is a “hamburger” menu of three short horizontal stripes. Tapping on it takes you to the main drop-down menu where you can select from the following items:
- Account Profile: Here, you’ll find your account information and your status (e.g., owner, administrator, cashier, etc.).
- New Sale: This is the main credit card processing menu. It includes a numeric keypad where you can enter such things as card numbers or cash amounts. You can select to pay with cash, a keyed-in credit card, or Alipay, and to print, email, or text receipts. This menu can be displayed in Retail View or Terminal View (switchable under the Settings menu). In Terminal View, you can also pick from preselected “express items,” apply automatic discounts, scan items, and find an item from various categories of inventory (e.g., accessories, bags, sunglasses, etc.). And, of course, check the customer out in a shopping cart, including through a swiped/tapped/dipped payment card, keyed-in credit card, cash, or Alipay. You can also split payments if your customers wish to pay with two different methods or cards.
- New Pre-Auth: You can set up a pre-authorization from this section. A pre-authorization holds funds on a customer’s card and charges them later when the invoice is finalized. Hotels, for instance, like to use pre-authorizations to reserve a room when you book. Payanywhere’s pre-auth lasts for 120 days. Pre-auth isn’t a common feature in mobile processing apps, and it’s interesting to see.
- Transactions: Here, you can see a list of all your transactions, including credit card sales, refunds, and cash sales. You can also access a list of pending transactions and adjust a ticket to add tips.
- Reports: You can create a variety of sales reports from this section. The reports can be displayed as graphs or charts by amount, item, payment method, etc. You can filter them by date and compare the reports to each other.
- Settings: Here, you can:
- Toggle between the Retail and Terminal display themes
- Manage how your receipt looks through various settings — e.g., include your company logo, solicit customer reviews, display various social media buttons, etc.
- Enable the Open Tickets & Tabs feature
- Set default sale options on the New Sale screen
- Select to accept certain private label cards
- Enable a cash discount feature that automatically reduces the price if the customer pays in cash
- Select whether you require a customer signature on receipts
- Select to display various tip amounts
- Allow the app to access your device’s geolocation feature to detect the sales tax percentage at your location automatically
- Manage various hardware synced to the app
- Help: Information on how to reach customer support (phone, email), FAQ, knowledgebase, and videos can be accessed here.
These features were pretty advanced for mPOS systems three years ago, and they continue to be in the upper echelons of mPOS systems today. Payanywhere is not going to unseat Square, however, because Square rolls out new features very quickly. Nevertheless, Payanywhere’s software and services hold their own against Square’s services.
Payanywhere Hardware & Compatible Devices
Payanywhere offers a variety of credit card readers, terminals, and peripherals (cash drawer and printer). There’s a way to get some of this hardware for free. For the terminals, you will have to pay a setup fee and a monthly software fee.
If you are a first-time customer of Payanywhere, you can get a basic Bluetooth 2-in-1 magstripe and EMV mobile reader for free. If you need more of these readers, you’ll have to pay $29.95 each. You can also upgrade to a Bluetooth 3-in-1 magstripe, EMV, and NFC mobile reader for $49.99. These readers connect via Bluetooth to your smartphone or tablet that is running the Payanywhere App.
If you wish to have something more permanent, you can buy various POS terminals from Payanywhere. The smallest of these terminals is a handheld wireless device called the Smart Terminal Mini. It comes with an integrated magstripe, EMV, and NFC reader and has a touchscreen keypad for accepting PIN debit transactions. The Smart Terminal Mini also has a barcode scanner but lacks a receipt printer. It costs $249.95 to purchase, plus there’s a software subscription fee of $9.95 per month. The next-largest model is the standard Smart Terminal. It costs $349.95 to buy and also requires a $9.95 monthly subscription fee. The Smart Terminal includes all features of the Smart Terminal Mini and also comes with a built-in receipt printer. For $549.95, you can upgrade to a slightly larger device called the Smart Flex. It has all the functions of the handheld Smart Terminal, except it is larger and has a customer-facing second screen. The Smart Flex requires a one-time setup fee of $49.95, plus a software subscription fee of $19.95 per month. If you want to go all out, you can purchase the Smart Point of Sale + model for $949.95. This model includes a 12.5” HD touchscreen, a 4.3” customer-facing second touchscreen, a barcode scanner, and a receipt printer. The one-time setup fee for this model is $99.95, plus there’s also a software subscription fee of $39.95 per month.
In addition to purchasing your equipment outright, Payanywhere also offers a “free placement” option if you’re on the Custom pricing plan. Like virtually everything advertised as “free” in the payments industry, this option is not really free. You’ll still have to pay the monthly software subscription fee and the one-time setup fee that comes with the more feature-rich terminals. Naturally, you’ll also have to return your equipment promptly if you close your account for any reason. The only money you’ll save is by not having to pay a monthly rental or leasing fee on your equipment. Those savings come at the cost of being locked into a three-year, automatically-renewing contract that will cost you hundreds of dollars to break. If you’re looking for a truly free credit card reader, check out our article, The Best Free Credit Card Readers For Small Businesses, for some recommendations.
Payanywhere also offers a selection of accessories to go with your terminal. Products include the Socket Mobile 7Ci Bluetooth barcode scanner, a receipt printer ($119.95), and a cash drawer ($49.95).
Finally, it’s important to note that Payanywhere is not a full-featured merchant services provider. As such, it does not offer a payment gateway or an echeck/ACH processing service. If you need these additional services for your business, you’re going to have to obtain them from a third party.
Fees & Rates
As mentioned above, Payanywhere has two pricing plans: a Pay As You Go plan and a Custom plan. With the Pay As You Go plan, you pay:
- Swiped, Dipped, or Tapped: 2.69% per transaction
- Keyed, Virtual Terminal, Invoicing, & Recurring Payments: 3.49% + $0.19 per transaction
This plan is suggested to those merchants who process $10,000 per month or lower. Payanywhere clearly warns merchants that they will be charged a $3.99 per month inactivity fee if no payments are processed for 12 months. The charge begins on the 13th month, and it resets for another 12 months if you take a card payment.
The Pricing page discloses no other charges, not even a chargeback fee. A quick search in the Support section also did not reveal any information. Since all credit card processors charge a chargeback investigation fee (typically $25 per incident), this lack of disclosure suggests that there may be other hidden fees as well.
The Pay As You Go plan’s fees are competitive but not necessarily the cheapest around. For a smaller business that can benefit from the free software and services of Payanywhere, the cost might be worth it. However, free software and services are often a part of any payment services provider’s standard offering. Be sure to check out other processors, such as Square, before making your final decision.
Rates and fees for the Custom pricing option are not disclosed on Payanywhere’s website. Instead, you’ll be offered a quote that’s purportedly based on the nature of your business and your processing history. In reality, this quote will almost certainly include a tiered pricing plan and a host of monthly, annual, and incidental fees. Suppose you’re signing up with the company under the Custom plan. In that case, we highly recommend that you negotiate for lower rates than what you’re initially offered, and insist on an interchange-plus pricing plan as well. Unfortunately, merchants who initially onboard under the Pay As You Go plan and then are switched to Custom pricing when their processing volume exceeds certain levels will not have this luxury. Instead, they’ll automatically switch to a tiered plan and with no opportunity to negotiate for a better deal.
Regardless of which plan you sign up for, Payanywhere’s standard User Agreement includes provisions for both options. This agreement discloses the following additional fees that apply to the Custom pricing plan:
- PCI compliance fees
- PCI non-compliance fees
- Chargeback fees
- Representment fees
- Retrieval fees
- Monthly minimum processing fees
- Early termination fees
Also, Payanywhere will charge certain card industry pass-through fees listed in a complicated chart in Section 1.15 of the agreement.
While Payanywhere is very transparent about pricing for its Pay As You Go plan, its Custom plan suffers from the same lack of transparency found with most traditional merchant account providers. Our main concern here is that because merchants are automatically switched to the more expensive plan when their processing volume gets high enough, they won’t receive adequate notice of the change (after all, they’ve already signed a contract that covers both plans). Most importantly, they won’t have a chance to negotiate a better deal before the new rates and fees kick in.
Contract Length & Early Termination Fee
The Payanywhere contract is problematic. In fact, you are signing two different contracts lumped into one, and the business deal in the second contract is not disclosed anywhere else on the website. Unless you read the entire User Agreement before you sign up for an account, you won’t be aware of the radical changes to your pricing that will automatically start if you’re “upgraded” to a full-service merchant account.
When you first sign up with Payanywhere, you sign on to its standard contract found under the Legal link in the website’s footer. It’s a contract that either party can cancel at any time without penalty. If you have the “free placement” hardware, you must return it within a certain period. Otherwise, most of the contract looks like a non-controversial standard payment service provider contract, except for Section 8.
According to Section 8 of the contract (Conversion to Direct Merchant), if you process:
- over $1 million in American Express charges on a rolling 12 months basis or $100,000 in three months, you must enter into a direct agreement with American Express;
- over $100,000 in Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or PayPal charges in 12 months, then you automatically become a direct merchant, and a different contract automatically becomes effective and takes over the business relationship.
This second contract is attached as Exhibit A at the end of the standard User Agreement for Pay As You Go accounts.
For American Express, the requirement to sign a direct contract is not controversial because it is how the Amex OptBlue program works. The Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or PayPal processing limit, however, is not standard. Here, North American Bancard is trying to move you up to its merchant account program without selling you the program first. With the merchant account, all sorts of fees come into play, and the nature of the business relationship changes completely.
The new agreement is for a three-year term. If you terminate your account before the end of the three years, you’ll be subject to an early termination fee (ETF) of $295, or all the monthly fees in the remaining contract term, whichever is greater. North American Bancard may terminate the contract at any time, charge the merchant a $500 account closure fee, and withhold any funds in the account that is due to them. The only saving grace in this harsh term and termination procedure is that merchants have 45 days to cancel the agreement once they’ve been switched to a direct merchant account.
This contract structure does not seem upfront or fair. The business terms of the second contract are never disclosed anywhere else on the website. We don’t think you should enter into a business arrangement without understanding the business terms. We recommend that you read both contracts, make a note of every fee, and ask questions if you don’t understand something. If Payanywhere can’t explain it, then walk away. If someone promises to waive a fee, get it in writing. We have seen complaints about major billing issues and fees, and verbal agreements count for nothing in this business. It’s essential that you know what you are signing.
If you still like Payanywhere’s software and services (and they are indeed very nice) after reading the contract and are sure that you won’t exceed the $100,000 per year limit in processing Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or PayPal, then sign with Payanywhere at your own risk. Just be aware that there are other payment service providers with a more straightforward contract structure and equally good services offered for a better price.
Sales & Advertising Transparency
We’ve reviewed Payanywhere several times and have always found the company to be a little lacking in the transparency department. It used to — and may still — use independent sales agents to sign up new merchants. This practice tends to generate more complaints from merchants, as these agents tend to be less educated about the contracts they’re selling and more likely to resort to unethical sales practices to close a deal.
Payanywhere has made changes in recent years that have improved its sales and advertising transparency. We’re particularly impressed with the disclosure of the inactivity fee, as most providers never mention this penalty on their websites. The fee doesn’t kick in for a full year, meaning that seasonal merchants shouldn’t have to worry about it under most circumstances. Equipment setup fees, while we’re not fond of them, are also fully disclosed. Monthly software fees are, unfortunately, a standard feature of nearly all point of sale (POS) systems.
The improvements stop there, however. The contract refers to a schedule of fees shown to the merchant upon signing up. Yet these additional fees cannot be found anywhere on the Payanywhere website — not on the Support page and not in the contract. There is no way for merchants to consider and compare fees with other processors until they’re in the actual process of signing up for the service.
As to Payanywhere’s Custom pricing plan, no information about fees and rates is disclosed at all. You must call to obtain this information, presumably after you give them your sales numbers. On the one hand, asking you to call signals Payanywhere’s willingness to negotiate rates, and that’s a good thing. On the other hand, providing your contact information probably guarantees reps will hound you to sign up even after you decide against doing business with them.
Payanywhere does have a blog, and it is relatively active. There’s an interesting mix of content, and it’s pretty decent in quality. The 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 and includes educational material about the payments industry as well as the usual marketing fluff. These are all positives, and it suggests that someone at Payanywhere seems to care about growing the company as a business.
Payanywhere also has a Facebook page with almost 14,000 followers and a Twitter account with nearly 1,500 followers. Neither is particularly engaging, though. Both accounts simply notify followers of new blog posts, and there are no comments from the followers.
There’s also an Instagram account and a YouTube channel with some videos and nearly 1,000 subscribers. Payanywhere has recently added more videos to the channel, including testimonials from small business owners and tutorials for its software and hardware. From a sales and advertising standpoint, Payanywhere’s blog and social media accounts seem normal and not too concerning.
The truly problematic issue with Payanywhere’s sales and advertising transparency is in its contract. Other than dense legal writing, the Payanywhere contract seems to offer a fairly typical deal for a payment service provider, except for the Conversion to Direct Merchant clauses. As we’ve discussed above, it’s possible for a merchant who signed up for the Pay As You Go plan to be “upgraded” to a full-service merchant account if their processing volume reaches a certain point. This happens automatically, and complaints about it from merchants suggest that Payanywhere doesn’t do an adequate job of disclosing this possibility during the sales process or once the merchant uses their account and approaches the processing limits that will trigger the automatic change. Switching a merchant from a month-to-month, pay-as-you-go billing arrangement to a long-term contract without their knowledge is unconscionable. Yes, the company discloses this provision in its User Agreement, but attaching it as a separate exhibit at the end of the standard agreement virtually guarantees that most merchants will never read it. Suppose you’re a Payanywhere user and this happens to you. In that case, we highly recommend that you contact the company to negotiate a better deal and be prepared to exercise your option to cancel the account altogether in the first 45 days if it won’t budge on your contract terms or pricing.
Customer Service & Technical Support
Payanywhere gives a customer support telephone number, an email address, and offers a live chat from its website. No hours are listed for the phone number or live chat functions. While this suggests that support is available 24/7, it may be that the support remains limited to regular business hours.
In addition to phone, chat, and email support, Payanywhere also offers:
- Knowledgebase: There’s a help center on the Payanywhere website that you can access through the mobile app. It’s nowhere near as in-depth as Square’s knowledgebase and many others, but it is usable. It walks you through the basics but probably won’t provide much help if you experience real technical or support issues.
- YouTube Videos: The Payanywhere YouTube channel has a bunch of tutorials, most of which are over a year old, so these videos may or may not be out of date.
Although these support options are as good or, in some cases, even better than what most payment service providers offer, our major concern is with the quality of the support available. We found many complaints from merchants alleging poor customer support and difficulty in reaching the support team in the first place. Unfortunately, poor customer support is a prevalent problem in the processing industry, with good, high-quality support being the exception rather than the rule.
User Reviews
Negative Reviews & Complaints
Payanywhere has a Better Business Bureau profile separate from North American Bancard, its parent company. Unfortunately, the company’s profile has been listed as being “under review” for over a year, meaning that you can’t access any complaints or reviews on Payanywhere at this time.
Elsewhere, the Payanywhere iOS app rates 3.5 out of 5 stars on the App Store with 328 reviews and 3.7 out of 5 stars on Google Play with 4,016 reviews. All these ratings echo several themes:
- Many users report that the app runs very slowly and sometimes crashes
- Users are concerned about privacy issues because the Bluetooth reader seems to want unnecessary additional access to their phone
- Users report being unable to process a transaction, despite entering all required information and having a stable internet connection
- Many users report receiving poor customer and tech support
Looking at our previous review updates, it appears that Payanywhere’s customer service has not improved. The company does, however, seem to respond to all complaints and offer to resolve the issue. Even though the message is almost always a generic response, it does indicate that customers aren’t entirely ignored.
On a positive note, we’ve seen fewer recent complaints about withheld funds, freezing of accounts, sudden terminations, and delayed fund transfers. Similarly, complaints about hidden fees, unclear and subjective limits to processing, and owed fees after closing an account have also decreased. Fewer complaints do not mean that these issues aren’t still there, however.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
Despite the above section on negative reviews, positive reviews for Payanywhere do exist. Some merchants have never experienced any of the problems described in the negative reviews. They like the software and services very much. They found customer service to be helpful and able to resolve their issues quickly.
It seems with Payanywhere that you’re either very happy or very angry with this company Not much exists in the middle.
If you’ve had any experience with Payanywhere, please leave a review in the Comments section below. Thanks!
Final Verdict
Payanywhere offers a unique solution to a common problem that merchants encounter with credit card processing. When a business first launches, a low-cost, simple payment service provider (PSP) such as Square will usually be the most affordable option. However, once a business grows to the point where it’s now processing a much higher monthly volume in credit card transactions, flat-rate pricing and the limitations of a mobile-only hardware setup make it essential that you transition to a full-service merchant account, preferably with interchange-plus pricing.
Unfortunately, Payanywhere’s “solution” to this issue appears to be aimed more at increasing the profits of its parent company, North American Bancard, than at actually helping merchants with growing their businesses. Merchants who are automatically transitioned to a merchant account can find themselves suddenly stuck in a long-term contract and a tiered pricing plan with processing rates are nearly as high as what they were paying under their previous flat-rate plan. Throw in all the numerous monthly and annual fees, and you’ll probably find yourself paying more overall for credit card processing than you were before.
While Payanywhere’s card readers and terminals offer all the right features (including Bluetooth connectivity and support for contactless payment methods on most models), there also are many reports of technical difficulties that prevented merchants from completing a sale. Unfortunately, app crashes and interrupted Bluetooth or internet connections are common problems with mobile credit card readers. However, some models are more reliable than others. If you plan to rely on a mobile processing solution for your business, check out our guide to the best mobile card readers for some alternatives. For a more in-depth look at how mobile card readers work and how to select the best option for your business, please see our article, How To Accept Credit Card Payments On Your Phone: The Complete Guide To Mobile Credit Card Readers.
Payanywhere earns an overall score of 3 out of 5 stars. The company’s hardware offers all the right features, and its Pay As You Go pricing plan is competitive with similar providers. However, persistent reports of poor customer service and a lack of transparency regarding the possibility of being automatically switched to a full-service merchant account brought the company’s score down significantly. If you own a small business and are certain that you won’t ever process more than $10,000 per month, Payanywhere is a viable option (although not the best one). However, businesses that anticipate growing beyond $10,000 per month in credit card processing volume should look elsewhere. Payanywhere’s “bait and switch” approach to transitioning its customers to full-service merchant accounts is something we highly recommend avoiding. For a side-by-side look at mobile processing providers that we do recommend, check out our Mobile Credit Card Processing Comparison Chart.
Frank Kehl
Frank Kehl has been writing about merchant services, payment gateways, and international money transfer services since 2015. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Penn State and a Juris Doctorate from the Ventura College of Law. After a long and enjoyable career of traveling around the world as an Air Force navigator, he’s comfortably settled down in the wine country town of Paso Robles in California’s scenic Central Coast region. He enjoys reading, photography, hiking, and numerous other outdoor pursuits.
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Organization Name: The Wine Guy, LLC
This company is a ripoff! I opened an account in 2012 and never used it. They charged my bank account $3.99 per month for over 8 years (I did not realize it since it was a trust account that I did not see monthly statements. When I confronted them, they claimed it was an “inactivity fee.” I will have to sue them.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Grandmas sew sweet designs
Ive been charged over 1400.00in 5 months from this company and I haven’t done one transaction. Called company canceled and they are still taking out 179.00 a month so called bank today to STOP all payments to this company, Bank informed me that 2 days ago when taking my money it was under a different name, scam !!!field fraud charges against this company, contacting Better Business and looking into a class action lawsuit against this company, this company is a fraud , when i had a neighbor sign me up he told me i would save moneyQuoted would be cheaper then square Omg this company is a Total night mareStay away from this company pleaseAgain i haven’t made one Transaction but have had been charge as of today 1400.00 in 5 monthsEvil company and will drain your bank acct even after you call and cancel
Organization Name: The Shattered Vase
I had a wonderful experience with this company. My customer service rep, Chris Palovich was beyond amazing. They deposited my funds immediately and when I complained about the cost of the service Chris proceeded to refund me the money I had complained about. The only problem I had with this company is that they are better suited for someone who generates more income than I did with my venture. If I had a large number of sales for my novel, The Shattered Vase, I would have continued to use them. If you want a customer service rep who is amazing just ask for Chris Palovich! He is above the average!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Militellos cleaning and lawn care
This is truly one of the worst companies to deal with they want your business license they want picture ID they want light bills and gas bills I’ve waited 3 weeks for my one payment after 24 hours after swiping now they’re telling me I got to wait four months after this It was never worth getting this their stupid retarded service is the worst
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
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!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
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.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
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
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
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.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
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.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
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.
Organization Name: Sewing
They have been charging me 179.00 a month and ive never used the swiper one time, contacted fraud dept at my bank
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.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.