Payment Depot Review
Payment Depot's subscription pricing is simple, affordable, and best for businesses that have a processing volume of at least $10,000 per month.
Payment Depot
Total Rating | 3.5 |
---|---|
Fees & Rates3.1 | |
Products & Services3.7 | |
Contract4.6 | |
Sales & Advertising Transparency3.0 | |
Customer Service2.5 | |
User Reviews3.9 |
Payment Depot At A Glance
- Payment Depot by Stax offers membership pricing that exchanges some transaction markup for a monthly fee
- Payment Depot uses Fiserv as its backend processor and is an ISO of Wells Fargo
- Recently high volumes of customer complaints and a reduction in transparency are unwelcome developments for Payment Depot
Pros
- Month-to-month billing
- No application or setup fees
- Free payment gateway included
- Good customer support
Cons
- Accepts US-based merchants only
- Does not accept high-risk merchants
- Expensive for low-volume businesses
- High recent complaint volume
Table of Contents
What Is Payment Depot?
Payment Depot (now Payment Depot by Stax) is a merchant services provider that uses membership pricing (also called subscription pricing) to save merchants money on overall processing costs and reduce the number of fees they have to pay for payment processing. With membership pricing, you pay a single monthly subscription fee, rather than an assortment of miscellaneous recurring fees. This fee also covers a good portion of your processing costs, so you won’t pay a percentage-based markup on your transactions. This feature can save a lot of money for businesses with a high monthly processing volume or a lot of high-ticket sales.
While this arrangement can be very cost-effective for high-volume businesses, an increasing volume of customer complaints and decreasing transparency on the part of the processor make it hard to recommend Payment Depot at the moment.
Products & Services
Products & Services3.7 |
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Software & Services 4.0 |
Hardware & Equipment 3.4 |
In addition to the products and services listed below, Payment Depot also offers eCheck and ACH processing services, online shopping cart integration, and developer tools for web designers. The company doesn’t disclose much information about these products on its website, so ask your sales representative about them if you’ll need them for your business.
Fees & Rates
Fees & Rates3.1 |
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Pricing 3.4 |
Affordability 2.8 |
Note: Payment Depot has recently removed processing rate information from its website. The rates listed below are from the latest published information available, and may/may not still be accurate.
Standard Membership
Payment Depot’s mid-level membership plan is ideal for a larger, more established omnichannel business. It comes with the following standard features:
- $79 monthly fee
- Interchange + 0% + $0.10 per transaction
- $250,000 annual maximum processing volume
- Data breach protection included
Again, there’s currently no mention of the virtual terminal, payment gateway, and smart countertop terminal options that were previously included with this plan. Consult with the company’s sales department to confirm which of these features will be included with your account.
Growth Membership
Designed for very large businesses, this pricing plan includes all the bells and whistles you could need and offers the lowest processing rates.
- $99 monthly fee
- Interchange + 0% plus $0.07 per transaction
- $500,000 annual maximum processing volume
- Data breach protection included
- Dedicated account manager for customer service and support
This plan previously listed a free premium gateway and Clover Mini terminal as standard features. However, they’re currently not listed on the Pricing page of the company’s website. Contact sales for clarification on these options.
One way to save money is to pay your membership fees annually instead of monthly. You can save close to two months’ worth of subscription fees over a year while also taking advantage of Payment Depot’s 90-day risk-free trial.
Talk to the company’s sales department about these pricing specifics since the annual payment options are no longer listed on the website.
Custom Plans
While Payment Depot’s standardized plans eliminate the need for negotiating for most merchants, you can still ask for a customized solution if none of the offered plans meet the unique needs of your business. Customized plans are a good way to go if you have hardware or software needs that aren’t covered by any of the standard plans. It’s also possible that some sort of hybrid plan would better serve your particular combination of average ticket size, number of transactions per month, and total processing volume.
Other Payment Depot Fees
Payment Depot’s standardized subscription plans traditionally covered all the miscellaneous fees that most providers charge you separately, making your monthly costs much more predictable. However, many recent customer complaints involve unanticipated fees, including PCI fees and miscellaneous package fees.
Sales & Advertising Transparency
Sales & Advertising Transparency3.0 |
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Sales Practices 3.8 |
Web Presence 1.9 |
Where Payment Depot’s website once disclosed a wealth of information, the current site offers minimal information and looks a bit dated. Additionally, we’re not huge fans of some of Payment Depot’s marketing.
Charts and graphics on the website tend to be vague and oversimplified. Other marketing materials give the impression that you’ll only be charged “wholesale rates” and “no markup” and that Payment Depot somehow cuts out all the middlemen. In reality, you do pay Payment Depot (which is a middleman between you and either Fiserv or TSYS) a markup over wholesale processing rates. The markup is merely in the form of the membership fee and authorization fee, instead of the traditional percentage markup + authorization fee of a typical interchange-plus plan.
Membership pricing should, in theory, be one of the easiest processing models to disclose as it sets standardized pricing for different sales volumes. The fact that Payment Depot no longer does so is cause for concern, especially in light of customer complaints about unexpected stealth charges.
Payment Depot does at least use in-house agents exclusively, so you won’t be subjected to the high-pressure sales tactics that independent agents frequently employ.
Contract Length & Early Termination Fee
Contract4.6 |
---|
Commitment 5.0 |
ETF & Other Fees 4.2 |
One of the most attractive features of Payment Depot’s service is that all accounts are set up with true month-to-month billing. Payment Depot doesn’t enforce its back-end processors’ boilerplate Terms and Conditions, which typically stipulate long-term contracts and early termination fees. You also won’t have to worry about automatic renewal clauses, which make it difficult to close your account before it’s renewed for a new term.
Your relationship with the company will still be covered by a merchant agreement, however. Thoroughly reviewing the terms and conditions of your merchant agreement is essential before signing up with Payment Depot — or any other provider. Generally speaking, the company does not require advance notice to cancel an account. If you have already run transactions during the month you’d like to cancel, Payment Depot will immediately process the cancellation, but then schedule the actual closure to happen at the end of the month so that the current month’s fees can be collected. Also, note that because customers have up to 120 days to file a chargeback, your account will not be fully closed until after 120 days from the date of your last transaction. However, Payment Depot does not charge you any monthly fees during this period.
Customer Service & Technical Support
Customer Service2.5 |
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Personal Support 3.4 |
Self-Service 1.6 |
Payment Depot offers 24/7 customer service by both telephone and email. Note that you’re more likely to reach a full-time company employee if you call during business hours, which are 8 AM to 5 PM Pacific Time, Monday-Friday.
Some technical support issues will be initially covered by the processors (Fiserv or TSYS) outside of these hours. Payment Depot also designates an employee to monitor all after-hours support requests 24/7.
Payment Depot Support | Availability |
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Phone Support | |
Email Support | |
Support Tickets | |
Live Chat | |
Dedicated Support Representative | |
Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
Videos & Tutorials | |
Company Blog | |
Social Media |
One improvement we’d like to see is an online knowledgebase for customers with information on how to solve common problems. Payment Depot doesn’t currently offer this option, although there is a basic FAQ on the website. Social media accounts, while they do exist, haven’t recently been updated.
User Review
User Reviews3.9 |
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Customer Feedback 3.0 |
Review Site Aggregate 4.3 |
Negative Payment Depot Reviews & Complaints
Payment Depot’s public reputation has taken a hit over the last year. Payment Depot remains accredited by the BBB, but now has a B+ rating. The company has had only 24 complaints closed within the last three years, with 14 complaints being filed within the last twelve months. Customers have also filed five reviews, with an average rating of 1 out of 5 stars. On Trustpilot, the company has an average rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 1,255 reviews.
The most troubling pattern here is that many of the recent complaints are from long-time customers who noticed a recent decline in the quality and transparency of the service, some of whom correlate it to the Stax takeover of the company.
Complaints include:
- Unexpected Fees: Common complaints claim processing costs were significantly higher than anticipated. Considering that membership pricing is supposed to make processing costs more predictable, this is cause for concern.
- Difficulty Cancelling Service: While Payment Depot’s merchant agreement is supposed to be month-to-month, complaints allege that Payment Depot continued to charge bank accounts after cancellation.
- Customer Service Issues: While Payment Depot appears to have responded to formal complaints made through the Better Business Bureau, customers reported having difficulty reaching customer service through normal means.
Positive Payment Depot Reviews & Testimonials
Payment Depot has several video testimonials posted on its website as well as on its YouTube channel. All of them are very professional-looking and compelling. The company also invites its users to leave reviews on Trustpilot and even posts some of those reviews right on its homepage. The positive reviews mostly tout the money merchants have saved through the company’s membership pricing plans and the excellent customer service they’ve received.
If you’ve had any personal experience with Payment Depot, please feel free to leave a comment. We’re always looking for feedback from our readers about the companies we review.
Final Verdict On Payment Depot
Payment Depot’s membership pricing model was one of the more innovative developments in payment processing several years back. On paper, it should still offer month-to-month billing and predictable monthly costs that separate it from its competitors and provide excellent value for high-volume businesses.
Payment Depot’s rather sudden about-face in transparency combined with a notably higher complaint volume, however, make it difficult to recommend Payment Depot without reservations. With some of the best credit card processing companies now also offering more transparent membership processing, there are lower-risk ways to get wholesale pricing.
Credit Card Processor Review Methodology
We evaluate and test each payment processor that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on certain key characteristics in order to generate our granular ratings for merchant accounts and credit card processors.
For payment processing reviews, we use a 24-point rubric to evaluate the provider. First, we look at pricing structure – interchange plus, subscription-based, tiered, or hybrid – giving the most points to providers that provide fair, transparent pricing and docking those that rely on tiered models. Then we examine rates, the presence and transparency of early termination fees, and any additional fees.
We also look at contract length and fairness and test out sales staff and customer service channels ourselves to ensure that the company uses reputable, above-the-board sales techniques. Finally, we take the company’s online reputation into account, reading customer reviews and comments.
Read more about how we rate payment processors.
We've done in-depth research on each and confidently recommend them.
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