Best Clover Merchant Services Providers

National Processing is a great merchant services provider for small to midsize businesses, with monthly processing plans for retail, restaurant, eCommerce, and subscription-based businesses.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• eCheck processing
• MOTO (mail order/telephone order)
• Cash discounting
• High-risk merchant accounts available
• Integrations with eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or Ecwid
• QuickBooks accounting integration
• Create custom integrations with National Processing’s API

National Processing plans start at $9.95/month, which is charged on top of Clover’s monthly software fees.

National Processing’s flat-rate processing fees are 2.41-2.5% + $0.10 for in-person transactions and 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions.

Since you can get lower flat rates by purchasing your system through Clover directly, National Processing really only makes sense as an interchange-plus option for higher-volume businesses or for high-risk businesses that can’t get approved by Clover.

In some cases, National Processing may charge an early termination fee. However, if you present National Processing (in writing) a competitor merchant account quote that has no early termination fee, or your business is sold/closed, National Processing will waive your early termination fee.

National Processing’s contracts are typically 2-3 years, but if you present the company with a competitor quote offering monthly pricing, National Processing should match that contract length.

Dharma Merchant Services is a socially conscious company that strives to provide excellent merchant account services to small/midsize businesses while remaining committed to its environmental and community-building mission.

Here’s what else Dharma has to offer:

• Take payments in person, online, and over the phone
• Payment links
• Virtual terminal
• Invoicing
• Dharma’s MX Merchant app
• Store customer cards on file
• Payments features like recurring auto-billing
• MX B2B App.

B2B businesses using the MX B2B App automatically qualify for higher PCI compliance levels, resulting in reduced credit card processing rates (and hundreds of dollars in savings).

Dharma’s processing rates range from Interchange + 0.10-0.30% + $0.08-$0.11.

While payment processing, a virtual terminal, card on file, and business reporting, you may add the following services:

• ACH/eCheck Processing: $25/month and 0-0.20% + $0.40/transaction
• Invoicing/Recurring Billing: $10/month
• B2B Payment Processing: $20/month

Monthly fees, hardware, and monthly software subscription fees also apply if you’re using Clover.

Dharma provides a wealth of information about terms and fees for Clover POS systems on its website. Dharma does offer Clover leases, but it’s very clear about the terms, and you are under no obligation to lease your equipment if you don’t want to.

If you request to have your account closed, you are charged an account closure fee. This is set because Dharma still has to maintain your account for six months after closure in case one of your customers disputes a transaction. It is not a penalty for canceling your monthly contract early.

Here’s some of what Payline Data offers to its customers:

• Dedicated merchant accounts
• Choice of Payline Gateway, Authorize.Net, or the NMI gateway
• ACH processing
• Free virtual terminal
• Several third-party mobile payments systems
• 175+ shopping cart integrations
• QuickBooks integration
• API for custom integrations

Payline Data has a unique monthly pricing structure that ranges from $10 – $20/month. You’ll pay lower pricing if you’re a nonprofit or operate a healthcare business, or if the majority of your transactions are card-present. You’ll pay the higher end of the range if most of your transactions are online.

Processing rates are Interchange + 0.4% + $0.10 for businesses that mostly have in-person transactions. Rates are Interchange + 0.75% + $0.20 for businesses that mostly have online transactions. Reduced rates are available for healthcare businesses and nonprofits.

Custom processing rates are available to high-volume businesses. Note that higher rates may apply for high-risk businesses.

Additional fees for Clover hardware and software apply.

Payline Data offers month-to-month billing and no long-term contracts for low-risk businesses.

Certain high-risk businesses may not be eligible for Payline’s standard contracts. ETFs may also apply, so make sure to read your contract carefully before signing.

Host Merchant Services offers merchant accounts for businesses in a variety of industries, including medical services, hotel/lodging/rental businesses, and high-risk businesses such as firearms sales. Standout features include:

• Small ticket program, which allows businesses with a small ticket size (less than $15 on average) to save money on payment processing
• Cash discounting program
• EBT/SNAP transaction program
• Virtual terminal
• Hosted, branded online checkout page that supports one-time and recurring payments
• Supports ACH payments

HMS pricing plans are as follows:

• Retail: $14.99/month (interchange + 0.25% + $0.10/transaction)
• Restaurant: $14.99/month (interchange + 0.20% + $0.09/transaction)
• eCommerce: $14.99/month (interchange + 0.35% + $0.10/transaction)
• No Cost (Cash Discount): $0 for merchants processing >$5K/month; $20/month for merchants processing <$5K/month

Host notes that the cash discount plan is only available to businesses that don’t need to use the tip-adjust option when processing transactions.

Unfortunately, Host Merchant Services does not list its hardware or monthly software pricing for Clover POS devices on its website.

Host Merchant Services has month-to-month contracts and includes an early termination fee waiver with your merchant agreement. Your payment processing rates given at the time of signing your merchant agreement will never increase due to any pricing increases on the part of Host Merchant Services.

If you are already signed on with a merchant account provider and face early termination fees when switching, you can ask Host Merchant Services if they’ll help cover any of those fees. The company has agreed to pay up to $250 in owed early termination fees for referred clients and $500 if that referral client processes over $50,000 per month. While this deal may only apply in a referral situation, it never hurts to ask!

PaymentCloud specializes in a number of high-risk industries and works with several banking institutions to find the best payment processing rate for your merchant account. With PaymentCloud, you’ll receive:

• A dedicated support representative
• Chargeback protection
• Fraud detection tools
• Virtual terminal
• MOTO payments
• eCheck processing
• Integrations with eCommerce platforms including Shopify, BigCommerce, and ShiftShop,
• Integrations with customer relationship management systems and industry-specific software

Like most high-risk merchant account providers, PaymentCloud does not disclose pricing information online. This is mostly because high-risk merchant accounts are highly personalized based on the business as well as the trustworthiness of the business owner.

You will probably pay at least $25/month to maintain your high-risk merchant account. You’ll most likely be required to have a rolling reserve account, and if your business is considered very high-risk, you may be required to use a tiered pricing model, rather than interchange-plus. Tiered pricing is the most expensive, but at some point, you have to take what you can get.

PaymentCloud will actively seek out the best payment processing terms for you and help with your account application to mitigate the riskiness of your business (on paper, anyway).

PaymentCloud offers month-to-month contracts with no early termination fees whenever possible.

While PaymentCloud works with its network of acquiring banks to find the best contract terms, some high-risk business owners may end up needing to sign the high-risk industry-standard two-year contract. In most cases, PaymentCloud can get the early termination fee waived.

PaymentCloud offers a “free” POS terminal to new merchants, but it’s more of a loaner. If you cancel your account, you have to ship the hardware back to PaymentCloud immediately to avoid being charged full price for the Clover terminal you decide to use.

There are multiple built-in features that Clearly Payments offers for several business types.

For example, you may build an online hosted payment page, which essentially works like PayPal. You place a “buy now” button on your website or other online presence, a customer clicks it and is redirected to a Clearly Payments payment page, then once they enter their information (which is safely stored on Clearly Payments’ servers), they’re redirected to a “thank you” page.

You may also:

• Build custom invoice templates and track the status of invoices
• Create recurring payment plans to embed in your website, app, or other software platform
• Use a virtual terminal to take payments over the phone or send one-time payment requests to customers
• Design your own custom receipts
• Integrate Clearly Payments with popular accounting software, website builders, or subscription billing apps, or make use of the open API to develop your own integrations

Clearly Payments works in 65 different currencies (with the currency changing dynamically depending on your customer’s location) and multiple languages, so you can use this Clover payment processing provider internationally.

Clearly Payments offers the following membership plans:

• Cost-Plus: $21/month (Interchange + 0.15-0.38% + $0.04-$0.08 per transaction)
• Membership (for Canadian businesses only): $99 or $189/month (Interchange + 0% + $0.06-$0.08 per transaction)

With a membership plan, you’ll pay wholesale interchange pricing, meaning that you won’t pay the markup percentage that you typically do with other merchant accounts.

The company also offers your standard interchange-plus payment processing, but Clearly Payments does not beat competitors like Dharma Merchant Services until you start processing so much money per month that it makes more sense to get a membership-based merchant account.

The website does not list pricing for Clover devices or accompanying software. Clearly Payments offers Clover machines as part of a terminal rental program. Your rental contract is month-to-month, and you may cancel it at any time.

Clearly Payments offers monthly contracts with no setup or cancellation fees. You may also cancel your Clover terminal rental at any point without facing any penalties.