Payment Depot Review

Is Payment Depot the best merchant service provider for your business? See how it compares to credit card processors.

	Overall Score	4.0
	Price	4.5
	Customer Service	4.5
	Equipment	4.0
	Contract	5.0
	Ecommerce	4.0
	High Volume Business	5.0
	Low Volume Business	1.0

5-point scale (the higher, the better)

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Pros and Cons

• Affordable membership pricing
• Free equipment with some plans
• Cancel anytime

• Not ideal for small businesses
• Equipment return fee

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Bottom Line

Cheap merchant account provider for high-volume businesses

Payment Depot is a full-service merchant account provider ideal for larger, high-volume businesses. It has a unique membership plus fixed-rate pricing model to minimize fees.

With low costs, free cancellation, and 24/7 customer support, Payment Depot is worth considering if you process at least $5,000 in sales each month. However, there are some downsides to consider.

Is it an affordable option for your business? Let's dive into the review.

• What Is Payment Depot?
  
• Pros & Cons
  
• Pricing & Fees
  
• Contract & Termination
  
• Products and Services
  
• Equipment Options
  
• Downsides
  
• How to Get Started
  
• How It Compares

What Is Payment Depot?

Founded in 2013, Payment Depot is a merchant account provider mainly for high volume businesses.

Payment Depot partners with payment processors TSYS and First Data to provide credit card processing services. It works with the processors on your behalf to manage your account.

It offers processing services for both in-person and online sales. It works on a membership subscription pricing with a small set fee per transaction, regardless of the amount.

Payment Depot is best for:

• High volume businesses processing over $5,000 per month
  
• Businesses with large average ticket size
  
• Retail, restaurant, B2B, eCommerce, and professional services

Payment Depot Pros & Cons

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PROS:

• Transparent membership pricing
  
• All plans include free gateway and virtual terminal
  
• Free equipment with some plans
  
• Next day funding
  
• Cancel anytime with no cancellation fees
  
• 90-day full refund guarantee for annual plans
  
• 24/7 customer service via phone and email

CONS:

• Not ideal for small businesses
  
• 20% restocking fee for returned equipment
  
• Doesn't accept high risk merchants

Keep reading for the in-depth Payment Depot review.

Pricing & Fees

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Payment Depot has a membership based pricing plan. You pay a monthly fee for use of the service.

For each transaction, instead of charging a percentage markup, Payment Depot only charges a small fixed fee (higher volume plans get a discount on this fee), plus the required interchange fees charged by the credit card networks.

The fixed fee is the same regardless of whether you're taking a card in person, online, or keyed-in.

Payment Depot offers four plans depending on your monthly processing volume.

Basic Plan: $49 per month
Interchange + $0.15 per transaction

This plan has a monthly processing limit of $25,000. This plan includes a free payment gateway and virtual terminal. It also includes other merchant account services, such as PCI compliance and chargeback/risk monitoring.

Most Popular Plan: $79.00 per month
Interchange + $0.10 per transaction

This plan is ideal for businesses with up to $75,000 in monthly transactions. Added benefits include a free mobile reader and free terminal. You also get data breach protection and 24-hour premier support.

Best Value Plan: $99.00 per month
Interchange + $0.07 per transaction

The monthly transaction limit is $200,000. You get the same benefits as the Most Popular plan and are given a free pin pad.

Premier Plan: $199 per month
Interchange + $0.07 per transaction

The Premier Plan has no transaction processing limit. You get the same benefits as the Best Value plan and are also given free terminal updates every 2 years.

Contract and Termination

You have the option of choosing month-to-month billing or an annual membership. With both choices, you can cancel at any time with no cancellation fees, so you're never locked in.

The annual membership could let you save up to 40% on monthly fees (though you'll have to speak to a rep to determine your discount). It comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee. If you're not happy with Payment Depot for whatever reason within the first 90 days, you can close your account and receive a full refund.

If you cancel past 90 days, you'll receive a refund of your Annual Membership at the prorated monthly price.

If you return any equipment after cancellation, there will be a 20% restocking fee.

Products And Services

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Here are some features that Payment Depot offers:

Free payment gateway
All accounts get a free payment gateway for processing credit cards online. Payment Depot mostly uses Authorize.net as the payment gateway provider. It can integrate your existing Authorize.net account, or set up a new account for you.

Free virtual terminal
You also get a free virtual terminal that lets you manually key-in orders directly into a web browser. This is necessary for phone orders or if you experience an equipment problem.

Mobile POS
Payment Depot uses SwipeSimple to provide a mobile POS solution for those taking payments on their smart device. You can process mobile payments with the SwipeSimple app.

Next day funding
You can get your funds in your bank account the next day if you process your batch by 5 PM Central time.

Equipment Options

Payment Depot gives you the option to purchase equipment, OR to reprogram your existing equipment for free.

Some plans qualify for a free card reader and/or free terminal.

If you're purchasing equipment, Payment Depot offers these equipment options:

Standard Terminals

• Verifone VX520 ($299)
  
• PAX A80 ($299)
  
• First Data FD130 ($299)
  
• Dejavoo Z11 TriComm ($299)

Smart Terminals

• Swipe Simple Terminal ($299)
  
• Clover Flex ($449)
  
• Clover Mini LTE ($599)
  
• Vital Plus ($449)
  
• Poynt Smart Terminal ($599)

POS Solutions

• Clover Station POS ($1,499)
  
• Vital Select ($1,399)

Downsides

Not cost-effective for smaller businesses
The membership pricing model may be too expensive for new companies or those processing less than $5,000.00 per month.

Extra fees when returning equipment
When canceling a contract, Payment Depot charges a 20% restocking fee for returned equipment. If you choose to keep the equipment, you will be required to pay the full retail cost.

Doesn't accept high-risk accounts
Payment Depot doesn't work with high-risk merchants. So if your business falls under that category, you'll have to look for another provider (check out Payline Data). Some businesses are considered high-risk even if they may not sound like it, such as certain travel, medical, and financial services.

Payment Depot may also deny you if you have bad personal credit or if your business has an unfavorable reputation.

How to Get Started with Payment Depot

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To get started, you can either fill out the form online or speak with a rep at 1-877-876-8776. You'll be sent a link to the official application.

Some things you'll need to provide include:

• Physical business address (store front, office, or even home)
  
• Federal Tax ID number (not needed for sole proprietors)
  
• Social Security Number
  
• Voided business check to confirm your correct banking information

Then you'll go through an approval process to make sure that your business is trustworthy and meet basic standards. A credit check will be run as part of the approval process, as well as other things like business verification, chargeback history, etc.

Payment Depot does not accept businesses deemed as high risk.

Approval will be typically in 24 hours. A representative will contact you about equipment options. You'll get your machine in a couple of days and can start swiping cards.

If you're not approved, Payment Depot will even recommend other options better suited for you.

How It Compares

Square
Square makes it possible to accept credit cards without going through the approval process for a merchant account. They do not charge monthly fees, but charge a set 2.6% + $0.10 fee on each swiped transaction and 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions. Square is the best fit for small businesses or new businesses.

Square provides one free swipe reader (chip and contactless reader is extra). It also comes with a free online store and free virtual terminal.

Square also has a powerful all-in-one POS app. It has many functions including employee and inventory management, invoicing, gift cards, customer installment plan, and loyalty program. All in all, Square provides a comprehensive solution for small business owners.

Helcim
Helcim is also a merchant services account provider. It uses Interchange-Plus pricing with different tiers based on your processing volume. The more transactions you process, the less you'll pay per transaction. So it's best for high volume businesses. In addition, there is a monthly fee ($15 for retail and $35 for online).

It also operates on month-to-month billing with no cancellation fees.

PayPal Here
PayPal Here is great if you want to accept PayPal payments, which gives your customers more options. You can add a PayPal button on your site or even accept PayPal payments in-person on the mobile POS.

It has a flat-fee pricing of 2.7% for swiped and 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions. This pricing model works best for small, low-volume businesses.

Bottom Line

Payment Depot may be one of the cheapest processing options for businesses that make large amounts of transactions. Despite the monthly membership fee, the very low per-transaction markup can save you a lot in the long run.

If you are a new business or process small credit card transactions, a service like Square or PayPal may be a better choice for your company.