What is Payment Depot?
Payment Depot is a membership based payment processor owned by Stax, and is often called the Costco of credit card processing.
Payment Depot is said to process annually $4 billion worth of transactions and services a variety of industries including retail providers, restaurants, B2B, mobile, e-commerce, medical, legal, accounting and professional services.
Payment Depot’s pricing model is based around a monthly subscription plan. Customers pay a monthly fee to access wholesale rates for processing transactions. Where most providers charge the “interchange plus” pricing structure method, this provider uses a wholesale subscription model. Instead of charging a markup on processing fees, they make money from add-on services so usually works well for business that process above $10,000 monthly. There are no hidden fees, including no set up fees.
To keep credit card information safe, Payment Depot provides PCI-compliant processing at no additional cost. In contrast, some other merchant services providers charge a compliance fee to keep customer data secure. Payments are processed quickly and funds available within 24 to 48 hours, on average.
Payment Depot uses the SwipeSimple mobile app to allow merchants to process mobile transactions. The app is available on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store. SwipeSimple includes tools to report on sales, inventory and past transactions. There are also functions for invoicing and calculating taxes. For the most seamless operation, customers can purchase a Swipe Simple terminal or mobile card reader hardware to process payments on-the-go anywhere anytime.
Payment Depot integrates with most third-party hardware brands like Clover, Poynt, Ingenico and more. They use Authorize.net as their payment gateway software. On certain plans, you are also offered a free terminal. If you have an existing hardware or have already purchased one, Payment Depot will help you reprogram the units provided they are compatible with the Payment Depot software.
They only support US based businesses and don’t offer their services to high risk merchants like accounts receivable, adult-oriented services, advanced payments older than a year, airlines, alcohol sales, check cashing, collection agencies, credit repair, debt consolidation, drug paraphernalia, extended car warranties, online gambling, medical marijuana, designer name replicas and online tobacco sales.
Payment Depot
What popular features do you get with Payment Depot?
- Subscription based model gives you low wholesale processing rates
- 90-day money back guarantee
- All-in-one membership for online, in-store, and mobile processing
- Able to reprogram some terminal models if you want to use one that you already own
- PCI compliant processing at no extra cost
- Low chargeback fees
- Certain plans offer free Virtual Terminal
- Compatible with third party software vendors, including gateways like Authorize.net and USAePay, which makes it easier to integrate with popular software like FreshBooks and Shopify.
Customer Support is available at Payment Depot
The company offers support through its Orange County office during office hours (7am PST to 5pm PST) on (877) 877-7668 and 24/7 support through its processing bank in Colorado. Staff also monitors after hours communication at its headquarters and responds to urgent matters as necessary. However their website does not offer a knowledge base or any troubleshooting content.
What kind of business is Payment Depot ideal for?
Payment Depot stands out from other credit card processing providers mainly because, where most of other the providers use the “interchange plus” pricing arrangement method, this provider uses a fixed wholesale rate subscription model. “Interchange plus,” means the service provider makes a profit by marking up the fee charged by the credit card company, which is generally fixed. Wholesalers pass that fixed fee to merchants, with a small transaction fee and a relatively low monthly subscription fee. Payment Depot is good for merchants that process at least $10,000 per month. If you are based in US and are looking for a flat-fee processing rates then Payment Depot is right for you. Pricing transparency lets business owners get a full understanding of their processing costs.
Pros and Cons
- Easy-to-understand pricing plans
- Money-back guarantee.
- No interchange rate markup
- Compatible with several card readers
- Free virtual terminal
- Low chargeback fees
- Might be expensive for some small businesses with low volumes
- No knowledgebase and limited online support options
- Don’t work high-risk merchants
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- Accepts most payment types including Apple Pay & Google Pay
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- Set up and automatically apply taxes at the item level
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How much does Payment Depot cost?
*based on information provided by the vendor. Actual cost may vary.
Payment Depot charges a monthly fee based on the plan you choose. You only pay the interchange rate for each transaction, and Payment Depot only gets the monthly subscription fee. Available plans are as below:
- The Starter membership is $79 per month plus $0.15 per transaction plus interchange fees for users with up to $50,000 in transactions per month
- Most Popular membership is $99 per month plus $0.10 per transaction plus interchange fees for users with up to $150,000 in monthly transactions.
- Enterprise plan at $199 offers the best pricing for those with $300,000 or more in monthly transactions with only a $0.07 per-transaction charge plus interchange fees.
- The Most Popular and the Enterprise plans offer Breach Protection of up to $100,000 in cybersecurity protection for your business from suffering at the hands of hackers and cybercriminals.
- Businesses that process more than $500,000 in transactions annually qualify for a custom quote.
- If you cancel your account within 90 days and return your equipment, you get a full refund, minus any interchange and transaction fees.
- No setup or chargeback and other miscellaneous fees.
- Hardware costs starts at $49 with SwipeSimple mobile card readers
Final thoughts...
Payment Depot’s subscription based model is a decent choice, as you don’t have to worry about any surprise fees. The only time you might get a higher bill is if you process more transactions than usual, in such case you can just move into the next tier up.
Their attractive features include rate protection, chargeback and risk monitoring, shopping cart integration, next-day funding, mobile payments, and a virtual terminal. With 90 days risk free trial it is absolutely worth a go if you have high transaction volumes and want to lower credit card processing costs.
