An Honest Review of Payment Depot

History

Founded in 2013 and based in California and has been recently acquired by Stax Payments in 2021, Payment Depot is a merchant service provider offering subscription based payment processing for merchants. Their website's homepage claims they are the highest rated credit card processor, but there is no indication on the page of where those ratings are coming from, and whether or not they are merchant or third party reviews.

Overview

Payment Depot offers merchants membership pricing and touts "wholesale rate" prices. On their website, they actually compare themselves to Costco. The wholesale rates Payment Depot advertise are simply the true interchange cost on a credit card transaction.

While not a great option for seasonal, or low ticket/low volume businesses, they have built a following in the United States (currently the only country in which Payment Depot offers their services) for merchants processing high volumes of high ticket items.

Payment Depot Pricing

Payment Depot's membership pricing is not unlike those alluded to in Stax reviews, another reseller which charges merchants a subscription fee as opposed to a markup on interchange rates.

The interchange fee, set by the issuing banks, is the base of any credit card transaction fee, or merchant fee. While flat rate processors stick a large percentage markup on top, interchange plus processors use what are known as basis points to affix a certain markup to the interchange fee. To compensate for the lack of markup though, Payment Depot (and others like them) charge a monthly subscription fee to merchants who use their service. This essentially makes "interchange plus zero" or "wholesale rates" redundant for businesses processing small amounts, because they will never save more on interchange than they are paying in monthly fees.

Curious how Payment Depot's actual rates compares to Helcim? Try our statement comparator below.

Payment Depot Monthly Plans

Payment Depot offers membership plans starting at $79 USD per month, increasing to $99, and $199 for premium features and smaller transaction fees. Note that with each package, merchants can only process a certain amount of payments per month. For example: $50,000 of payments per month with the entry level package.

Also important to note, is that like Fattmerchant, Payment Depot do not markup the interchange rate, but they do charge a few cents for every transaction you process. At the $79/month "Starter" rate, this fee is $0.15 cents per transaction, falling to $0.10 cents and $0.07 cents respectively, for the more expensive "Most Popular" and "Enterprise" membership tiers.

See how Payment Depot's rates compare with Helcim's Interchange Plus Pricing below:

Software & Hardware

When it comes to software and hardware, Payment Depot is a reseller of Fiserv (formerly First Data), so when you're considering Payment Depot, you'll need to know that you're really considering First Data (and its line of Clover products) as well. Read our article on Helcim vs. First Data.

You can browse through their hardware offerings on their website, and one perk of membership pricing is that you can get a card reader for free when you work with Payment Depot. One thing merchants need to remember though is that you are essentially renting this machine from Payment Depot (or Fiserv) and you will not own the machine at any point. In our opinion, you should avoid renting equipment whenever possible.

Payment Depot has the basics covered when it comes to tools in your payments arsenal, like a payment gateway for your website and a virtual terminal for you to key-in transactions, but beyond this, it is hard to find out what else they offer just from browsing their website, so you'll need to try and get on the phone with one of their sales people.

What Is a Reseller?

Payment Depot is what is known in payments as a reseller, meaning they are not a Payment Facilitator (PayFac), but a Merchant Service Provider reselling the services of an acquirer. Payment Depot discloses their relationship with their acquirer on their website:

"PaymentDepot.com is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord, CA."

Without getting into the nitty gritty, this essentially means that Payment Depot does not completely own their platform but is subject in certain regards to their acquiring bank. Payment Depot controls some of the payment experience and how they price their product, but they do not own the process from front to back or manage their own risk.

The long and short of reselling is that it limits a company's ability to service merchants effectively with the best pricing and most robust software. Resellers have a piece of the payments puzzle that businesses need, but can't provide merchants with everything they need at the best possible price.

4 Reasons to Choose Helcim

1. No Monthly Fee

At Helcim, we don't charge a monthly fee to any of our merchants. You just pay processing fees-that's it! As a small business owner, not having to worry about a monthly fee can not only save you money, but simply grant you peace of mind.

2. Helcim's Tools Don't Cost Extra

It's not just the lower payment processing fees that you'll benefit from. While Payment Depot charges extra for certain tools and features; with Helcim, merchants get full access to all of our software and tools at no charge. That means useful features like adding more users or devices, or sending unlimited invoices. You also get access to powerful tools that let you do things like create a fully hosted online store or securely store customer card information for recurring billing, and you'll never pay extra for a single tool.

3. Helcim Point of Sale

One of the free tools included with your Helcim account is our POS software. Our software can not only integrate with certain POS hardware (if you're thinking about switching and want to know if we can integrate, give us a call), it allows you to turn your tablet, phone, or desktop into your own POS system-no additional (expensive!) hardware required.

4. Our Customer Service Makes the Difference

To us, Better Payments doesn't stop at just offering more affordable pricing and better tools. We are extremely proud of our knowledgeable in-house Merchant Success team who are available whenever you hit a bump on the road. Available by phone or email, they're happy to help you better understand the sometimes complicated world of accepting payments, find a solution to help you grow your business, or answer any questions that might come up about our services or the payments industry in general. If you prefer self-service support, Helcim also offers a detailed support section with step by step tutorials and videos to help you get started.

Experience Better Payments

At Helcim, we're on a mission to become the world's most loved payments company, and in order to be the best merchant services around, we put our merchants first in everything we do. We work hard to over deliver in our software, hardware, and customer service offerings, while at the same time offering some of the most competitive pricing in the industry. If you're tired of overpaying for credit card processing, or working with a processor that just doesn't seem to care about you or your business, switch to Helcim and see the difference that having a payments company in your corner can make. We'll be waiting to welcome you to the Helcim family with open arms!

Thinking about switching to Helcim?

Now that you understand the benefits of Helcim over Payment Depot, you might be wondering how to make the switch. Good news! Helcim's Merchant Buyout Program can help you transition smoothly and hassle-free.

Here’s what you can expect:

• Receive personalized support on how to migrate your data to Helcim.
• We’ll waive up to $500 in processing fees to cover your cancellation costs including early termination fees or equipment leases.
• Need POS hardware? Helcim offers payment terminals available for a one-time purchase or through payment plans.
• Save ~25% on processing fees with our interchange-plus pricing and enjoy our exceptional customer service.

Break up with your current provider for better service, lower fees, and many free payment tools. Switch to Helcim with our Merchant Buyout Program.

Break up with bad rates.

Feeling stuck with your provider? We'll waive $500 of your processing fees when you switch to Helcim.

Learn more