It’s as challenging to run a business in Canada as it is in the United States, and not just because of the cold weather. Being able to accept credit and debit cards is every bit as important as it is elsewhere, but Canadian merchants suffer from a particular shortage of high-quality merchant services providers. While there are a number of reputable American providers that also do business in Canada, there simply aren’t all that many home-grown providers from which to choose.It shouldn’t be this way. Regulation of the processing industry is generally more consumer-friendly in Canada than it is in the United States, and for this reason, some providers that operate in both countries offer better service to merchants north of the border.
The Canadian government has promulgated a Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada that establishes a set of best practices and ethical guidelines to ensure that merchants are treated fairly. While compliance with the Code isn’t mandatory, peer pressure within the industry has resulted in most Canadian providers publicly pledging to abide by it.Another unique issue faced by Canadian merchants is that EMV-compliant terminals are not designed to be re-sold or re-programmed.
We normally recommend buying your terminals outright as the best and most cost-effective way to outfit your business with processing equipment. However, the inability to resell an EMV terminal in Canada means you’ll want to look for an alternative. Many Canadian providers offer month-to-month terminal rentals, which differ from leases in that you won’t be locked into a noncancelable long-term contract and you won’t be responsible for every single lease payment as soon as you sign up.
Your Virtual Terminal. Accept all major debit and credit cards, from more than 190 markets. You’ll usually get paid within minutes, then you can spend the money online where PayPal is accepted or withdraw it to your bank account. Square Terminal is an intuitive credit card machine that takes payments quickly and securely. Our portable credit card terminal is easy to set up, reliable to use, and has no hidden fees. You can confidently accept all types of payments and get paid fast.
Check out our article, for more details on why leasing is never a good idea.In this article, we’ll give you an overview of the best merchant services providers available in Canada. Because different types of businesses have different needs, we’ll cover providers that are best for low-volume businesses and those that are a better all-around choice for more-established businesses. Finally, we’ll briefly cover the worst merchant services provider we’ve found operating in Canada, with an emphasis on why it’s so bad. You’ll want to know in advance what to look out for, and there are plenty of providers out there that have features you’ll want to avoid.
As always, we recommend that you thoroughly research any provider you’re thinking of doing business with before you contact their sales team. Negotiate aggressively where it’s appropriate, and try to get quotes from several different providers before making a decision. Most importantly, review all contract documents thoroughly before you agree to sign up for an account.Our Top Payment Processing Picks For Canadian Businesses in 2018. Table of Contents.Best All-In-One Platform Features For Canada: HelcimCalgary-based (see ) is hands-down the best overall merchant account provider available in Canada today.
They’re also one of the best providers in the United States, too. Here are some of the highlights of their services:. Exclusive interchange-plus pricing (Helcim calls it Cost+) for all merchants. Month-to-month billing with no early termination fees.
Minimal monthly account fees. All-in-one Helcim Commerce payments platform. Free Helcim Commerce Mobile app (iOS and Android) with $30.00 mobile card readerHelcim offers more pricing disclosures on their website than just about any other provider in the industry, so your costs are very predictable, and you won’t need to negotiate very much to secure the best possible deal for your business.
They also include a number of in-depth articles explaining how credit card processing works, including exposing many of the deceptive advertising tricks used by other providers.With Helcim, fairness is the name of the game. Helcim charges affordable prices and has one of the most transparent sales policies of any processor out there, Canadian or otherwise, as we mention in our post,. Everything is completely laid out on the table, with crystal-clear fee disclosures so you’re never again hit with a bill like a punch in the stomach.
This type of fairness and transparency is what’s lacking in a lot of processors, and hopefully, the industry takes a cue from these guys.Pros:. Exclusive interchange-plus processing rates. No long-term contracts or early termination fees. Extensive account fee disclosures. Minimal monthly account fees. Excellent customer supportCons:.
Not cost-effective for merchants processing less than $1,500 per month. No EMV-compliant mobile card readerCheck out our for more details.
Best Credit Card Payment App For Canada: Square(see ) is not an exclusively Canadian processor, but they serve smaller Canadian merchants quite well. Unlike a traditional merchant account provider, Square is a payment service provider (or “third-party processor”). When you sign up, you get an aggregated merchant account that is shared with other merchants using the company’s service. You won’t have a unique merchant identification number for your business, but you also won’t have any monthly fees or a long-term contract, either.Square uses a fairly simple flat-rate pricing system, although the number of possible rates has grown quite a bit in recent years as they’ve expanded their offerings.
Frank Kehl has been writing about merchant services, payment gateways, and international money transfer services since 2015. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Penn State and a Juris Doctorate from the Ventura College of Law. After a long and enjoyable career of traveling around the world as an Air Force navigator, he’s comfortably settled down in the wine country town of Paso Robles in California’s scenic Central Coast region. He enjoys reading, photography, hiking, and numerous other outdoor pursuits. Hi, Ann!I’m sorry to hear about your troubles with Elavon. As far as Central, if you are referring to Central Payments, we do not recommend them.
They tend to have pushy sales reps with less-than-ideal contract terms. We recommend you look into or as more viable options. One of the reasons we like these options is that their pricing structure is very clear, and you don’t need to worry about a binding, long-term contract. However, your sales volume and particular needs may vary, so be sure to read and understand your agreement to understand how fees may affect you.
Best of luck as you find a more suitable processor that meets your needs! Hi Claire,According to our very brief research in response to your question, EMV compliance isn’t mandated by law in Canada (or the US, for that matter). However, the card associations have imposed a liability shift that’s similar to the US. They’ve gone farther with it, and now include gas stations as well. Also, Interac debit cards (the most common ones in Canada), now have a mandatory EMV requirement. I’d recommend you get an EMV-compliant terminal, as you’ll probably lose sales otherwise. EMV-compliant terminals don’t cost any more than magstripe terminals at this point, and you’ll avoid any potential liability issues.
Hope that helps! Thanks for this article. It helped me expand my Canadian brick and mortar store business.I needed to accept debit.
I became very frustrated with the increased rates Moneris charged me since 1995. I initially chose Square and outgrew it. Dreampayments was an amazing device while it lasted (Mastercard bought them out and shut them down in 2018). I chose Helcim with an Ingenico card reader based on this very article 12 months ago. I am happy I did. If you do you should be running a business that grosses 25K per annum.
If not stick to Square until you do. Helcim has phone support (you may wait a while) and their website does have a learning curve. They are very helpful. Within 3 months the transaction savings vs. Moneris paid for the switch! I have been with Elavon for several years now and they use third party services providers that can be quite confusing as they don’t always clue you in who they are and I accidentally started two accounts because I thought they were the same people and that I was cancelling one but it turns out they are working under Elavon and I now had two debit machine accounts for one checkout!
I transferred the account to my husband’s business so it all worked out eventually. The confusion!Now in the past two years or so, we have been getting rate increases every three or four months! We get them identified as: this is not a bill, this is what the new changes to your bill will look like.we get two envelopes in the same month: one is the fake bill. This is unsatisfactory. This is when I know a company is experiencing trouble from within: when they raise their rates frequently. I pay $60+ a month for the terminal and processing service including all the fees BUT I only process less than $100 – $1000 in a month (seasonal business) but the fees are huge to me!
![Locations Locations](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125650240/179335994.jpg)
When I first signed up, it was based on sales and if that were still the case, my fees would be much lower than this monthly.So my comment for you is: is there someone better for me, or am I and my husbands small business stuck in this situation as long as we need to process debits as well as credit card payments in Canada? I was looking at square but currently they do not provide DEBIT card processing!Any help?I want to change out from thisand stop using my land line which carries a $75 monthly line fee, totally upsetting in a downturned economy. They also keep raising our rates every six months.
I want out of this trapped me in their billing cycle system.Just to process payments: $75 line fee for phone, second line charge: smart ring included in $60 bundle fee; plus $60+ in debit machine fees = $215 monthly!What can I do to get this back down to a reasonable level of expense? I also have iphones I could use and a computer should I need internet for processing. Hi there Andrew,“Base + Interchange” is the same as interchange-plus pricing, although it’s commonly called cost-plus in Canada. Is an OK processor (we gave them 4 stars), but I’d recommend getting quotes from the other processors and see if your current provider can match the rates.
At $500K per month, getting the lowest possible interchange-plus rates will be more important than paying for account fees. I’d also suggest getting a month-to-month contract with no early termination fee, if possible. Thank you for great write up on processors for Canada.We are in the consulting business and have nation wide corp in Canada. We also have C corp in USA. It was for our eCom biz, which we are in process of restructuring and starting over again.Our consulting biz just started and we would be processing in USD and CAD. The eCom will be in USD mostly.
For now we use Stripe and being charged extra fees for being in Canada. We can set up another Stripe account based in the US to avoid 0.6% extra fees on top of the 2.9%(for US transactions). We’ll use EIN.I didn’t look at Chase yet. It sounds interesting.What would you recommend for our situation, where we run consulting in USD and CAD and eCom, which will likely be higher volume. Would like to have an option to take payments over the phone, and maybe even in personThank you in advance!Arkad! First off, Thank you for all your detailed reviews.
Very helpful.We are looking to start a classifieds marketplace and would like a split payment solution where our sellers would receive direct payment with a commission going to the marketplace. We would expect transaction volumes to be in the 100k plus per month + region.I know that Stipe provides this service through stripe connect custom, however the fees are too high (their regular fees, plus $2 per month per user).Do you know of other providers that offer such a service? This would be for Canada and the UK.
Hi Jason,With, the $2/month per user fee can be avoided depending on which onboarding process you choose for users, then it’s just a matter of the other fees. Stripe does do volume discounts, especially at that volume, so I’d suggest reaching out to the sales team to see what can be done in terms of reducing fees.would be the best alternative, although pricing is similar. Again, you can negotiate, especially at the volumes you’re anticipating.There might be other solutions out there, but we’re not experts in markets outside the US and to some extent Canada. I hope that helps! My partner and I recently purchased a 10 unit motel. The summer time we will do maybe 1-3 transactions a week per room, at 80% occupancy.
Currently off season is around 40% occupancy, which of course is our goal to increase. Room rate approx $125. We need to have the option for debit and credit onsite, as well as being able to secure a down payment upon booking over the phone. We are a located in Ontario, but understand we do get a fair amount of American tourists in the summer. Can you suggest what might be the best avenue for us? The current owners just cancelled their First Data and had $250 in fees owed to Mastercard, $250 fees owed to Visa, plus $1400 for terminating contract early.
We contacted them to see about taking over their terminal and taking over the account but it wasn’t an option, and First data sent us their information. Our first time embarking on a business adventure., so any advice would be appreciated.thanksBridgetThis comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Glad you found it helpful! Offline connectivity generally depends on the point of sale software, rather than the payment processor. As you know, Square serves as both a POS and payment processor so it is kind of an exception to that rule.
If you want a POS system that works with a dedicated merchant account, Revel Systems is a POS system with excellent offline functionality — you can actually process credit cards offline vs. Just queue them up and wait til internet is restored to run them like with Square. In terms of Canadian payment processors, Revel is compatible with Moneris and possibly some others. If you want another mobile all-in-one app like Square, I’m not aware of a better alternative that has an offline mode. Here is an article you might find helpful:This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. I got a quote from Costco Elavon:1.Retail Visa & Master Card Qualified (swiped/card present) 1.56%2.
Rewards/Premium/Commercial cards (swiped/card present) 1.99%and:No Cancellation fees. Your contract can be cancelled without penalty by providing 30-days’ noticeNo Interchange Differential feesNo Annual or Quarterly FeesNo Batch FeesNo Deposit FeesAnd from Helcim that is Cost + 0.25% + 0.08cMy average is about 30$ each transaction.Seems the Costco is a better choice for rate. Is anything that i should concern?This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. I have a small business with 3 locations in Vancouver. At the moment I am with Global Payments (Vantiv).
On an average month we currently process approximately $32k a month per location and our fees for this amount are around $480 a month. Most of the transactions are credit card. Also, I do not receive my funding until 48 business hours later (that means Friday-Sunday settlement does not go in until Tuesday). Is this a reasonable fee?This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. If you are in Canada and are an independent (or small/medium), businessthen I’d HIGHLY suggest looking into becoming a member of CFIB (Canadian Federation for Independent Business).As a CFIB member you get access to Chase-Paymenttech exclusive rates and are not locked into any contracts (ie.
You can cancel at any time for any reason without penalty). Reference:As CFIB has over 30,000 members on the Chase program they have over $13B in processing leverage.
This has allowed them to negotiate Tier 1 rates with Master Card (you would need to process over $3B to get this rate)and have recently negotiated a 1.8% rate with AMEX (and you get your money the next day).Hope this helps.Kindly,BrianThis comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. We just received an email that Dream Payments are cancelling their MPOS which is what we had going “We are still committed to providing small businesses with innovative payment solutions that help them to be successful. Going forward however, Dream will serve small businesses through partnerships with banks and merchant acquirers that will provide Dream powered payment solutions directly to their end business customers.
With this, Dream Payments will be discontinuing the Dream Payments MPOS service that your company currently uses for payment processing.We have truly appreciated being your payment processing service provider and, as such, we regret to inform you that all debit and credit card payment processing through the Dream MPOS application and mobile card reader will conclude at 11:59pm on July 5th, 2018. I was also using dream payments and loved it. We run 2 brick and mortar tax prep locations and it was idea since many of our customers pay with Interac.
I have no clue where to turn to replace what I had with dream with something else that would do the same with a similar cost. We had global payments before dream and the cost was crazy. Most of our transactions are $100 so square doesn’t work great for Interac since they only have flash. Any ideas would be welcome!This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. I am in the process of setting up an online business with a yearly auto-recurring subscription model.
My business is based in Canada but most of the transactions will be with small businesses in the US. Average yearly subscription is about 100-150 USD. Might be charged monthly or yearly.
It appears helcim or stripes would be good options? Or are there other ones I should consider,? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. I read this article and the comments with much interest.
I own + operate a very small business (approx $115K gross annually; 95+% of payments are via credit card) and have been using Moneris for about 9 years. I was referred to Moneris by my bank and have not changed due to all the confusion I find with different companies and how they charge. I sense that Moneris is costly but I’m scared to switch since I did try once, with Pivotal, and it was a DISASTER. It was hell getting rid of them and, thankfully, I had not terminated my account with Moneris.
I get calls for time to time offering the “BEST” pricing but it is very hard for me to navigate through all the gobbledygook. I am now being pursued by Inkas which did not receive a mention here. What’s the scoop on them?
Also, I have heard good things about Elavon over the years. How about them? I had never heard of Helcim so will check them outThis comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Moneris is decent, and if you’re getting interchange-plus processing rates with them, it might be worth staying; if not, you can see if they will give you interchange-plus pricing. Helcim is definitely our favorite, because they give all customers interchange-plus and they don’t have any early termination fees or other hidden fees.
Elavon’s quality depends on the reseller; for instance, Helcim is an excellent Elavon reseller, while Costco is not. We haven’t reviewed Inkas so I can’t speak to their quality. Definitely check out Helcim though if you’re considering switching. Here are a few resources you should read:This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Stu, you are so right.
I work for the banks. For us is ta-boo to even enquire on who are the merchant pos associated with. We all know the merchant pos are part of our banking organization, we cannot admit it, like you said for liability issues.
For example, Chase Paymentech is Scotiabank and Chase Bank. When asking Scotiabank about their association with Chase Paymentech they answer who?! The financial world is sicker than hollywood.
All i can say is its a world of who sucks who! Good Luck all of you.This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Square and Payd are good alternatives for low volume businesses because there are no fixed costs. The breakeven point where the higher processing fees start to absorb the lack of fixed costs is somewhere between $4000 and $5000 depending upon your business. The other important factor to consider is that to date you can’t accept interac with Square and with Payd you need to rent a pinpad (fixed cost). This is a factor because Interac is so much cheaper to process than credit cards.This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
We had switched to Merchant Service Canada. As they did a comparison with our current rates and could offer us lower ones.We were maybe satisfied with them for 3 months, but still had hiccups over those 3 months. We stuck it out and kept getting a new terminal every couple of days. As there would be days that I would be down completely and be able to accept payment!There was one point, where I was without a debit machine for 5 days!!!
That is so much business lost!Yes I could still write down the patient’s credit card number, but not everyone wants to pay with credit or want to leave their number with me.The latest was, Merchant Service Canada (MSC) asked for our terminal back so I sent it to their office. We were still getting billed from a leasing company.
Spoke with the leasing company, we are in the lease until 2018. The leasing company said we should not have sent out terminal to MSC. I then called MSC they’ve taken 1.5 months to mail it back to our office. I just opened the box from them, they kept the battery from the terminal!!! I just got off the phone with MSC and they wanted to charge me for a new battery and to ship it.
That has also now been straightened out.We are now back with Chase payment (knock on wood), we are happy and they have taken very good care of us.I strongly do NOT recommend Merchant Service Canada. I am a very forgiving, understanding person but they are not a straight cut company!This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Thank you for your very helpful article.
We are looking into Helcim, as per your recommendation.Just a comment – you list Stripe as a third-party payment processor, however, I do not believe that they are.This is what they emailed me: “Unlike PayPal or other services, Stripe doesn’t use separate webpages or provide hosted payment portals for taking payments0. With Stripe, your customers can securely make payments directly from your website without ever having leave or log in to any accounts.”This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi Brenda,I’m glad we could help. The term third-party payment processor refers to the way the transactions are processed behind the scenes.
In that email, Stipe is referring to how you can integrate the payment capability into your website. Behind the scenes, however, Stripe processes payments through aggregated accounts, which can impact account stability and cost. Helcim, on the other hand, will provide you with a dedicated merchant account.It can be a confusing distinction, but I hope this helps!This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. I know processors in Canada it is my business, please note I am not aligned with the industry or anyone in it. I need to correct some items in the above post. If you are dealing directly with Chase in Canada you will be renting a terminal not leasing some ISO that work through Chase do lease.
They have very good customer service offering same day terminal swaps in major population centres. However they do have cancellation fees of $300 flat which again may be different through an ISO. Most of what you said about Moneris is true service overall is not bad but in my opinion second to Chase at least with my clients.
Cancelling with Moneris is difficult not so much with Chase and negotiating a better rate much easier with Chase than Moneris. Helcium has a good reputation and process through Elavon with Interchange plus pricing available for all. Moneris does not usually offer Interchange plus and Chase only for clients doing over $1 million a year.This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. I’m doing merchant machine audits for a few clients. There are a lot of scammers out there.What is the best one in Canada, that provides the best overall service and decent rates. I’m seeing a lot of 4% avg. Fees on accounts that churn $100k per month (diner)Also with the leasing of equipment, what is your view on owning leasing or renting the terminals.Why can’t these companies just sign up and stick to good business practices?This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Also, you don’t comment on whether any of the above can process USD payments in USD. This was something square could not do and last I checked Paypal also would not credit my business in USD – they wanted to exchange to CDN $ in payout. Do you have a suggestion for a small business that takes both USD and CDN?
I have to keep the USD because all of my payments to my suppliers are in USD – thank you for any help you can provide.This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. I have been using Global Payments and its been a nightmare of high rates and constantly increasing monthly fees. Last month I charged through only $1400 and I was charged $147 for fees for my canadian and US accounts (They separate them – I have no choice). I am seasonal and small business so going to look at your options above. I was curious not to see Global Payments as I see their terminals everywhere – any comments about them?? Thanks!This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi all,Currently looking into merchant services options for the company I am with as we are looking to potentially make a change-over. After reading this article, I’ve looked into a number of options (including Helcim and First Data).My question is this:For someone such as myself who helps in running a small business, I don’t really have a ton of time to analyze and figure out cost comparisons. When speaking with First Data, they were able to provide me with an easy-to-read comparison of costs, along with how much we would be saving on a monthly / yearly basis. Helcim on the other hand was not able to tell me if our costs would go up or down by swapping to them.Judging by reviews, Helcim is a much better fit for our companyI’m just not sure how to make sense of their offering.Any ideas here would be very much appreciated!Best,MikeThis comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. MikeFirst Data has become very aggressive lately and you must be careful about the rates. Helcium processes through Elavon and would offer Interchange plus pricing which I prefer.
Comparing Interchange Plus to Interchange Differential is difficult if you don`t understand pricing,however it is not just the discounts rates you have to look at you must also compare assessment fees, admin fees, terminal maintenance fees (First Data) etc. I don`t understand why Helcium won`t give you a comparison but be wary of the comparison they can leave out fees that make a big difference the contract is the final word. The biggest disadvantage to First Data is their statement it is absolutely the worst in the industry impossible for anyone not an expert in the industry to read.This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
We are a small to medium Canadian company that takes payments in CAD and USD. As our current payment provider is about to close its doors, we find ourselves looking for a new merchant account provider that is supported by our platform. I have found your reviews extremely helpful. I would like to know if you or any other Canadian users have experience with the following;Authorize.netFirst DataPSI GateMiraPayThank you so much!This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Hi Tom,With regards to Canadian POS providers, if you haven’t already, I would love to see what you have to say about Zomaron.
We have recently rid ourselves of them and are still dealing with the fallout from their terrible service. But they sound similar to Pivotal, using independent door to door sales people promising you insanely lower rates and failing to disclose their 5 year lease agreements for the equipment and early termination fees. I don’t want to to get into to many specifics about our situation on this public forum but I’m very to hear what you have to say about them and their business practices.thanks in advanceThis comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Unfortunately some ISOs (Independent Sales Organizations) employ some questionable sales tactics. For someone not familiar with the industry you are probably better off going through your bank or directly to one of the better Acquirers directly in no special order Elavon, TD Merchant Services, Chase Paymentech or Moneris. A good bet is Elavon through Costco.
If service is a priority Chase is very good. I don`t know your situation but the Code of conduct allows you to cancel your agreement within 90 days of a new fee, increase in fees or if the processor does not give you the full benefit of a decrease in their costs (Interchange fees). All of these have happened in the last 6 months and depending upon the timing of your cancellation you may fall into this category. The code also affords you to cancel a lease under these circumstances providing the lease was provided by the processor.
All of this can be done with no penalty.This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Hey Shannon, have you reviewed Elavon in Canada? Or does it really make a difference?On Tom’s review of Elavon, he quoted flat rate pricing, but just yesterday I received an interchange plus quote of 0.25% (virtual or swiped) + $0.05. They also quoted a $26 monthly package fee (including PCI) and a $150 set up fee.Am I missing something with Elavon? Because that seems like a pretty good deal compared to Helcim’s pricing (0.36% virtual + $0.25)This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi Dale,There are some differences between the service Elavon provides in Canada versus the US, but our Elavon review combines both.There’s nothing wrong with Elavon as a whole. They can, and sometimes do, provide fair rate quotes and contract terms. The trouble is that they are somewhat inconsistent, with some representatives giving better deals than others. That’s why we generally recommend Helcim instead. Helcim gives everyone the same fair treatment.That interchange-plus quote sounds fair, but the transaction fee looks suspiciously low. Be sure to ask if the AVS fee (address verification) is included in that.
For card-not-present transactions, the AVS fee will be charged every time. This fee is included in the Helcim transaction fee.I can’t say one way or another if the terms you were given by Elavon are fair overall. I’d have to look at the contract and fees page. My suggestion would be to take the quote that Elavon gave you can show it to and ask for them to match it or beat it. In all likelihood, they will.Good luck!This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Hi Tom, I am busy wading through all the evaluations of Merchant CC processors and find little quality comparison of Canadian Merchant Service Providers.
I have used Paymentech for about 6 years without a single complaint, I moved to TD Merchant services because we have our commercial accounts there and since 2009 have not had a single bad moment. We have a virtual zero charge back history and do approx. $550,000.00 per year in CC business. I have had a presentation by a reseller of Evalon who is used by Costco and there are showing savings to me of approx. I have not seen their contract yet.
In investigating I find HELCIM comes up as highly rated and has a Calgary Canada office approx. 120 miles from my location. Apart from the Premium card charges, that are killing us,( it bothers me that Merchants are paying for all the winter holidays and air flights “earned” by Cardholders through the elevated fees and the public does not generally know this) we are very happy with TD. Excellent service. It would be nice to see some genuine third party reviews of strictly Canadian Merchant suppliers.This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Hi SimoneThanks for your response.I was with TD and was wondering how it is compared.
We got good service over the years but they are very expensive.One year ago I switched or got tricked to First Data, through Quantum. The worst experience ever! They promised one year free rent on the unit. I also use a Wireless unit for trade-shows, it constantly didn’t work, lost a lot of money plus there are always charges I don’t understand.I read trough you reviews and will sign up with Helcim, they seem to be a good way to go plus they are Canadian.This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated. Hello againI switched to Helcim and am very happy with the service.
The statements are clear, no hidden fees. I had to call them on a charge and they took care of it right away. I am using for a side business a seasonal unit. The charge there compared to the one before is very reasonable. The only drawback with Helcim is, they only answer the phone during office hours. I can call Evalon anytime but the wait can be long. So far I didn’t have any problems.As to First Data, to stop the bleeding I blocked my account so they can’t take out money anymore.
I had a few phone calls from collection agencies, I explained to them how I was treaded, that stopped. I got few nasty letters threatening with court and a lot of charges, those I ignored.
I haven’t heard anything in the last few weeks, I hope they gave up.So all in all Helcim is a good solution and my life is back to normal.By the way I have three units sitting here, two are wireless one hasn’t even been activated. They are all chip equipped, is there a place I can sell them?This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Disclaimer: Merchant Maverick aims to provide accurate and up-to-date information to assist you in your research. You should double-check with the service provider/financial institution directly as well as obtain independent financial advice prior to making any financial commitments or business decisions.Please refer to our to learn more about how we earn compensation from affiliate partnerships and how we maintain our independent editorial integrity.Product & company names, logos, and trademarks referred to on this site belong to their respective owners.
Many business owners sell their used credit card terminals on ebay to other business owners after they upgrade or no longer need them. These terminals often go for a fraction of the retail price even if they are relatively new.Buying a used terminal has always been a bit of a gamble since it’s unclear how the terminal was treated and how much life it possibly has in it. Even so many times the price is good enough to take a chance with it.However, we are increasingly seeing problems with used terminals on ebay and craigslist that prevent them from being used at all by the purchaser. Many, if not most, merchant account providers have free terminal programs for their retail merchants. What merchants may not know is that they do not actually own the terminal that they’re given to use and they’re supposed to return the terminal to their provider if they switch processors or cancel their account.What’s happening is that many of these terminals are not being returned and instead being sold on ebay or craigslist or other marketplaces. These terminals are usually locked at a hardware level so that they cannot be used with another provider, and the processor will not unlock a terminal that they were supposed to get back as they technically still own it.
This is to protect the processor from losing a $200 – $500 terminal every time they lend one out. But, as a purchaser there is virtually no way of knowing if a terminal is locked until your own provider tries to program it. By that time you may not be able to get a refund or even find the seller if it is on craigslist. As far as ebay goes, if they seller states it’s a working terminal, it doesn’t actually have to be usable with your processor, and it is very difficult to win a dispute through paypal’s dispute resolution system in this case.Unless you are 100% certain that a particular terminal is not locked with any provider, we strongly recommend only buying equipment that is new or manufacturer refurbished and is not proprietary to any particular company.
This will save money and a huge amount of wasted time if you accidentally purchase a locked terminal.