Payment Depot is a merchant services provider that enables companies that transact over $10,000 monthly to process credit card payments at wholesale rates. Its other features include rate protection, chargeback and risk monitoring, shopping cart integration, next-day funding, mobile payments, and a virtual terminal. Payment Depot has a wholesale membership pricing model that starts at $49 monthly with interchange-plus transaction fees.
What We Recommend Payment Depot For
In general, Payment Depot offers some of the best merchant services for small businesses. I’ve spent countless hours evaluating and reviewing dozens of payment processors and merchant services. Overall, Payment Depot has some of the most honest and transparent sales practices and pricing that I have seen. In my experience, it is fast to offer support and answer questions.
When it comes to specific benefits, Payment Depot is ideal for:
- Cheapest credit card processing: Payment Depot’s membership pricing model and low transaction fees make it one of the most affordable options for established small businesses.
- Multichannel payment processing: It has many integrations and can handle both online and in-person transactions. It’s one of the processors included in our best omnichannel payment processors roundup. Most charge higher markups for online transactions, but Payment Depot charges the same low markup for both online and in-person transactions.
- Restaurants with high check average: If you operate a food-based business and have high ticket and transaction amounts, Payment Depot may effectively lower your processing costs. It ranks among the best restaurant payment processors.
When Payment Depot Would Not Be a Good Fit
There are some scenarios where Payment Depot isn’t the best payment processing option for your business. At the time of writing, the following businesses may want to look for a different option:
- Businesses wanting no monthly fee: Though it offers a good value for established businesses, the high monthly subscription fee isn’t ideal for new, low-volume, and occasional sellers. See our top choices for free merchant accounts.
- Mobile payment processing: Unfortunately, Payment Depot doesn’t have any native functionality for mobile payment processing. Though it works with SwipeSimple to offer mobile processing, if you need to process a high volume of mobile payments, one of these other best mobile payment processors options would be better.
- High-risk merchants: It doesn’t offer merchant accounts to businesses in high-risk industries. If you operate a business categorized as such, check out our buyer’s guide to the best high-risk merchant account providers.
Payment Depot is also available only to merchants in the U.S., so if you’re based elsewhere or have plans to expand internationally, you may want to consider an alternative such as Stripe, Helcim, or PayPal. Payment Depot can effectively lower processing fees for many merchants, but if you have low transaction amounts and volume, it could be an unnecessary added cost.
Payment Depot Overview
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| 90-day money-back guarantee | Requires monthly fee |
| All-in-one membership for online, in-store, and mobile processing | Not available for high-risk businesses |
| Integrates with many popular POS systems and ecommerce platforms | Difficult to deal with chargebacks |
| Offers free equipment reprogramming | Only for US-based merchants |
You can sign up for Payment Depot by filling out a form on its site or calling its team via phone. According to Payment Depot, it can take only 10 minutes to fill out the initial application form with its team over the phone. They’ll then email you a link to complete and submit the application.
These are what you will need for your application:
- Physical business address
- Federal tax ID number
- Voided business check
- Social Security Number
Payment Depot offers fast approvals—within 24 hours—so you can accept credit card payments in as little as two days.
Payment Depot Pricing
Basic | Popular | Premier | Unlimited | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Fee | $49 | $79 | $99 | $199 |
Transaction Fee | Interchange + 15 cents | Interchange + 10 cents | Interchange + 7 cents | Interchange + 5 cents |
Monthly Processing Volume Limit | $25,000 | $75,000 | $200,000 | Unlimited |
- Basic: This plan works well for new businesses with low processing volumes. There is no equipment included, but Payment Depot can reprogram existing equipment and provide a virtual gateway for free.
- Popular: Data breach protection and premier 24-hour support are offered from this and all other higher tiers. Users get a free mobile reader and standard terminal as well.
- Premier: Professional service providers benefit the most from this plan. Other than the equipment offered in the Most Popular plan, Premier subscribers also get a free PIN pad.
- Unlimited: Only this option can provide users with a free terminal upgrade every two years, and its unlimited processing volume limit is best for scaling an enterprise-level business.
Payment Depot also offers custom pricing plans. You can contact the sales team by phone or email to request your quote.
Additional or Other Fees
Payment Depot doesn’t charge PCI compliance, chargeback, setup, cancellation, and other miscellaneous fees. Everything is included in the monthly membership fee. When you need new hardware, Payment Depot may provide free equipment, depending on your plan. If your subscription doesn’t include free hardware replacement, prices start at $49.
Contract Length and Early Terminations
Payment Depot doesn’t require minimum contract terms and won’t charge you a cancellation fee should you decide you no longer need their services. They also have a money-back guarantee for the first 90 days.
Payment Depot Alternatives and Fees Comparison
Payment Depot | Stax by Fattmerchant | Square | PayPal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Best for | High-volume merchants with large transaction amounts | High-volume businesses needing billing or recurring payments | New and small businesses needing free POS solution | Individuals needing a reliable solution for occasional payments |
Monthly fee | Starts at $49 | Starts at $99 | Starts at $0 | Starts at $0 |
Card-present transaction fee | Interchange + 5–15 cents | Interchange + 8 cents | 2.6% + 10 cents | 2.70% |
Keyed transaction fee | Interchange + 5–15 cents | Interchange + 15 cents | 3.5% + 15 cents | 3.50% + fixed fee |
Ecommerce transaction fee | Interchange + 5–5 cents | Interchange +15 cents | 2.9% + 30 cents | starts at 3.4% + 30 cents |
Looking for the lowest rates? The payment processing rates you will pay can vary based on your business’s size, type, and average order value. To find the most affordable option and compare multiple processing rates, read our guide on the cheapest credit card processing.
Payment Depot Features
- Next-day funding: This function ensures that merchants may collect their earnings as soon as 24 hours after every transaction. Users can keep track of the funding process in the Payment Depot dashboard.
- Chargeback and risk monitoring: Payment Depot updates merchants in real time with any chargeback notifications or flagged transactions so that they can be resolved quickly.
- Free gateway: Merchants who accept transactions online may set up a free payment gateway with Payment Depot. This will enable customers to enter card transactions straight from the browser.
- Virtual terminal: Payment Depot accounts also come with a virtual terminal, so businesses can key-in payments through their browser. This is helpful for accepting payments over the phone.
- Equipment: Depending on the plan, Payment Depot provides users with free equipment along with their specific subscription. This includes point-of-sale (POS) terminals, smart terminals, and standard terminals.
- Business funding: Users may also apply for business funding through Payment Depot. Business owners must have a personal FICO credit score of at least 500 and a minimum of $15,000 in gross monthly revenue for the last three months. Additionally, their business should have been in operation for at least six months before the application.
- Integration: Payment Depot has strong integrations with SwipeSimple hardware, which allow merchants to take in-person and mobile payments. The SwipeSimple B250 mobile reader is $99, while its standard terminal is available for $425.
- Money-back guarantee: All Payment Depot subscription plans come with a 90-day money-back guarantee. So if you’re not happy with the service, you can cancel without penalty—and get your money refunded.
Payment Depot Equipment and Hardware
Payment Depot offers a selection of mobile readers, POS terminals, smart terminals, and standard terminals. Brands include Clover, Poynt, Vital, SwipeSimple, Authorize.Net, Dejavoo, First Data, Ingenico, and Pax.
Payment Depot Ease of Use
- Affordable hardware: Some Payment Depot plans come with free POS terminals.
- Strong third-party integrations: Payment Depot works with a variety of outside hardware and software platforms, with especially strong integrations for Clover, Authorize.Net, and SwipeSimple.
- Straightforward pricing: Flat, predictable rates make it easy to understand and plan for payment processing expenses.
- Mobile payment: You can use mobile card readers and accept payments from mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- Strong support: Payment Depot has a reputation for excellent, responsive support for technical and customer service issues.
Payment Depot doesn’t have proprietary hardware, so it works with a variety of third-party payment processing equipment. Strong integrations include Clover and SwipeSimple, though you can use Payment Depot with other tools as well. This flexibility makes it easy to use Payment Depot for retail credit card transactions.
The list of software integrations is also long, including compatibility with USAePay, Authorize.Net, and other payment gateways. These integrations allow you to use Payment Depot on a variety of ecommerce platforms.
Payment Depot Customer Support
Payment Depot customer support is available via phone at (877) 877-7668. Many users credit the customer support team with being friendly, responsive, and helpful. You can also reach out to them via the contact form on their website.
Payment Depot does offer 24/7 phone and email support, but you are most likely to get a fast response from a Payment Depot employee during business hours.
What Users Think of Payment Depot
Payment Depot users mostly enjoy using the platform. There are lots of positive reviews about the cost and customer support, though not everyone is in agreement about its affordability.
- Trustpilot: Payment Depot has a 4.9 out of 5 score based on 871 reviews.
- Capterra: On Capterra, 57 users rated Payment Depot an average 4.7 out of 5 stars.
- G2: Payment Depot doesn’t have enough ratings on G2 to offer an evaluation.
Overall, Payment Depot has excellent user reviews, which is unusual for a payment processor. However, in addition to limitations on high-risk and international businesses, Payment Depot also does not offer as many internal tools as other processors. For example, it does not have an extensive online knowledge base like other processors or offer sleek tools like a proprietary mobile app or billing software.
When reading through user reviews, I noticed these trends:
Users Like | Users Don’t Like |
|---|---|
Affordable and reasonable payment processing rates | Can be expensive for business with low transaction volumes |
Several integration options | Disjointed systems, especially when dealing with chargebacks |
Responsive and helpful customer service | Cumbersome PCI compliance processes |
Bottom Line
Payment Depot is a subscription-based payment processor and merchant account provider that makes wholesale interchange rates available to its customers. This easy-to-use tool is great for businesses that have high transaction volumes and want to lower credit card processing rates. Notable features include rate protection, chargeback and risk monitoring, shopping cart integration, next-day funding, mobile payments, and a virtual terminal. New subscribers get a 90-day risk-free trial. To find out if it is a fit for your business, contact Payment Depot for more information.
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