Anovia Payments Review

Rates and Fees
80/100
Truth in Advertising
85/100
Consumer Reviews
70/100
Customer Support
75/100
3

Best for

Standard-risk merchants who value integration and are okay with a long-term contract

Specializes in

Credit card processing, virtual terminal, MOTO payments, mobile payment processing, Integrated payment-processing solutions

Pricing Summary

Setup Fee: $0

Monthly Fee: $22

Swipe Rate: 2.50% + $0.20 or 2.69% + $0.19

Keyed-in Rate: 3.50% + $0.20 or 3.69% + $0.19

Early Termination Fee : $295 or $495

Contract Terms:

3 Years
Visit Anovia Payments

Anovia Payments was a merchant account provider based out of Irving, Texas. But the company was transformed into Sphere in 2016 when it was acquired by Waud Capital Partners. It’s now a merchant account provider that specializes in the processing of online and in-store payments, as well as MOTO payments and payment integration tools.

Anovia Payments Overview

 

Sphere was created in 2017 when Anovia Payments was acquired by Waud Capital Partners. The company is a registered ISO/MSP of Merrick Bank and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The company specializes in providing payment solutions to merchants operating in industries like:


  • Healthcare

  • Insurance

  • Transporation

  • Municipalities

  • Non-Profit

  • Small Business

  • And several others


Sphere favors a three-year contract with a tiered pricing structure. Essentially, the larger the amount that a merchant processes each month, the lower their per-transaction fee is. The company uses an early termination fee, which can be as much as $495.

Reviews for Sphere are still pretty sparse as this is a new company. But there were more than 70 negative complaints filed about Anovia Payments. These complaints focused on inaccurate quotes, inaccurate contract terms, and poor customer service. The prevalence of negative complaints about Anovia Payments might have been why Waud Capital decided to rebrand the company under the Sphere name.

Quick Facts

Head Quarters

Irving, TX

Year Founded

2013

CEO

Kevin Jones

Employees

50

Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance

What We Like

No setup fee.

Credit card processing solutions are available to work in all environments.

A variety of countertop point of sale solutions are available.

Offers mail order and telephone payment acceptance.

Domestic telephone support is available during business hours.

What We Don't Like

Early termination fee.

Monthly fee.

Three year contract required.

Merchant rates are not directly advertised on the website.

Uses independent sales agents.

Industries Served

  • Clothing & Apparel
  • Convenience Store
  • Electronics
  • Gas Station
  • Moving Companies
  • Personal Service
  • SAAS
  • SEO & SEM Services
  • Thrift Store

Business Types Served

  • Ecommerce
  • High Volume
  • Information
  • Low Risk
  • Mom & Pop
  • Online
  • Retail / Card Present
  • Small Business
  • Wholesale

Anovia Payments Products & Services

 

Online and Mobile Credit Card Processing 


Sphere claims that it offers credit card processing solutions for all environments. The company’s offerings do seem to live up to its promise. They offer a variety of solutions for online and mobile payment processing, which will work in virtually any format that your customers want to pay.

Card Present Payment Processing


Sphere offers a variety of countertop POS systems to choose from. You can use the company’s in-person payment-processing tools on either a terminal or a point-of-sale system. These can be integrated with your business analytics in several key ways to help generate actionable insights.

Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO) Payments

Sphere is one of the few companies in this industry that also offers mail order/telephone order payment acceptance. The company uses a web-based virtual terminal and reporting solution to help with this. It claims that the terminal makes it easier to accept recurring and installment payments for various types of payment methods.

Anovia Payments Payment Processing

  • Credit Card Processing
  • Debit Card Processing
  • eCheck & ACH Processing
  • Gift & Loyalty Program
  • Online Payments

Anovia Payments Billing & Invoicing

  • Online Payments
  • Payment Processing

Anovia Payments Advertising & Sales

 
Sphere doesn’t advertise its rates directly on its website. There are pros and cons to this approach. On the positive side, it means that Sphere isn’t engaged in intentionally-deceptive advertising practices. On the negative end, it also means that a merchant would need to contact Sphere directly in order to figure out the rates available to them.

Sphere seems to utilize independent sales agents to sell its services. This is a practice that’s commonly tied to deceptive sales tactics. Though there haven’t been many complaints about this for Sphere, there have been a number of complaints about this practice filed for Anovia Payments.

Truth in Marketing

Discloses All Important Terms

No

Public Pricing Available

No

Anovia Payments Pricing, Rates & Fees

 

Sphere doesn’t list its pricing information directly on its website. But it partners with TSYS and First Data to provide its services. So it’s very likely that the rates you get from Sphere will be quite similar to the ones offered by TSYS and First Data.

First Data prefers a tiered pricing method and multi-year contracts. The company’s swiped rate for merchants who process less than $50,000 each month is 2.69% plus $0.19. Merchants who process more than $50,000 monthly are charged a swipe rate of 2.29% plus $0.19.

TSYS has various plan options for merchants to consider, which each has a different rate. The company offers swiped rates that vary from 2.% to 3% plus $.20 per transaction.

Keep in mind, there’s no way to guarantee that these are the rates you’ll get unless you contact Sphere directly. We only include them to provide some basic context for what you might expect to hear back after reaching out to Sphere.

Pricing at a Glance

Pricing Model

Tiered Pricing

Swiped Rate

2.50% + $0.20 or 2.69% + $0.19

Keyed-in Rate

3.50% + $0.20 or 3.69% + $0.19

Mobile Payment Rate

Virtual Terminal Rate

3.50% + $0.20 or 3.69% + $0.19

Monthly Fee

$22

Payment Gateway Fee

Undisclosed

Batch Fee

Undisclosed

Early Termination Fee

$295 or $495

PCI Compliance Fee

$19.95 Per Month or $75.20 Per Month

Equipment Lease Terms

48 Month (locked)

Address Verification Service (AVS)

Application Fee

Account Setup Fee

$0

Gateway Setup Fee

Undisclosed

Annual Fee

Monthly Minimum

Undisclosed

Statement Fee

Anovia Payments Contract & Terms

Sphere favors a three-year contract with an automatic renewal clause. Merchants who want to break the contract before it’s over should expect to pay between $295 and $495 to do so. Generally, these types of multi-year contracts are considered to be unfavorable towards merchants.

Contract Length

3 Years

Early Termination Fee

$295 or $495

Anovia Payments Setup & Support

 

Setup Highlights

  • Documentation / Knowledge Base

Support Highlights

  • Domestic Phone Support (Business Hours)

Anovia Payments Complaints, Ratings & Reviews

Sphere currently has a B rating with the Better Business Bureau. The company has received two complaints, which lamented Sphere’s hidden fees and challenging cancellation process. These echo the themes that were consistent across a larger number of negative reviews for Anovia Payments. This seems to suggest that Sphere hasn’t made much of an improvement to its support services since its branding change.

Ratings

BBB

NR

Google

2.8 Stars / 81 Reviews

Facebook

N/A

Yelp

N/A

Reviews

Total Online Reviews

100+

Total Online Complaints

70+

Lawsuits

None

Anovia Payments Alternatives

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