Best for
Small businesses
Specializes in
Online, retail, service industries
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: $0
Monthly Fee: $20
Swipe Rate: Variable
Keyed-in Rate: Variable
Early Termination Fee : $0
Contract Terms:
Merchant services provider with over 7,000 merchants and offices in Canada and the US.
Helcim is a merchant services provider based out of Calgary, Alberta (Canada) as well as having a Seattle, Washington office. They offer solutions for both US and Canadian merchants. Helcim believes that payments should be easy, affordable, smarter, and honest.
Helcim offers a diverse and customizable array of solutions to meet each merchants’ specific needs. From their signature card reader and app that can be used on virtually any computer/phone/tablet to their extensive eCommerce solutions, Helcim has payment processing options for most business environments.
This company does not directly advertise that they deal with high-risk merchants, and for this reason we do not recommend this provider for merchants in that category.
Head Quarters
Calgary, Alberta, Canada and Seattle, Washington
Year Founded
2006
CEO
Nicolas Beique
Employees
150
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
No setup fee.
No early termination fee.
Works with small businesses.
Month to month contract.
Works with merchants in the United States and Canada.
Monthly fee is charged.
No business with high risk merchants is conducted.
Does not disclose all marketing terms.
Pricing will vary depending on the industry and processing volume.
Has a chargeback fee.
Helcim specializes in finding solutions for the following industries: automotive, beauty & wellness, healthcare, contractors, food & beverage, retail, professional services, online sellers, software/app creators, and wholesalers. Their products & services includes the following:
Unlike most merchant services providers, Helcim carries their own brand of card reader. The compact reader is capable of processing credit and debit cards by swipe, chip/EMV, PIN entry, and tap/NFC. The reader’s POS app can be used on Windows, Mac, tablet, and smartphone. All transactions get synced with the Helcim cloud, so you can process payments in one location while viewing them in another.
*Note: Helcim used to carry Ingenico and Poynt products, but if your account is boarded after June 1, 2020 those products will not be available for use any longer. The company only uses their name brand products after that date.
Helcim offers their own name brand eCommerce solutions. Those come in the form of virtual terminals, payment gateways, developer APIs & javascript, third party integrations, and fully-hosted online stores for retail and online food ordering (if you do not have an existing website and you wish to build it yourself).
Custom invoicing and automated billing for recurring payments are other features that Helcim offers their merchants. Customers of their merchants can also log into the customer portal to update their recurring payment methods/subscriptions. Additionally, merchants have access to Fraud Defender (a program that aims to reduce the risk of chargebacks) and the Customer Manager to manage their customer base.
Discloses All Important Terms
Most
Public Pricing Available
Yes
Depending on industry and processing volume, the pricing for Helcim’s service will vary. Helcim uses interchange plus pricing. They have a very helpful calculator on the website where you can choose your country, industry, anticipated monthly card volume, average transaction amount, etc. The calculator will then give you rates for both in-person and keyed/online payments.
For example, if you are a US merchant in the retail industry, processing $25k-$50k per month with an average transaction of $75:
-Card present rates will be: 2.02% + 7¢ (credit) and 1.09% + 7¢ (debit)
-Keyed/online rates will be: 2.46% + 20¢
Helcim claims “the more you process, the more you save” as their motto by offering volume-based processing discounts. The pricing will automatically update based on a three-month processing average.
Aside from variable rates, there is a $20 monthly fee associated with Helcim. This fee is waived for the first 6 months. This monthly fee is also waived if you do not process a payment within that month, which is ideal if your business is just getting started or is seasonal. There are no setup fees, cancellation fees, PCI, or bank deposit fees either. If you receive a chargeback, the fee is $15. However, Helcim will reimburse merchants that amount if they win the dispute.
Pricing Model
Interchange Plus
Swiped Rate
Variable
Keyed-in Rate
Variable
Mobile Payment Rate
Variable
Virtual Terminal Rate
Variable
Monthly Fee
$20
Payment Gateway Fee
N/A
Batch Fee
N/A
Early Termination Fee
$0
PCI Compliance Fee
$0
Equipment Lease Terms
$0
Address Verification Service (AVS)
N/A
Application Fee
$0
Account Setup Fee
$0
Gateway Setup Fee
$0
Annual Fee
N/A
Monthly Minimum
N/A
Statement Fee
N/A
Helcim does not publicly disclose their merchant application or contract terms & conditions, though it is advertised on their website their services are month-to-month.
There is no early termination or cancellation fees associated with Helcim, though you will need to give them a cancellation request with a proper amount of time to avoid additional charges.
We always encourage merchants to read the fine print on all applications and contracts.
Contract Length
Month-to-month
Early Termination Fee
$0
Overall, the reviews for Helcim are mostly positive. Numerous Facebook reviews mention top-notch customer service and transparency from Helcim. On the other hand, Google reviews rave about excellent tech support, upfront pricing, and Helcim’s quick responses to issues and questions.
The BBB gives Helcim an “A+” rating. There are zero reviews, and zero complaints.
The positive reviews heavily outnumber the negative ones; and to be transparent, several of the negative reviews appear to be isolated incidents. In particular there were some about high-risk merchants not being able to get accounts. Helcim does not claim to specialize in high-risk industries, but the sales team did attempt to board the account, which can be considered a waste of time and a headache for those merchants that are complaining.
No outstanding class-action lawsuits or FTC complaints filed against Helcim could be found.
View Helcim Reviews here
BBB
A+
4.5/5 (135 reviews)
4/5 (16 reviews)
Yelp
N/A
Total Online Reviews
200+
Total Online Complaints
Lawsuits
0
If you're in the market for a merchant account provider, be sure to check out our user reviews, our merchant accounts guide and our top popular merchant provider picks