Best for
Small to medium-sized businesses, retail, restaurants, and e-commerce businesses.
Specializes in
Merchant Data Systems is a credit card processing company that specialized in servicing smaller to medium-sized businesses. In specific, most of its accounts were in retail, restaurants, or e-commerce businesses. The company was bought out in 2019.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: $0
Monthly Fee: Undisclosed
Swipe Rate: Variable
Keyed-in Rate: Variable
Early Termination Fee : $250+
Contract Terms:
According to various sources, Merchant Data Systems was a smaller company that had less than fifty employees--around twenty-five. It was founded in 1997 by Drew Freeman, and the company headquarters was in Miami Beach, Florida. it mainly serviced smaller to medium-sized companies in retail, food, and e-commerce.
Merchant Data Systems was a credit card processing company founded in the '90s that was recently closed and bought out in 2019. It was an older credit card processing company that mainly focused on smaller businesses. The industry rep seemed inadequate overall: while there are not many negative complaints on BBB to see, several other sources cite complaints such as unexpected charges.
Other merchants also complained about things like an overly harsh termination fee as part of its contract. Holds placed on funds and an improperly trained salesforce are other common complaints. Many of its rates, such as an annual fee of $99 for PCI compliance and a $10 statement fee, were standard. Due to the loss of its website and the difficulty of uncovering the information, it's hard to pin down every rate, but it seems most of the pricing it did was at a similar rate to industry standards.
Head Quarters
Miami Beach, FL
Year Founded
1997
CEO
Drew Freeman - President
Employees
25
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
Zero setup fee.
Gift and loyalty program.
High risk tolerance.
Merchant cash advance available.
Domestic telephone support during business hours.
Early termination fee.
Three year contract that automatically renews if not canceled.
PCI compliance fee.
Statement fee.
Website link is inoperable.
The exact specifics behind what services and products Merchant Data Systems offered are hard to determine, but there is some information about it. They offered services like credit card and debit processing, cash advances for small businesses, electronic check conversions, gift card, and loyalty programs, and POS equipment sales as well as leasing.
The exact terms and rates of these services are hard to obtain, but we at least know the general products that Merchant Data Systems offered.
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
No
Much of the information surrounding Merchant Data Systems' rate on swiping or keying-in credit and debit cards are hard to locate. Not only is its website defunct, but the company who bought it out doesn't have much information stored on its website either.
Due to the following industry standards on other fees and costs, it can safely be expected that its rates for card processing would fall in the standard rate of 1-5%, usually with an additional flat rate added onto each transaction. Getting more information than this is difficult.
Pricing Model
Unknown
Swiped Rate
Variable
Keyed-in Rate
Variable
Mobile Payment Rate
Virtual Terminal Rate
Variable
Monthly Fee
Undisclosed
Payment Gateway Fee
Variable
Batch Fee
Variable
Early Termination Fee
$250+
PCI Compliance Fee
$99
Equipment Lease Terms
Variable
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Application Fee
Account Setup Fee
$0
Gateway Setup Fee
Variable
Annual Fee
Variable
Monthly Minimum
Variable
Statement Fee
$10
However, there is little more information on the contracts that Merchant Data Systems used to employ. it used a standard three-year-long deal that automatically renewed if not canceled at the end of the three years. Its early termination fees were mostly, noticeably harsh, stating $250 for each year left in the contract, or the costs it would have been paid based on the volume in one month in the highest twelve-month period, whichever was more significant.
This could result in a far larger total termination fee than many other organizations use, and many merchants complained about this.
Contract Length
3 Years
Early Termination Fee
$250+
Most common complaints about Merchant Data Systems revolve around its sales team, independent contractors, and offered low rates it couldn't lock-in. Other common complaints referred to fraudulent charges, high termination fees, and poor customer service because the merchant was filing the complaint. Merchant Data Systems tried to deal with these complaints and refunded a merchant in one case of a disagreement about the contract that it had signed.
No lawsuits involving Merchant Data Systems can be found. BBB has it rated at an A+, with one closed complaint in the last 12 months. It was in business for almost 23 years but was not accredited by BBB.
BBB
A+(2 complaints)
2 Stars / 14 Reviews
No Rating yet
Yelp
N/A
Total Online Reviews
50+
Total Online Complaints
10+
Lawsuits
None
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