Best for
Small businesses looking to get their credit card processing up and running quickly.
Specializes in
Working with low to standard risk merchants seeking payment processing that fits their individual needs. Located in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Paymentsense is a merchant account provider that works with over 70,000 merchants across the countries.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: Undisclosed
Monthly Fee: £8.30 or £12.45 or £16.60
Swipe Rate: 0.20%
Keyed-in Rate: 0.2% + £0.50
Early Termination Fee : £120 plus VAT
Contract Terms:
Founded in 2008, Paymentsense is a subsidiary of Fiserve.
Their home offices can be found in London.
The CEOs are Jan Farrarons and George Karibian.
Paymentsense was founded in 2008 as the UK branch of Fiserve, a US-based payment processor. The company has expanded to cover both the UK and Ireland. They work with over 70,000 merchants and with over 250 million annual transactions, they process more than £10 billion annually.
The company focuses on small to medium-sized businesses and offers both face-to-face and online payment options. They pride themselves in offering everything a business could want in a payment processor.
With more than a decade in business, they have grown to be one of the largest providers in the British Isles.
Despite their size and apparent success, Paymentsense has been bombarded with negative reviews consistently. Over the years they have accumulated more than 600 negative reviews and over 750 1-2 star reviews.
Head Quarters
London, England
Year Founded
2008
CEO
Jan Farrarons & George Karibian - Founders
Employees
500
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
Hardware and Software
Paymentsense offers a variety of payment processing options. It appears there are three main options for card machines to be found on their website and the same number of online payment types.
In-store options:
Mobile Card Machines
Portable Card Machines
Countertop Card Machines
For online, they offer:
Phone Payments
Email Payments
Online Payments
All of these payment options can be funneled through a dedicated payment gateway. It appears a merchant can build their account with a mix and match approach to fit their business needs.
Value-Added Services
There are no stated value-added services, however, they do offer to cover up to £3,000 in termination fees to switch to their company.
They also advertise free setup for their services.
Supported Payment Types and Services
Paymentsense seems to accept all major credit card types. This includes digital wallets. These payment types are listed on their website.
Visa
Mastercard
Discover
American Express
Google Pay
Apple Pay
Samsung Pay
Maestro
Diner’s Club
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
Yes
Rates appear variable to business. Beyond the base listing, there is no real information as to what a merchant could be expected to pay per transaction. This most likely indicates there is a range of expected rates.
Three monthly payment tiers based on annual transaction amounts are listed on their website.
£8.29 for under £50,000
£12.45 for under £250,000
£16.62 for under £1.2 million
They do not address fees on their website other than the setup fee. They do state it is free to switch plans and that a merchant can cancel free of charge.
Whether this free cancellation refers to the whole contract or just parts of it are not specifically addressed. There are potential hidden fees. Many of the hundreds of customer complaints reference hidden fees.
Pricing Model
Tiered Pricing
Swiped Rate
0.20%
Keyed-in Rate
0.2% + £0.50
Mobile Payment Rate
Unknown
Virtual Terminal Rate
0.2% + £0.50
Monthly Fee
£8.30 or £12.45 or £16.60
Payment Gateway Fee
Undisclosed
Batch Fee
Undisclosed
Early Termination Fee
£120 plus VAT
PCI Compliance Fee
£5.94 Per Month
Equipment Lease Terms
Undisclosed
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Unknown
Application Fee
Unknown
Account Setup Fee
Undisclosed
Gateway Setup Fee
Unknown
Annual Fee
Unknown
Monthly Minimum
Undisclosed
Statement Fee
Undisclosed
With the advertisement of monthly fees and free cancellation, it can be assumed that Paymentsense operates on a month-to-month lease. There is no actual indication that this is true, but they also do not specifically mention a contract in their literature.
They do reference machine rentals, however, there is no actual indication as to what the cost will be. The fact that rentals are mentioned on the website would indicate the existence of leases. Paymentsense does not disclose what the lease terms may be for their equipment and they specify no termination fees for equipment.
Contract Length
Month-to-monthVariable
Early Termination Fee
£120 plus VAT
Paymentsense advertises free setup as one of their buy-in perks. They also reference a very short setup time. It appears virtual payment processing can be up and running in minutes, while their face-to-face payment equipment can be up and running within a few days.
According to their website, they offer 24/7 customer support. There is a separate help center website that is devoted to customer support. It appears that they offer phone and email support, but there are levels of security in place to ensure only account holders can access the help center.
BBB Rating
There is no Better Business Bureau profile or rating.
Other Online Reviews
There are over 600 complaints to be found online. While there are positive reviews mixed in, this number is rather high. Furthermore, there does not appear to be a concerted effort to remedy the customer complaints.
In addition, there are close to 800 1-2 star ratings to be found on various rating sites around the internet.
BBB
Does not have BBB profile
No Reviews
No Reviews
Yelp
N/A
Total Online Reviews
6200+
Total Online Complaints
600+
Lawsuits
No
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