Best for
Small to medium-sized businesses, both brick and mortar, and eCommerce.
Specializes in
Building a retail business from the front end with payment processing to connect through their gateway to a high-powered back-end merchant account provider. All-encompassing, Protec aims to be a one-stop-shop for merchants.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: N/A
Monthly Fee: Unknown
Swipe Rate: 1.70% - 3.49% + $0.10
Keyed-in Rate: 1.99% - 4.49% + $0.10
Early Termination Fee : Undisclosed
Contract Terms:
John Ryan is listed as the company CEO.
The company has been in business since 2012.
The headquarters can be found in Astoria, NY.
Very little is available about the company online. Beyond the basic CEO name and headquarters location, there is little history available.
The Better Business Bureau has no profile on the company and as a result, offers no rating. In addition, there are only a couple of customer reviews to be found anywhere on the internet and while both reviews are negative, they are the only two in ten years.
It appears the company has not changed hands or acquired any assets in the past decade but has maintained a competitive marketing approach.
They keep their marketing in-house and have a clean record in that department.
Head Quarters
207 27th Ave, Astoria, NY 11102, United States
Year Founded
2012
CEO
Unknown
Employees
Unknown
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
Provides services to brick and mortar and e-commerce companies.
Provides front end payment processing to back end merchant account services.
In house marketing.
Gift and loyalty programs.
Offer a cash advance system.
Public pricing not available.
Contract length not disclosed.
Early termination fee not disclosed
No separate contact numbers for technical support, helpline and contacting customer service.
Setup one to two days
Hardware & Software
Their hardware options are simple. They offer one device for each area of need. From a physical POS system to gateway payment options, Protec tries to keep things straightforward.
The software integrates smoothly with existing systems and Protec boasts of merchants being able to take payment in minutes.
They offer:
Point of Sale Processing
Wireless Processing
Dual Comm Terminal
Dial-Up Terminal
Smartphone Solutions
Internet Solutions
Value-Added Services
On their website, Protec offers gift and loyalty card programs to help build and maintain the customer base. The program can be up and running within 24 hours and is advertised to help build brand awareness.
They also offer a cash advance system, but the link is broken on their website so no further information is available.
Last, they offer a check guarantee to help merchants protect themselves against bounced checks. The system allows checks to be processed instantly in the same manner that a debit card is processed against available funds in a checking account.
Supported Payment Types and Services
There is no list of actual accepted credit card types, but the general language indicates all major credit cards are accepted.
In addition, their check guarantee indicates that Protec will process checks.
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
No
Their major claim is to be able to beat any competitor’s rates by 20% or they will pay a $500 rebate.
Their rates start at 1.09% for swiped merchants and 1.79% for keyed merchants. These are their advertised starting points and go up from there depending on the specific requirements of individual merchants.
Both swiped and keyed transactions are broken down into qualified and non-qualified categories. Non-qualified charges add 1%-1.99% to each transaction.
The website does not advertise early termination fees or any fees beyond transaction fees and statement fees, both of which are stated to be well below the industry average.
Pricing Model
Unknown
Swiped Rate
1.70% - 3.49% + $0.10
Keyed-in Rate
1.99% - 4.49% + $0.10
Mobile Payment Rate
N/A
Virtual Terminal Rate
1.99% + $0.10
Monthly Fee
Unknown
Payment Gateway Fee
Undisclosed
Batch Fee
N/A
Early Termination Fee
Undisclosed
PCI Compliance Fee
Undisclosed
Equipment Lease Terms
Unknown
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Unknown
Application Fee
N/A
Account Setup Fee
N/A
Gateway Setup Fee
N/A
Annual Fee
N/A
Monthly Minimum
N/A
Statement Fee
$9.95 Per Month
There are no contracts listed on the company website. This may be due to the individual contract negotiated for each client or it may be due to the company processors used on the back end.
Protec Merchant Solutions uses First Data and Chase Merchant Services to handle the processing. It may be that specific fees come directly from whomever the merchant is selected to work with.
It can be assumed that rates and fees accommodate both ends of the processing.
Contract Length
Unknown
Early Termination Fee
Undisclosed
Setup is listed as taking roughly 24-48 hours. This, however, does not specify if it includes mail time for equipment to arrive or just covers the underwriting time to get a merchant account up and running.
Support seems to be limited, but an industry standard. On their website, Protec lists a telephone number, a fax number, and an email address. However, there is no differentiation between helpline, tech support, and customer contact.
BBB Rating
The Better Business Bureau does not have an account for Protec Merchant Solutions.
Other Online Reviews
There are very limited reviews to be found online. There are two negative reviews listed, both under the listing of fraud, but the reviews are very hard to track down.
In addition, Protec has a Facebook account with no real content or reviews.
The lack of online feedback could be cause for concern, especially when stacked against companies that have hundreds if not thousands of customer interactions. Whether this is because the company has maintained a low profile or because they have intentionally maintained a small business approach to the field is undetermined.
BBB
N/A
1 Stars / 2 Reviews
No Reviews
Yelp
N/A
Total Online Reviews
Unknown
Total Online Complaints
Lawsuits
Unknown
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