Founded in 2004, Solupay is a US-based financial consultant and merchant account provider headquartered in Twinsburg, Ohio, aiming to provide simple but effective payment solutions. Here is a complete Solupay review for merchants.
What is Solupay ?
It is a registered MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, US Bank, Elavon, and Fifth Third Bank. Solupay resells the services of First Data (Fiserv) and all the processing is done by First Data.
In 2020, Solupay merged with Versapay, a Canadian financial service company. Since Great Hill Partners (an investment firm in Boston) acquired Versapay in 2020, the companies and their subsidiaries now come under Great Hill Partners. The company offers payment solutions to businesses of several types and sizes.
Since early 2015, Solupay has been a specialized NetSuite payment provider and carries out electronic payments and shopping cart integration with SuitePayments. The company claims to be technology proficient and offers its merchants thorough ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) tools.
Solupay Review Based On Features and Services
Solupay serves various industries, including restaurants, bars, moving companies, gas stations, convenience stores, educational institutions, thrift stores, SAAS businesses, web designers, and electronic product retailers. Solupay is a reliable option for B2B, non-profit, online, retail, wholesale, mobile, high volume, low risk, and small businesses.
It provides POS systems, mobile payment solutions, and services compatible with multiple payment methods, including Apple Pay, EMV, and PayPal. Here is a review of the company’s products and services that it provides to it’s merchants.
Payment Gateways and Virtual Terminals
Solupay review based on payment solutions
The company offers advanced payment solutions and utilizes multiple payment gateways for online processing. Payeezy provides payment security, currency conversion, and fraud prevention to small and medium-sized businesses for online and mobile payments. Although Payeezy is no longer available for new Solupay merchants, existing merchants can still process online payments with this gateway.
Solupay replaced Payeezy with another reliable payment gateway called Bridgepay, offering the latest payment processing tech. With this gateway, the company provides the options like tap-to-pay, mobile payments, EMV card-present, and turnkey payment solutions to its merchants.
The provider’s PCI-compliant virtual terminals allow merchants to make online payments without complicated software and support mail transactions. PayPal, Orbital, eProcessingNetwork, PAYware Connect, VeriFone, Authorize.net, and USAePay are some of the virtual terminals and payment gateways used by Solupay.
Merchant Cash Advances
With AdvanceMe, the company lends funding that only takes 5 to 10 business days to reach the merchant. This service does not require personal collateral, and the loan has no business purpose limitations. Almost all small and mid-sized businesses can avail of this service. Unlike traditional bank loans, there is no application fee and the approval process is hassle-free with simple paperwork and minimal financial review. Restaurants, retail stores, automotive, and service-related franchises significantly benefited from Solupay cash advance solutions.
ACH and Check Processing
Businesses are offered ACH payments and verification solutions and the provider will analyze the level of verification required to make your company more secure and help prevent the losses caused by fraud. ACH is a widely preferred payment method. Solupay ensures that businesses accepting ACH payments are provided with a complete set of payment solutions that improves cash flow and reduces the risk of stolen checks while protecting user information.
The company also provides e-check conversion and verification, allowing merchants to determine the risk of accepting a check. Once a check is given at the time of purchase, Solupay’s check verification technology analyses it and converts it into an e-check if it meets the verification standard. This reduces bank processing costs and improves efficiency.
Credit and Debit Payment Solutions
Solupay provides low-cost payment solutions for multiple payment methods with reduced transaction time. These payment solutions include online reporting, chargeback prevention, card security, EMV contactless payment, EBT, and various POS terminals. Solupay payment solutions are compatible with Apple Pay, ensuring secure transactions and allowing users to keep their payment information encrypted and private.
Merchants can integrate their POS systems to take electronic payments. Solupay integrated solutions offer technical support and business management features to ensure a simpler transaction process.
Charge Back Prevention
Solupay provides chargeback prevention tools to prevent fraudulent chargebacks. The company’s click-to-score feature helps merchants determine if the customer in question is reliable and safe to do business with. The chargeback advisor guides merchants through every step of the process and helps them check all the essential factors required to fend-off chargebacks. Chargeback auto-responder is another helpful feature, enabling high chargeback merchants to respond to chargebacks without manual interaction.
PCI Compliance and Tokenization
Solupay provides PCI compliance and tokenization that convert sensitive cardholder data into a series of numbers that cannot be attacked. This way, merchants can secure their customer’s information in the form of tokens and do not have to worry about data violation risk.
The company makes it easier for businesses to meet all the requirements to be PCI DSS compliant and provides tools with user-friendly features. This service includes breach protection, touch support, PCI level 1, 2, and 3 policy builder, and awareness training.
Add-On Services
Solupay provides various prepaid card solutions like gift cards, loyalty programs, and payroll cards to help businesses build better relations with customers and employees. It increases revenue and brand loyalty.
- Payroll Cards
Merchants can load a prepaid card and pay their employees with electronic cards for over ten years without dealing with paper checks. Employees will not have to carry cash and will have their wages immediately on payday. This feature will allow users to cash their checks without paying a cash fee. Merchants won’t have to face the issues that come with issuing a paper check.
- Loyalty Programs
With the Solupay reward platform, merchants can capture customer behavior and purchase patterns at point-of-sale and customize loyalty programs using that information. This way, merchants can offer effective promotions, discounts, and reward to targeted customers to increase sales and ensure brand loyalty.
- Gift Cards
Merchants can issue electronic, magnetic-striped gift cards instead of paper cards that customers can reuse. If a customer returns a purchased item, the gift cards can be credited for the amount instead of a cash refund. The company provides customization for businesses to design their gift cards to market their brand. Moreover, these gift cards can be integrated with mobile rewards. Companies can track each gift card and keep the transactions in check.
Solupay Contract Terms
The company is a First Data reseller, so its contract terms are identical to First Data. Solupay binds its merchant with a multi-year contract of varying length depending on the business type and size. A standard contract is of three years with an early termination fee.
Solupay Cost and Pricing Model
The provider offers a tiered pricing plan that can vary depending on the business it is catering to. Merchants are also given the option to choose an interchange plus pricing plan. Here is a review of the charges that Solupay merchants have to pay.
- Per transaction rate of 2.69% plus $0.19 for swiped-card and 3.69% plus 0.19% for keyed-in payments for merchants processing up to $50,000 per month
- Keyed-in transaction rate of 3.29% plus $0.29 and swiped rate of 2.29% plus $0.19 for merchants whose revenue is more than $50,000 per month
- $495 early termination fee
- $19.95 PCI compliance fee
- 00% to 4.99% for the virtual terminal fee
The additional charges include a batch, gateway, and technical support fees. Moreover, the company charges interchange fees for level 3 processing from B2B and B2G businesses as it requires an extraordinary amount of data transferred to carry out such transactions and demands different technology.
Solupay Review On Customer Support Solutions
The providers have given an email and a phone number on its website for merchants to address their concerns and an FAQ form to answer commonly asked queries. Solupay also has a relationship management service option available from Monday to Friday during business hours. The company’s domestic phone support is available during business hours, and offshore tech support is reachable 24/7. It also offers a customer support form for merchants to message to inquire.
Solupay Marketing and Sales
The provider uses the services of processing firms and independent sales organizations for marketing and conducts strategic promotions. It does not disclose all important terms on its website and is not transparent about its rates. However, no reviews accuse the company of being a fraud. Solupay does not portray any misleading quotes and advertises its services without using deceptive tactics.
Solupay Complaints and Reviews
The company has hardly received any positive reviews or complaints on online public forums and websites. There are only a few informal negative reviews against the company. Most complaints are targeted at the company’s backend payment processor, so merchants have probably filed their complaints on the First Data platform. Moreover, there are no lawsuits worth mentioning against the provider. It indicated that Solupay is an authentic merchant service provider.
BBB Rating
Solupay has only received `1 complaint in the past 36 months on the Better Business Bureau platform regarding an issue with its product which was later resolved to the customer’s satisfaction. The company is not accredited with BBB but is rated an ‘A’ on its profile. However, it should be noted that this rating cannot be trusted as it is not verified by BBB, and merchants have reasons to be skeptical about it.
Solupay Drawbacks
A merchant should always weigh the pros and cons of multiple payment service providers before choosing one for their business. One right decision can go a long way, while one wrong one can make your business suffer for an even longer period. Solupay is a provider with various features and services to offer its merchants. However, it has a few drawbacks that merchants should consider before signing up with the processor.
Undisclosed Information
Transparency is one of the most important factors to consider for a merchant service provider. If a provider is honest and open about all its terms and services, it is a sign that the MSP has nothing to hide. Merchants do not need to worry about the possibility of invisible conditions appearing in the middle of their contract time with such a provider.
Solupay has not disclosed all the crucial terms to the public, which is a red flag. Moreover, most of its fees are not disclosed anywhere for merchants to estimate the expected charges.
Solupay NetSuite Support Issues
Reviews indicate that the company’s NetSuite card processing has some issues and takes too long to set up. Moreover, the company has limited developers, so it takes unusually long to resolve even the most minor issue.
Gateway Issues
Payeezy is one of the payment gateways used by Solupay for online payment processing. Reviews indicate that transactions are not reaching the backend processor on time for reporting cash. The Bridgepay gateway also has been reported to cause numerous errors for unknown reasons and fails to proceed with the transaction. There were multiple incidents when transactions were switched to another gateway.
First Data Processing
There is a significant amount of feedback stating issues relating to the company’s backend processor, First Data. Merchants have complained that the features are too slow, and the provider does not have adequate assistance to streamline the process and provide reliable solutions.
Sales Team and Customer Support
Even though the company has pretty decent customer service, merchants have complained that the company does not have a dedicated sales manager for operation services, and merchants are left hanging without being provided any assistance in that area.
The company’s phone support only works during business hours, and merchants cannot reach out to customer care in case of an emergency after business hours. This can be a deal breaker for many businesses that require all-time availability.
Final Verdict
In our review of Solupay, as crucial as it is, a company’s pricing rate is not the only factor to consider when choosing a merchant service provider for one’s business. There are several more boxes that a service provider needs to tick to be deemed reliable.
Solupay offers a wide range of services and has remarkable features but lacks in many areas. It is a good option for some small-sized businesses. However, merchants looking for a fast yet efficient payment processor are advised to compare their options and look for a better-suited merchant account provider. There are many payment processors with the same but more time-saving features that the provider offers.
