WePay was initiated as a third-party payment facilitator and merchant account alternative instead of the traditional POS systems. It was launched in 2008 but became a part of Chase Merchant Services in 2017. The processor is working under CEO Bill Clerico, and its headquarters is at 350 Convention Way 200, Redwood City, California 94063. Online businesses and fundraising firms can collect their payments through their own websites and eliminate the need for redirecting to a secure payment page.
WePay works as a payment processing website for platform partners. So, who are these partners?
Large enterprises, business owners, or fundraisers source some functions of their business from third-party service providers. For example, Ecwid is a platform partner that helps online businesses with shopping carts. If you have an online shop all set up via the Ecwid platform and need to set up a payment processor for your business, you can utilize WePay. Some independent software vendors and platform partners such as ConstantConstant, Ecwid, GoFundMe.com, TouchBistro, Zero, and FreshBooks are partnered with WePay.
WePay allows programmers to integrate the payment function into their website so that purchases are directly made from the website. These payments are collected via credit card or ACH.
WePay takes its users from the hassle of going through lengthy contracts and offers service with no service length requirement. Also, there is no setup fee and zero monthly fees are applied to the clients.
WePay is in the same category as Stripe, Paypal and Square. What differentiates it from other payment service providers is that WePay can only offer its services through platform partners. So, merchants not using a WePay partner platform may not be able to work with WePay.
To have a closer look at its offered services, listed prices and potential drawbacks of the processor, have a read through the following review.
WePay Payment Gateway
WePay offers three packages based on the businesses association with Chase and the type of integration you need. Check them out below.
Clear
Clear is the basic gateway service offered by WePay. Chase is responsible for the flow of funds and risk management solutions in the Clear package. However, the business handles customer service, user experience and merchant experience on their end.
Link
This upgraded offer includes Chase Processing, and you are considered a referral partner. The company name “Chase” is used, and the flow of funds, risk management solutions, support payment UI, tokenization, data reporting, merchant pricing and PCI compliance are handled by it. The link package processes all debit cards, credit cards and e-check payments.
Core
This option is for large facilitators, as it comes with a wide range of customizable features. Your platform works as a partner platform, and Chase functions as a background facilitator.
WePay Rates
WePay is positioned towards it’s partners and does not target merchants in its marketing, so there is no public pricing information. Being a white label payment provider, WePay determines pricing details directly with the payment partner. The payment partners then conduct their business with merchants. While the pricing of WePay indirectly affects merchants, there is no channel for merchants to discuss terms with the backend processor.
According to the most recent listed pricing, credit card rates are 2.9%+$0.25 for new U.S.-based businesses, while direct ACH transfer costs 1%+$0.30. In addition to this, $15 is charged as a chargeback fee.
WePay is not transparent about its policies, which results in controversial reviews.
WePay’s Former Hold Policy
WePay previously had a hold policy withdrawal limit for every business of $2500 per week. Any other transaction beyond this limit was held for 30 days. That means any merchants processing more than $2500 per week could not access the rest of the funds for thirty days. This policy has now been removed from the company’s website, but some information shows they can still implement the limit.
WePay’s Current Hold Policy
The current hold policy of the processor depends on many factors, including your business size and type, your transaction history, the gateway you use, and the information in your profile.
Although other credit card processors also implement the hold policy on their users, the downside of WePay is that it does not properly inform customers about this. No warning is given if the withdrawing limit is approaching or has been surpassed. Merchants can face unexpected withheld funds and sometime discover their limit was passed after the fact.
WePay’s Screening Process
WePay does not have a thorough screening process and approves clients that would fall into its prohibited categories. But after a few transactions, the accounts are terminated, and funds are kept on hold. Merchants reported getting terminated without warning which resulted in returned payments to customers or merchants.
The poor screening process followed by unassisted customer service has led to many negative reviews devaluing the company’s reliability.
To overcome the increasing amount of account cancellation complaints, WePay has introduced a different screening system. The processor claims that its clients’ websites screen out and reject high-risk businesses. This only lowered the complaint rate for WePay and redirected those complaints to its clients. It has not brought any improvement in the quality of the screening process.
WePay Contract Length and Early Termination Fee
Merchants using the WePay partnered platform are essential to this review section. According to documented statements, platforms that offer white label payments also have separate merchant account terms and conditions. The general-user agreement of the platform is as necessary to review as WePay’s terms and services are.
According to sections 26-28 of WePay Terms of Services, you can cancel the account without paying any termination fees. However, these policies do not include account closures, and payout holds. To clarify these points, the rest of the terms are essential to look at—furthermore, WePay reviews and answers all payout and reserves queries in WePay’s Reserves FAQ.
Disagreements and confusion are common in the section as the terms and policies of WePay are not transparent.
WePay Customer Service & Technical Support
WePay cooperates with its partnered platforms for customer service and technical support. They share data, so WePay and partnered platforms have complete access to each other’s records. It may be an innovative move; however, in practical use, customers’ experiences vary.
A merchant can connect to a partnered platform representative or a Chase operator. It all depends on the nature of the query and the arrangement of both companies.
In addition, email and chat support option is provided on the platforms. Live support is available for 12 hours a day from 9 am to 9 pm ET, and you can also turn to the help center on their website.
WePay Advertisement Transparency
WePay has launched an unconventional method of transactions in the e-Commerce market, so it is expected of them to be transparent in their terms. However, it lacks detail, making it difficult to find helpful information. WePay claims to display all of its conditions and terms publicly; it is up to the merchant’s skill of comprehension and diligence to understand them.
On the other hand, merchants don’t face deceptive sales practices as the platform is completely automated. The software platforms are supposed to sell their co-branded payment services. They are honest in their disclosure of pricing information.
WePay Complaints
WePay has a massive amount of consumer complaints against it. There are more than 500 reviews on multiple sites where several users have called it a scam and a rip-off. At the same time, others have criticized uncooperative customer support, reserve policy, fund holdings and prohibited activities policy.
BBB Rating
WePay was accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2009 but is no longer certified with it. On the BBB profile, there have been 113 WePay reviews registered in the last 36 months. However, BBB awards it with an “A” rating.
Out of the total 113, 68 complaints described product and service issues, 40 were about billing and collection problems, 3 discussed advertising and sales complaints, and two were of delivery issues.
WePay has a below-average complaint resolving rate. Only 42 out of 113 complaints were resolved by WePay to the customer satisfaction level, and 71 were unresolved or resolved to an unsatisfactory level.
WePay Lawsuits
There has not been any outstanding class-action lawsuit or federal trade commission complaint filed against WePay. Dissatisfied users should contact relevant supervisory organizations to file a lawful course of action against incompetent providers.
WePay Setbacks
WePay has served many years in the industry to become a recognizable third-party seller. The company has some renowned names as partners and provides competitive services. However, some aspects of the company make it a hard choice for merchants. Most of its online reviews are negative and have discussed the following shortcomings of the company.
Customer Service
Merchants are highly dissatisfied with the lack of phone support. The customer representatives are usually unresponsive; if they respond, it is generally of little help. However, due to this, WePay has tried to provide informative articles on its website. Additional queries submitted through emails are rarely answered; if they are, it is after a long waiting time.
Below Average Resolve Rate
Company agents quickly answer customer reviews under BBB profile and other platforms; however, there are only some cases where merchant’s problems are solved to customer satisfaction level.
Poor Communication
With the lack of customer support, company agents are unwilling to inform about critical decisions like account termination or fund holding. WePay does not warn the merchants beforehand; they only get to know if they ask for a reason through mail or phone. Inadequacy of necessary information has played a role in increasing the negative rating of the company.
Withheld Funds
WePay only works with low-risk and normal-risk businesses. Any business suspected of processing a high-risk transaction runs the risk of cancellation. There are plenty of negative reviews towards WePay’s reserve account. Almost none or an inadequate explanation is given to the merchants if asked about account termination. Merchants often have to wait for several days to weeks to receive a response after submitting their query.
Frozen Accounts
WePay and merchants usually have disagreements over WePay’s ‘prohibited’ businesses, which arise due to the lack of communication. Accounts also get frozen over subsequent verification requirements; whether or not they were met is another dispute between two parties. It eventually avoids the problems by refunding the customers or donors, another major issue for the client.
Processing Time
Merchants are usually frustrated about the long processing time, which generally consumes 2-5 days to receive the funds into account without a hold.
Pricing
Being a third-party processor, WePay’s listed prices seem fine given the recent market trends, but it does not include the markup that the platform has the authority to charge.
This means pricing is not stable and can vary significantly according to the platform. As WePay does not directly deal with the merchants, merchants should consult their respective platforms to confirm they are not being charged extra.
Conclusion
WePay differs from other third-party processors because of its product and services, which makes it difficult to compare. WePay’s listed price is not high and correspondence to the other third-party processor; however, other processors are independent and do not involve the markup and additional platform charges.
Flexible integration of payments is a top-notch measure provided by WePay, which is popular amongst merchants too. Your business can choose whether to link to the Chase checkout page or use it for backend processing.
On the other hand, various negative reviews state WePay’s ‘prohibited’ business policy, withheld funds, and inadequate fraud prevention measures.
It launched into the market with considerable initiatives; however, considering the sub-par customer support history and other shortfalls, it can just be awarded a below-average rating.
Clients should thoroughly discuss the prohibited business types with WePay before setting up an account to reduce account termination issues. Other options are available at lower rates if your business is looking for a third-party processor outside the platform. However, it is recommended to have a dedicated merchant account if you need a dependable processor.
