iPayment nightmare!

[Branden]

I have a side business selling car parts and use iPayment for a credit card processor. When I started the business they ask how much I planned on processing a month, and what the average transaction would be. Having no real data to go one since the business was new I said $1000 a month and $200 a transaction. Well my business has done better than I imagines so far and I have been easily beating that since I had the account. Matter of fact I have been doubling business monthly plus. I sell merchandise that can range from $7 to $1000, so the average transaction thing is murky to figure out. Well anyway, most transactions I process are in the $300-$400 range, but I have had a few over $1,000. On Tuesday, 5/11 I processed an order for $1,900 which is my largest ever. Well I waited a few days, and the money never EFT'ed to my account..which normally takes a day. That Friday I got a message from a woman while I wasn;t home telling me that I had been proccessing above my approved limit and needed to fill out a limit increase application. I called their "risk" back, filled the form out, and got it right back to them. They said it would take a day or two to process, but everything would be fine. I asked about the $1,900 order I had not been paid for, and they said that that was on hold pending the approval. Keep in mind I already shipped the parts, because the money transfer always goe sthrough...so this guy who ordered is getting well ove a $1000 in merchandise that I haven't gotten.So okay I think...no biggie, only a few days. Well All last week goes by and I get no money, so I called last Friday and they told me that my application for an increase was under reveiw by the "underwriting" department and it would take 7 days. I told them it has been 7 days (I got the form back to them Tuesday)...they said call back Monday.She told me that I would not get credit for the $1900 untill I sent them the invocie with a phone number and let them verify the order to ensure it isn't fraud (week and a half in and this is the first time they mention this). The woman also tells me not to process any credit card orders untill I hear back from them. Now I am like WTF? :eek: :mad: :confused: ...I politely told the woman that I had exceeded my limit for months now not quiote understanding the process, and I could not afford to essentially close my business 4 days. I also expressed concern that thousands of dollars that have been approved by the lending banks was being held by them, and they just now after 5 phone calls tell me they need an invoice. At this point she lectured me about how I should have know, and I need to run my business more responsibly. This caused me to have anger and throw the phone, which imploded. Luckily I can write it off as a business expense. Well not having a way to shut my site down (customers need access to accounts), I received two orders last weekend for a combined total of over $1000. I called back Monday to check the status, and the woman I talked to had no idea what was going on. So she asked the woman who was responible for my account (for some reason she would not talk directly to me), and the woman said the money would be credited to my account last night. Fast forward to today, I call back because the money again was not EFTed, and the woman said she was still in the process of verifying the order. Apparently she called the customer who placed the $1900 order and was waiting for him to call back to verify it. I asked her why she had to do that since he placed the order on the site and has an accout, and also the site uses address verification. She said she had no proof that had been done. Also she told me my orders from the weekend were on hold, and she hopes to release everything tommorow.

 

 

So in short can anyone recommend a credit card processing service that will treat me better?

[Chance]

Authorize.net does AVS and CCV2 matching during processing, and I have never had a problem with them. They are supported in MS2 with AVS, however their CCV2 support is in an add on contribution.

 

However, the processing limits and related policy are not up to the credit card processor, they are up to the merchant account who underwrites your gateway.

 

I would look around for another merchant account, your processor seems to be working fine.

[bdaug001]

Branden,

 

I feel your pain as far as dealing with Ipayment goes... I went through a situation like that (with Ipayment) that almost put me out of business. As have many others it seems, according to the BBB report on Ipayment

 

The problem, as explained to me by a reseller when i began shopping around, is that there are 2 types of merchant account companies; the ones who accept anybody and then impose strict limitations on how you process, and the ones who screen really hard up front but then are easy to work with after you start processing. Ipayment is one of the former.

 

What you need to do, is quietly find another processor and have them set you up and then wait for all of the money you have sent through your ipayment account to clear, and then close your bank account and open another one. THEN send Ipayment your termination request.

 

If you dont clear all of your funds and close the account, Ipayment will hold your funds that have not been deposited for 180 days 'to protect themselves from chargebacks' and will continue to debit your account for their fees even after you have terminated. Also, even if you dont have a contract for a set period or an early termination clause, I have heard they will sometimes attempt to debit a termination fee your account.

 

As far as good merchant accounts, if your personal credit is good, I recommend Suntrust Merchant Services. Also worth checking out is Costco... they offer merchant services through Nova and although they screen really hard (harder than Suntrust) the rates are pretty decent. 1.99% for fully qualified and 3.30% for non-qualified, so if you arent dealing with alot of corporate cards or most of your cards have an AVS match then its a great deal.

 

If you are looking to evaluate other merchant account providers, good questions to ask up front are:

 

*contract length/termination fees - you need to be able to dump them if it doesnt work out

 

*will they provide mid-qualified and non-qualified rates in writing - seems obvious, but some companies are shady about this

 

*do they have experience working with internet businesses - also seems obvious but i had one company quote me swiper rates, and the actual rates were almost a percentage point higher!

 

*can you speak to the risk department before you sign up - the salespeople will always tell you that their banks never hold funds, and they have 100% retention rates, their customers live longer and are more attractive to women, etc. Ask someone in the risk department directly what the procedure is if you exceed your ticket size.

 

hopefully this helps, good luck