CardX - Top Merchant Services

Our Verdict

CardX may not have the advanced merchant service features found in many other merchant account providers. But they do an excellent job in ensuring that their users can accept payments without worrying about exorbitant fees, security breaches, and compliant troubles. The platform’s intuitiveness also means that you won’t need the help of an expert to use it, and even the most inexperienced team member can quickly initiate a transaction with it.

The fact that you do not get to pay any upfront cost before using this merchant service is an excellent value proposition. Also, from the research conducted for this review, there has not been a single complaint about this service provider’s customer service, nor has anyone complained that what was advertised on CardX’s website wasn’t what they got. Hence, safe to say that though the platform may not have existed for long, they are genuinely in the business of rendering premium services to its customers.

Pros

0% credit card cost
Transparent pricing structure
Highly compliant platform
Excellent customer support

Cons

Available in only 48 states in the U.S.
Lacks advanced merchant features

Plans & Pricing

CardX provides merchant services to businesses, government parastatals, and education institutes via two broad pricing structures. These structures are Card Acceptance Pricing and Technology Pricing.

Acceptance Pricing

This pricing structure is based on the type of card payment you accept from your customers. It features separate pricing for credit and debit card payments.

Credit Cards

With the credit card pricing plan, you receive a 100% of the transaction value, while your customers pay 3% of the value for processing the payment. Upon completion, your customers will receive a one-line credit card statement bearing your business name as well as the sum of the transaction amount and the processing fee.

Debit Cards

Unlike the credit card plan, your business gets to pay for processing payments from your customers’ debit cards. For every debit card payment, you receive using the in-person terminal, you pay a processing fee of 2.91% of the transaction value. However, CardX clarified on their website that the interchange charged for debit card transactions would depend on the card processor. Also, the above debit card rate does not apply to keyed-in debit transactions, except if you opt for the CardX virtual terminal.

Technology Pricing

This pricing is based on how you receive your customers’ financial details for payments.

In-Person

The CardX In-Person Pricing Plan goes for $35 per month. It gives businesses the avenue to enjoy the benefits of using this merchant service to process in-person payments. When you sign up for this CardX plan, you receive a custom CardX terminal with EMV Quick Chip and pre-installed CardX software; and you can process payments from cards on this terminal by inserting or swiping the cards. Along with the terminal, you also receive customized CardX signage to keep you compliant and your customers abreast of your pricing system.

In-Office

By opting for the In-Office plan, you will not need to purchase hardware or install the software. Instead, you only need to key in your customers’ financial information using the CardX virtual terminal. The In-Office plan begins at $29 per month and depends on your transaction volume. It is also a hassle-free way of receiving payments with this merchant solution.

Online

The Online plan of the CardX merchant service allows business owners to receive payments when customers make purchases from their websites. This plan uses the CardX Lightbox payment gateway and virtual terminals to make online payments seamless and secure. Unlike most merchant account providers, CardX does not redirect customers to another page for payment when they check out of your store.

Credit Cards

$0 /month

+3% customer fee

Debit Cards

$0 /month

+2.91% key entry fee

Online

$29 /month

In-Office

$29 /month

In-Person

$35 /month

In-depth review

Features and Functionality

POS

CardX utilizes terminals from companies like Verifone to provide card processing services to the users. These terminals can be used at sales points to make payment processing easier for business owners, government agencies, and educational institutions. CardX allows you to accept payments via debit and credit cards, web payments, and virtual transfers. You can also choose from the in-person and in-office payment methods when you use this service.

Online Payments

If your customers are not available to present their cards in person, CardX has an online payment option where you can receive payment from your website. An exciting feature of this function is that CardX has its payment gateway. As such, your customers will not be redirected to another webpage to complete their payment. In essence, you have full control over what happens at every stage of your interaction with your customers. The interface is beautifully designed and 100% secure without any PCI exposure.

CardX Government + Education

The Government + Education feature of the CardX merchant service allows government agencies and educational institutions to receive online and card payments. This feature uses advanced technology to determine the payer’s card type and the cost of processing payment from such cards in less than a second. With the Government + Education feature, agencies and institutions do not have to bear the cost of other customers’ transactions. Instead, customers pay for whatever cost they incur by choosing their payment methods. This feature eliminates the disadvantages of flat-rate pricing that uses the low fees of low-cost cards to balance out the exorbitant charges from high-processing rate cards.

Business

If you are a for-profit business owner, CardX allows you to scale your profit margin without incurring more operational costs. With CardX, you can receive payments from your customers via credit and debit cards (although credit cards will usually cost more). CardX also ensures you are fair to your customers as each customer gets to bear the cost of their preferred cards. And when it comes to cash discounts, CardX distinguishes itself from the crowd. They ensure that every business signed up with them uses cash discounts only when they’re compliant. This compliance means that the business has to put up signage showing a product’s shelf price alongside its price when purchased with a credit card. This helps customers know the exact cost of a product before they approach the payment point. As a result, using the CardX merchant service helps boost your customers’ trust in your business.

Funds and Financial Data Security

Card fraud, often resulting from system breaches, is one of the leading causes of bankruptcy and business closure in most developed countries. Nevertheless, CardX is PCI compliant and will not jeopardize the security of your funds and sensitive customer data. Furthermore, upon request, this merchant service can send you a compliance certificate you can present to your customers to improve their trust in your business.

Integrations & Add-ons

CardX has not currently announced integrations with third-party software as a feature of its merchant service. However, it employs a complex (but easy to use) system that integrates all your payment points and allows you access to them via a unified platform.

Ease of Use

As a cloud-based payment platform, CardX removes the hassle of on-site business solutions. There are no upfront payments, and the software is also free, so all you have to do to get started with this merchant service is to register your business details on the software’s website. You do not have to install bulky servers, and neither do you have to pay for hosting to use CardX’s services.

Upon setting up an account and logging into the CardX platform, you’ll be met with an intuitive but informative dashboard. You can quickly see your business’s weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly transaction figures from the dashboard. You can also view your sales statistics from the CardX terminal, the virtual terminal, and the Lightbox. And from this page, you can quickly generate a sales report or start a new sale.

Customer Service

It is pretty impressive that CardX, being new to this business, provides a variety of support systems to its customers. And so far, no complaint about poor customer support has been registered by the users of this service. CardX customer support services include:

Phone Support

Toll-free phone support for users, sales inquiries, and intending partners.

Separate email support for users, sales inquiries, and partners.

User Reviews

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Q&A

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Murad Jaffery

Murad Jaffery is a chartered accountant specializing in the field of accounting and finance. He has been writing on these areas for nearly a decade, and is also an accounting tutor. He holds master’s degrees in accountancy and English literature. Murad enjoys traveling and reading.

We make the best effort to present up-to-date information; however, the terms of each offer can be revised according to the service provider’s discretion. The above shall not be considered as an expert or professional advice for any matter.