Cayan is a veteran with the experience, products, and service to help your business

10-second breakdown:

A heavyweight of the processing industry, Cayan offers amazing value for your dollar with some of the best pricing available. All fees are clearly communicated and the full range of products will help you find the best solution for your business.

The good:

Contracts are available on a monthly basis. This is a breath of fresh air compared to the industry standard of no less that a three year contract.

Cayan doesn’t charge you to open an account. There are no setup or application fees. There are also no early termination fees which are a rarity in this business.

This processor has a good reputation for excellent customer service. They have 24/7/265 phone support available as well as email. Response times are good and resolution times are solid.

The bad:

A large number of complaints have come from their $99 annual PCI compliance fee. Most users were simply unaware that this fee existed and were surprised when charged.

While the cancellation process is clearly defined on their website many had trouble getting into contact the cancellation department.

How it works:

Founded all the way back in the late 90’s, Merchant Warehouse re-branded themselves as Cayan in 2015. Almost at their twentieth birthday, Cayan has built a golden reputation over the years with independent reviewers praising the company. In 2009 they even won the Electronic Transaction Association’s ISO of the Year award – it’s a really big deal, similar to winning the Super Bowl but with low rates instead of tackles and touchdowns.

So what has kept Cayan in business all these years? It’s all about the fees and rates. They were one of the first pioneers to stop charging an early termination fee. These days that may not turn as many eyebrows, but back a few years the industry norm was to force businesses to commit to three or more years and then slap them with a heavy fine somewhere between $400 and $1,000 if the client decided they want out early.

An often overlooked part of getting set up is the payment terminals, how exactly will you take your payments? Cayan puts their customers first, instead of forcing an expensive third-party lease on you like a lot of the competition, they list prices alongside their terminal selection. It sounds simple but you would be surprised at rare it is, remember that leasing is a huge source of profit for these companies. You can still rent if you really want, but their website feels more like an online shop, in a good way the final prices are clearly listed so you can plan out your budget.

The human element is what brings a lot of businesses to Cayan. In addition to providing friendly courteous service, they actively respond to complaints online. A far cry from robotic responses, if a customer complains about Cayan online a representative will reply and help out as best they can – including often times admitting that Cayan is to share in the blame. It’s refreshing to see, and we’re not talking about official Cayan forums here, they actively respond to complaints in review sites and elsewhere on the internet.

Cayan offers quite an impressive series of products and services on their website. Everything is laid out neatly in a catalog, it’s the cleanest in the industry, packed with useful information. Everything is laser-focused on marketing and processing as well, you won’t find any additional services – they do one thing and do it really well.

Just because they keep focused on payment processing doesn’t mean that Cayan has little to offer. Quite the opposite actually, over the years they’ve fine-tuned their offerings and have a lot to bring to the table. Even normal things like merchant accounts are feature loaded, they support credit and debit terminals to online processing and mobile payments.

Cayan’s check processing program, dubbed CrossCheck, takes a few steps out from the crowd as well. It does everything you would expect it to like the ability to accept checks, but adds a few extra features free of charge like remote deposit capture. They also throw in the free use of a payment gateway and virtual terminal with all accounts.

The big downside with Cayan is that it won’t list any of its rates or fees anywhere on the website – save for terminal prices. This used to be the industry norm so it’s easy to see where they’re coming from, but these days it’s much more normal to list rates and fees or if you can’t, at least a general ballpark figure potential customers can keep in mind when negotiating. Instead, you get next to nothing, no fees or even descriptions of how their rates work.

With that said, they do state that their rates are interchange-plus for all merchants. They also list a few fees here and there, for example there is the dreaded monthly minimum fee of $25. You’ll have to give them a call to find out just what the minimum volume is, but on the plus side, there are quite a few customers online who have reported that they negotiated the fee down to as low as $5. It looks like Cayan is happy to haggle.

There’s also a $7.95 monthly statement fee, that’s around the industry average and not too surprising. While Cayan’s plans are on a month to month basis with no cancellation fees, you do need to pay the annual $99 PCI compliance fee upfront and in full. If you decide to switch vendors you’re out of luck, there’s no refund. Also be careful with the terminals, in some cases Cayan has charged up to 35% of the price in a restocking fee.

Although you’ll have to give them a call to nail down a specific quote, Cayan is a tried and true veteran with a lot of awards under its belt. You don’t stay in the industry for nearly twenty years without doing something right, Cayan brings you some of the best pricing available.

For complete rankings of all credit card processors, go here.

http://authority.org/credit-card-processing/cayan/ http://authorityorg.tumblr.com/post/150067777772