WePay
Is This Your Business?Author: Kaitlyn Short
WePay is an online payment processor that focuses exclusively on platform businesses, for merchants and payers on their platform, such as crowdfunding sites, marketplaces and small business software. Previously their business model was similar to Paypal, Stripe and ProPay; however, more recently they have begun to focus mainly on payments just for platforms, which is similar to providers such as Balanced Payments and Braintree. WePay was founded by Rich Aberman and Bill Clerico in 2008 in Boston, Massachusetts, but is currently based in Palo Alto, California. WePay offers two types of business models known as WePay Connect and WePay Clear. A merchant can choose which one of the two best suits their needs. The pricing is different for each one, but the basic options are the same.
Top Ranked Companies
The Good
- Quick Approval
- WePay Connect
- WePay Clear
Quick Approval
WePay has a quick approval process, transparent pricing options and their rates are competitive. Additionally, WePay has a no charge virtual terminal feature, unlike Paypal. There are only a few shopping cart plug-ins available; however, you can easily integrate WePay's button code into any website. And fortunately, WePay offers two different business models through WePay Connect and WePay Clear, which include quite a few attractive options.
WePay Connect
WePay Connect has plenty to offer and most merchants love their easy to use, low-cost features, such as a turnkey solution, a flat 2.9% + 30¢ for every processed transaction, regardless of the amount of sales you have each month, no hidden fees, quick and easy no-cost setup, no monthly fees and no refund fees. Moving money is free with zero cost payouts. You can easily create a merchant account in a single step, then immediately accept payments with zero risk of loss. And buyers never leave your website to complete their purchase. You can onboard users with one click and get paid quickly, usually the next day. Chargeback, fraud, account takeovers and money laundering are all covered risks. WePay handles all 1099K tax filings, Visa, MasterCard and American Express compliance and money transmission compliance. They also have PCI security to protect your customers, AML/BSA, easy to use documentation, SDKs, code examples and integration design consultation. WePay tries to make everything as simple as possible with developer support, tier 2 support for your support teams and support for your end-users on request. You will also receive account management and success planning and they have a single API for US and Canada for a seamless experience with no additional work for your developers. And they have stated that worldwide expansion is planned. All of this combined adds tremendous value, especially when it comes to how you value your time.
WePay Clear
WePay Clear, which was released in 2014, is another type of business model for you to consider. WePay Clear is a white-label option for users who want to provide their own payments service. With this service, WePay becomes invisible to your customers; however, they are in the background handling all the day-to-day operations and fraud liability, etc. This service is completely customizable; therefore, it will look and feel as if it's unique to your business. WePay's rates for this service will vary and require you to contact them to receive a quote. WePay employs positive marketing tactics, their rates are transparent, you are not required to sign a contract and there are no cancellation fees. It seems WePay has a service that will fit most any need; however, they do have some negative aspects you need to be aware of.
The Bad
- Customer Complaints
- Additional Fees
Customer Complaints
No company can please everyone all the time and WePay is no exception with their fair share of negative feedback. The most common complaints concern withheld funds, long processing times, cancelled transactions, especially for high-risk businesses, and customer service issues. Many of these issues seem to stem from WePay not adequately screening their merchants to weed out those who would ultimately have their accounts terminated. This is confusing for those merchants who were initially told their business qualified for WePay's services then being allowed to process transactions. A short time later their accounts were cancelled and all funds returned to customers. This could all be avoided if WePay was a little more forthcoming concerning exactly what they consider to be "prohibited activities" and conveying this to merchants before they signup rather than after the fact.
Additional Fees
Other issues to consider are the fact that WePay charges a $15 chargeback fee any time a charge is disputed. And at their discretion, they can impose a standard withdrawal limit of $2,500 per business day and anything above that could be withheld in a reserve for up to 30 days. There are also reports of merchants having to wait a full 30 days to receive large portions of their payments due to those reserves. Unfortunately, WePay does not give you any type of prior notice of withdrawal limits being reached or exceeded. And customer support has been noted as often being unreachable and less than helpful once you do get someone to help you.
The Bottom Line
WePay has some great features and their prices are in line with other players in the payment processing industry. Additionally, they don't have any hidden fees and their rates are clearly stated on their website. Many merchants love having a turnkey system that is easy to use and setup making the transition seamless. In addition to having a turnkey system in place, WePay has a huge list of offerings that make their service even more attractive after the initial first glance. Unfortunately, WePay has numerous complaints. However, it appears those complaints stem from the company's lack of communication about their fraud prevention policies that relate to prohibited activities. Therefore, we recommend you thoroughly read WePay's prohibited activities list and if there is any doubt about your products or services, immediately contact their customer service department for clarification (before signing anything), then get some type of confirmation in writing. Otherwise, you could end up with a terminated account without any notice or explanation. With that being said, the majority of businesses will likely not fall into a prohibited category; however, you should never assume anything. WePay could easily implement a more thorough screening process, which would significantly lower their number of complaints leaving the general public with a much higher opinion of their services. WePay's services do appear to be good and worth checking into. If your products and services aren't in any way related to anything on WePay's prohibited list, you will find that they are competitive, transparent and may be just what your company has been looking for.
