Payment Depot vs Fattmerchant: Which Solution is Right for Your Business?

Choosing between payment processing providers is a challenge — especially when you come across two payment processing companies that seem quite similar at first glances, such as Payment Depot and Fattmerchant. 

Since both Payment Depot and Fattmerchant offer membership-based credit card processing and they both offer 0 percentage markups on transactions, it can be difficult to know how to differentiate between the two, much less to choose the right merchant services provider for your business. 

However, there are a few clear-cut differences between Payment Depot vs Fattmerchant. We will evaluate both businesses by the following 5 factors: 

1. Features and Capabilities
2. Pricing
3. Customer Service
4. Reviews and Reputation 
5. Hardware 

So, let’s take a look at each business’ offerings in each of these categories so that you can make the right informed a decision on which payment processor is right for you.

At a glance

Features and Capabilities

Payment Depot Features 

Payment Depot came before Fattmerchant and it offers more options to help mid-sized business owners save money with membership-based pricing. 

Payment Depot offers a free payment gateway, chargeback, and risk monitoring, rate protection, and next-day funding to all of its customers — so you have access to all of these features even if you’re only paying $49 a month + interchange for basic merchant services. 

What’s more, Payment Depot proactively includes a PCI certificate in each membership plan as a means of protecting its members. There’s also no cancellation fee if you decide to end your membership. 

The included features become even more enticing if you purchase a larger plan, including 27/7 in-house customer service, free terminal upgrades every 2 years, a free standard terminal, a free mobile reader, a free pinpad, and more.

Fattmerchant Features 

Fattmerchant’s features are very similar to Payment Depot’s. Fattmerchant has no cancellation fees, no statement fees, no batch fees, and 0% markups. 

Fattmerchant’s “Omni-platform” makes it easy to track transactional data. Fattmerchant also easily integrates with Quickbooks, offers next-day funding, and PCI compliance support to make sure your customer payment data protection is up-to-par. 

Costs

Payment Depot Pricing

Payment Depot charges a monthly membership fee, in addition to a set amount per transaction plus interchange. While Fattmerchant only offers 2 price tiers, Payment Depot offers 4, so if you’re a lower volume retailer you won’t wind up paying for features you won’t use. Here are Payment Depot’s membership prices:

1. Basic Plan: Companies processing under $25,000 a month will pay $49/month plus a 15-cent transaction fee and interchange

2. Most Popular Plan: Companies processing up to $75,000 a month will pay $79/month plus a 10-cent transaction fee and interchange.

3. Best Value Plan: Companies processing up to $200,000 a month will pay $99/month plus 7-cents per transaction and interchange.

4. Premier Plan: Any company processing over $200,000 a month will pay $199/month plus 5-cents per transaction and interchange.

It’s also important to note that Payment Depot is willing to negotiate on the per-transaction fee. For instance, the company has several clients on $49 a month, but are paying $0.05 per transaction instead of $0.15. Contact the Payment Depot team and see if there’s a way to lower  your rates.

Fattmerchant Pricing

Fattmerchant’s rates are much higher. The company offers 2 membership options:

1. Companies processing less than $500,000 a year will pay $99 a month + 8 cents per transaction plus interchange.

2. Those processing more than $500,000 a year will pay $199/month plus 6 cents per transaction plus interchange

Note that there are some troublesome reports around Fattmerchant placing their members in much higher pricing tiers. One merchant switched to Payment Depot after Fattmerchat raised their fees to a whopping $499 per month for processing $200,000 monthly. With this processing volume, that same merchant would only have to pay $99 to $199 per month at Payment Depot.

The bottom line when it comes to price? Payment Depot is hands down the most cost-effective option that can give you more bang for your buck.

Customer Support

Payment Depot Customer Service 

Payment Depot offers award-winning 24/7 in-house customer service. They don’t outsource their customer service queries to a third-party provider, so you can touch base with a Payment Depot employee who knows their stuff every single time you call in. 

Fattmerchant Customer Service

Fattmerchant’s website has a high-functioning search bar that lets customers find their own answers. Fattmerchant offers 24/7 call-in technical support and customers can also fill out a customer service request ticket on Fattmerchant’s website to have their account manager respond to their questions. 

Reviews and Reputation

Payment Depot Reviews 

Payment Depot is a Better Business Accredited Business and it’s BBB rating is an A+ (and if you’re familiar with the Better Business Bureau, you know how rare it is to see a credit card processing company with this rating). While many companies claim to be no-hassle and transparent about their fees, a quick background check on these businesses reveals that they aren’t as transparent as they would have new customers believe. Payment Depot, on the other hand, is the real deal. 

It’s important to note, however, that Payment Depot does not accept high-risk merchants, meaning businesses of questionable legality, those with a high fraud rate, questionable practices, or those who process a lot of high-ticket transactions via credit card may not be accepted. Contact Payment Depot’s 24/7 in-house customer service team to find out if your business falls into this category.

Payment Depot also has several positive reviews from merchants and industry websites. Check them out here.

Fattmerchant Reviews 

Fattmerchant has a lot of happy customers, which can be attributed to the fact that customers can save $513 a month by switching to Fattmerchant’s membership-based business model. Fattmerchant’s BBB rating is an A-, which is obviously nothing to sneeze at. However, it is concerning that unhappy customers cited unexpected fees as their main complaint. 

Equipment

Payment Depot Hardware

Payment Depot has a wide variety of free credit card processing solutions for retailers including countertop and wireless physical terminals, wireless mobile card readers, and ultra-modern Clover POS stations, virtual terminals, and Payment Depot can easily integrate with most online shopping cart and content management systems. 

Fattmerchant Hardware

Fattmerchant has a few different terminals options: Dejavoo terminals (which include both standalone and integrated payment options), Pinpad devices by Veriphone, and BBPOS mobile payment platforms. Each option has an EMV chip reader and a card swipe reader, as well the option to accept both Apple Pay and Android Pay.

Choosing a Payment Processor

The bottom line? Fattmerchant and Payment Depot run very similar business models, but the latter has a slight edge. 

Payment Depot has been around longer and has more membership options for mid to small-sized business owners. And Payment Depot’s reviews reflect their position as category leader… in addition to a phenomenal BBB rating of A+, Payment Depot saves merchants an average of $400 a month. Get in touch with one of Payment Depot’s award-winning customer service reps to learn how the platform can help your business save on credit card processing.