CDGcommerce is a merchant account provider with main headquarters in Chesapeake, Virginia and a west coast office in San Pedro, California.
Founded in 1998, the company has twenty years of experience offering top-notch merchant account services to small and medium-sized businesses. While their services are geared more toward eCommerce businesses, they also provide a full range of offerings for retail merchants as well. The company currently serves over 20,000 merchants, putting it in the mid-sized category for merchant services providers.
More importantly, CDGcommerce has maintained a client retention rate of over 97% for more than a decade. Not many providers can claim this, and its a good indication that youre most likely to have a positive experience with them. In evaluating merchant account providers, there are certain features that we really like to see.
First, we look favorably on providers who offer true month-to-month billing with no long-term contracts and no early termination fees. This arrangement gives you the flexibility to change providers quickly and easily if you need to, with no penalty. It also creates a great incentive for your provider to continuously offer solid customer support, as you can easily leave if youre not happy for any reason.
We also prefer to see providers offer interchange-plus pricing, as its the most transparent (and affordable) pricing model for all but the smallest of businesses. If your business processes less than $10,000 per month, flat-rate pricing may be a better alternative, as your processing costs will be much more predictable. For retail merchants, we like to see providers who dont trap their customers in expensive, noncancelable terminal leases.
These leasing arrangements can end up costing thousands of dollars for a piece of equipment thats only worth a few hundred dollars at most. Fortunately, CDGcommerce scores very highly on all these criteria. All their contracts are month-to-month, so you can cancel at any time without having to pay a penalty.
They offer interchange-plus pricing plans to businesses processing over $10,000 per month. For smaller businesses that process less than $10,000 per month, they offer a simplified pricing plan that combines features of flat-rate and tiered pricing. While were generally not fans of tiered pricing plans, the companys rates are fully disclosed and also quite reasonable.
You wont experience the kind of sticker shock that merchants on traditional tiered plans often suffer when they look at their monthly processing statement. Credit card terminals are included with your account, although youll have to pay a $79 annual fee for terminal insurance. This works out to much less than a typical monthly terminal leasing fee, and all you have to do is return your equipment if you decide to close your account.
It gets even better. CDGcommerce has also eliminated many of the excessive fees that other providers charge, including account setup fees, PCI compliance fees, and monthly minimums. For eCommerce merchants, theyll also include the use of either their proprietary Quantum payment gateway or Authorize.Net (see our review) for free.
Finally, they back everything up with excellent customer service and support. With so many outstanding features, it should come as no surprise that CDGcommerce earns an excellent 5 out of 5 stars rating. We recommend them very highly, and when you learn about all they have to offer, were sure youll agree.
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