Payanywhere review: good value for small businesses, but with flaws

Accepted payments

Merchants making up to $10k a month get pay-as-you-go pricing without contractual lock-in, but the account will be active indefinitely until you cancel it (so there is still a contract, albeit cancellable).

To sign up, you fill in the online application form and wait 24 hours for your details to be approved.

If you make more than the pay-as-you-go threshold, you can get custom fees by speaking to a sales rep, or you’ll automatically be transferred to a contractual merchant account with other fees if you exceed the limit.

Card transactions should be paid into your bank account the following business day, which is a competitive settlement time.

Though there is no lock-in or ongoing monthly fees on the Pay As You Go plan, Payanywhere will charge a $3.99 monthly “Inactivity Fee” after 12 months of not accepting cards. Once you resume the card payments again, the inactivity fee will stop being charged. You will have to cancel the contract to stop any obligation to pay this fee.

If you make more than $100k through Visa, Mastercard, Discover – and even PayPal – within a 12-month period, you will automatically be transferred to your own merchant account with a separate contractual commitment, new transaction fees and different terms. Moreover, making over $100k a year through American Express will open up a direct contract with Amex.

Payanywhere isn’t transparent about this, as we have seen in customer reviews. If you already accept over $10k monthly, you can ask for tailored rates specific to your business when you sign up.

Low-volume businesses might prefer the two app-based card readers with low (or no) startup cost. The 2-in-1 Credit Card Reader (for EMV and swipe cards) is given to you for free upon sign-up, with an option to buy additional ones for $29.95 each. The 3-in-1 Credit Card Reader (for EMV, swipe and contactless payments) costs $49.95 each. Either of these will work together with the free Payanywhere app to accept cards.

Larger budgets can consider the higher-end, touchscreen card terminals that are not dependent on a mobile app:

• The Smart Terminal costs $349.95 upfront, but then you pay a $9.95 monthly software fee just for using this.
• The Smart Flex terminal costs $549.95 upfront as well as a $49.95 setup fee, then $19.95 every month for using the software on the device.
• The Smart Point of Sale costs $949.95 upfront plus a $99.95 setup fee, then $29.95 a month for the software.

In other words, the touchscreen terminals have monthly, ongoing fees even on the pay-as-you-go plan, but the app-based card readers do not.

Payanywhere 2-in-1 Credit Card Reader accepts swipe and chip cards.

Payanywhere 3-in-1 Credit Card Reader accepts NFC, chip and swipe cards.

The 1-in-2 Credit Card Reader comes free when you sign up with Payanywhere. It accepts magstripe and EMV (chip) cards while connected to the Payanywhere app on iPhone, iPad or Android smartphone or tablet, using the latter’s 3G, 4G or WiFi connection.

In a similar vein, the 3-in-1 Credit Card Reader accepts payments while connected to the Payanywhere app, but it accepts contactless (NFC) payments as well as swipe and chip cards.

They’re both very simple card readers, small and connect via Bluetooth to your mobile device. Using Payanywhere with one of the app-based card readers is the most inexpensive way to use the service, as there are no monthly fees or software licence to pay for.

Using one of the smart POS (touchscreen) terminals, on the other had, has ongoing costs as the software and hardware are more complex. All of these accept contactless (NFC), chip and swipe cards.

Payanywhere Smart Terminal prints receipts, scans barcodes and more.

Payanywhere Smart Flax terminal has a customer-facing screen.

The cheapest one of those is the compact Smart Terminal, which has a 5-inch HD touchscreen, built-in barcode scanner and built-in receipt printer. The software, which is installed on the terminal, uses a 4G or WiFi connection to process sales over the internet.

The higher-end smart terminal is called Smart Flex and has an 8-inch HD touchscreen, 4.3-inch customer-facing touchscreen, built-built barcode scanner and built-in receipt printer. It also uses a 4G or WiFi connection to process sales.

Finally, there’s a large Smart Point of Sale terminal with an 8-inch HD touchscreen, 4.3-inch customer-facing touchscreen, receipt printer and barcode scanner. Due to the size, this can only be used at a stationary checkout, and the white finish should preferably fit into your shop environment as otherwise it will stick out like a sore thumb.

The Smart Point of Sale is not quite as discreet as the small terminals.

All of these features are available in the app, and any actions and changes will update in the Payanywhere account in real time, as terminals and the backend account are constantly synced.

Basic employee features like user accounts, roles and permissions are automatically available in the account, but additional features can be added through the free ‘Homebase’ integration. This allows you to forecast labor costs, manage staff schedules, track work hours and post job openings on Craigslist.

It’s unclear whether the platform can integrate with third-party software such as online stores or markting tools (to compare, Square integrates with loads), but the Payanywhere SDK allows you to embed its payments system in your own native app.

The Payanywhere Inside portal is accessible in an internet browser.