CDGcommerceC57
Merchant Account (ISO) · US small and mid-sized businesses — retail, restaurants, professional services, e-commerce and non-profits …
Overview
CDGcommerce is one of the very few ISOs that put every number on the website and then honour them with no contract and no exit fee, which is most of what a small business needs from a processor. The flat-rate plan at 2.9% + 30¢ and $9.95 a month is ordinary on price but clean on terms; the interchange-plus plan at 0.30% + 10¢ is competitive with the well-known transparent processors and includes a free gateway; the wholesale membership is a genuine option for a business past $25,000 a month. The BBB record — A+, accredited, two complaints in three years — is as good as this industry produces. B+ rather than higher because it is a small, US-only shop with a modest software layer, a terminal with an annual charge, no published funding schedule, and reports of holds and terminations for accounts it decides are risky.
Best for: US small and mid-sized businesses — retail, restaurants, professional services, e-commerce and non-profits — that want interchange-plus pricing they can read before they call, a free gateway and virtual terminal, and month-to-month terms from a provider that third-party reviewers report answers the phone around the clock. The non-profit rate and the wholesale membership tiers suit charities and businesses past $25,000 a month respectively.
Strengths
- + Every plan's pricing is published in full — flat rate, interchange-plus markups and the four wholesale membership tiers — so a merchant can price the account before speaking to sales.
- + No contract term and no early-termination fee on any plan; the company says it has never required either in more than twenty years.
- + Interchange plus 0.30% + $0.10 in retail and 0.25% + $0.10 for non-profits is competitive with the better-known transparent processors, and the Quantum gateway or Authorize.Net comes free.
- + An A+ BBB rating, accreditation since April 2020 and two complaints closed in three years — an almost empty file for a processor that has operated since 1998.
- + Family-owned and run by its founders rather than by private equity, with telephone support that Merchant Maverick reports is available 24/7 and a stated 97%-plus retention rate among active merchants.
- + The flat-rate plan carries none of the PCI, statement, annual, monthly-minimum or pass-through fees that pad other processors' statements.
Trade-offs
- – US-only, and it refuses several categories outright — adult, CBD and cannabis, telemarketing — so it is not an option for high-risk merchants.
- – The interchange-plus plan's monthly fee is not on the website; third-party reviewers report $19 to $49 a month depending on the account, which a merchant has to confirm with sales.
- – The Dejavoo Z11 terminal is neither sold nor leased but supplied on a $79-a-year update plan, an unusual arrangement that adds up over the life of the account.
- – Funding timing is not published anywhere on the site, and third-party reviews describe holds and terminations on accounts the company decided were risky.
- – The software layer is modest — a gateway, a virtual terminal and a paid CRM add-on — with no integrated POS ecosystem of the kind Square, Clover or Toast provide.
- – A small company with a thin self-service help centre: support is by phone and email, and there is little to read when the office is closed.
Fees in detail
- Online rate: Flat rate: 3.50% + $0.30. Interchange-plus: interchange + 0.35% + $0.15
- International: Not separately published; interchange-plus merchants pay the card networks' international interchange and assessments at cost plus the same
- Contract: Month-to-month; membership billed annually
Standard published rate for a domestic online card payment. Confirm current pricing on CDGcommerce's pricing page.
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