Elavon: Payment Processing at the Intersection of Speed, Security, & Innovation

Elavon: Company Overview

Elavon is a subsidiary of U.S. Bank with a dedicated focus on merchant services for businesses of all sizes. They have offered industry-specific payment processing options for over 30 years, making a name for themselves in the industry. Their solutions accommodate a variety of payment options, as backed by their parent issuing bank, as well as advanced analytics, management, and integration features. Additionally, they keep your business operations and your customers protected with high industry security standards.

Elavon has a wide range of customers, including small business owners, with over 2 million customers in 32 countries. They serve a wide variety of business industries, including retail, healthcare, food and beverage, financial services, logistics, government, higher education, nonprofits, travel and hospitality, e-commerce, entertainment, and energy and fuel. They process a combined $6.5 billion in credit card transactions every year. Elavon is designed to scale with your business, adjusting their services as your company grows.

The company has won several awards, including the 2023 TSG Real Transaction Metrics Awards and the 2022 Best Mobile Payment Solution at the CNP Expo, all solidifying their position in the industry.

Elavon Service Offerings

Elavon offers a wide range of services to cover all of your payment processing and reporting needs. You can customize the services to ensure they include everything you need but nothing more.

• In-person payments: If you want to accept payments from in-person customers, Elavon offers POS systems for your physical stores, or mobile options if you travel to clients. They provide six different options for countertop or portable POS systems with different features. Choose based on your usage, payment options, and budget
• Contactless payments: They offer payment options like tap-and-go cards, mobile wallets, and online payments, which are becoming increasingly popular with customers and merchants. They offer a fast, safe, and touchless experience that reduces touchpoints and creates trust. Contactless payments come with several benefits, including faster transactions, low fraud rates, and valuable insights
• Payment optimization: They offer a range of solutions for businesses processing transactions, including debit optimization, commercial card optimization, multi-currency conversion, dynamic currency conversion, surcharge program, and convenience and service fees. These solutions help reduce fraud, lower fees, and attract new customers, while also making credit card acceptance more convenient
• Gift cards: Use your new POS system to attract customers with gift card services. Gift cards are a great gift and encourage shopping at your store. You can add gift card capabilities to any terminal, and Elavon will provide the cards and simplify running them
• Virtual terminal: Elavon offers virtual terminal solutions for online sales, including mobile in-app purchases and digital wallets. Your eCommerce site can display banners highlighting the security of your payment page to encourage customer confidence
• Enhanced e-commerce: Elavon can help your business with a specialized eCommerce site, like a restaurant's online ordering platform. By enabling customers to order directly from your site, you can build greater brand loyalty. Their online payment processing is swift and reliable, with an average processing time of 10 milliseconds and a 99.99% uptime. You can also accept online payments from over 100 countries, including those with different currencies
• Payment gateways: They offer three different payment gateway options, each customized to certain industries with subtle variations among them:
  • Converge Payment Gateway - for general purposes, and all industries
  • Fusebox Payment Gateway - for the hospitality, entertainment, travel, and real estate industries
  • CenPOS Payment Gateway - for the automotive, heavy equipment, and manufacturing industries
• Reporting: Elavon gives you access to an online portal with detailed financial reports. You can use it to analyze your customers' buying patterns and improve your marketing campaigns and pricing strategies. The software works on all major operating systems and is user-friendly
• Support and management: Elavon's customer service is available to assist you with any technical issues. Additionally, you can control access to your merchant services account and monitor any changes made to your settings
• Integrations: Elavon offers seamless integration with popular digital business tools such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, WooCommerce, Sage 50, Wix, NCR Alcha, Oracle NetSuite, Authorize.net, Rectangle Health, FreedomPay, Cybersource, and PayConex. To ensure this, their customer service is available to help with setup issues

The Perks of Choosing Elavon Payment Processing

Like any other payment processor, Elavon has many advantages as well as disadvantages you should be aware of. Some of the perks are:

• Mobile and contactless solutions: More and more customers are paying using their smartphones. Elavon has several POS systems that give your customers a wide range of options on how to pay. Your customers can still make payments without a card if they have a digital wallet via their mobile devices. They can use their smartphone to make an NFT payment. Alternatively, the customer can read you the information on their card, and you can enter the information into the terminal manually to charge them
• Fraud protection and chargeback management: Elavon boasts advanced security measures that exceed federal and international requirements. If there is a problem with a particular charge, they make it simple to access information about the charge in their online portal so you are up-to-date on the case
• Easy compatibility searching: Need to check if a software or gateway is compatible with your processor? Use 'WorksWith Elavon.' It's a digital hub that lets you search for solutions that have connectivity to Elavon. You can search by name, region, type, industry, or keyword

The Disadvantages of Elavon Payment Processing

• Unclear fee structure: Their pricing is not transparent, and with so many different components to the agreement and so many different variables, you may be confused about the fees you will pay
• Holding funds: When Elavon flags a particular charge as suspicious or requiring extra verification, they hold the funds until they have completed their verification. While they hold the funds, you won't be able to access them

Elavon's Pricing Structure

Elavon does not advertise any plans or costs online, nor do they publically share their pricing methodology or fee structure. Pricing is customized for each customer, and you would have to pay for hardware upfront.

As a new customer, you are required to fill out a form or call 1-866-927-1492 to get in touch with a sales representative who will discuss your needs and quote you your unique costs. You may be able to purchase their services through third-party sales representatives, but they may charge an additional fee.

Security & Compliance

Elavon provides secure payment solutions with state-of-the-art fraud mitigation technologies. Their point of sale terminals use tamper-resistant security modules for hardware-based protection. Encryption and tokenization protect card data both “in transit” and “at rest”. Format-preserving encryption minimizes common system errors. Tokenization replaces cardholder data with unique token values to prevent data breaches. Tokens can be used for subsequent transactions without storing actual card data.

The company has several 'Safe-T' security solutions that protect cardholder data during face-to-face transactions using a combination of authentication, encryption, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliance, and tokenization technologies. These solutions won't affect the way you use customer card information.

Elavon's PCI program offers up to $20,000 per incident for breach assistance. The online portal guides you through the compliance validation process and provides valuable tips and information. You can also access Elavon's PCI professionals for support.

User Experiences & Testimonials

They exhibit mixed reactions from customers online. They have received several awards in recent years, and boast an A+ rating with the BBB. However, they also received fairly negative feedback on BBB's website. On Trustpilot, they receive a low 1.3 out of 5 score but get a higher score of 3.2 out 5 on Capterra. That being said, on all those sites, there are relatively few reviews when compared to higher-profile payment processors.

Many customers appreciate Elavon for its ease of use, reliability, and customer service. The platform is recognized for its straightforward setup, and many find the terminal easy to use with no significant issues. The software is praised for being user-friendly, and the customer service team receives positive feedback for being helpful and responsive. Some customers specifically mention the platform's reliability in processing payments, and a local sales representative is commended for providing excellent service.

On the downside, Elavon faces criticism for several issues. One major concern revolves around the difficulty of canceling accounts, with reports of continued charges even after cancellation and challenges in getting a response from customer service. There are instances of poor customer service experiences, with some users describing representatives as rude and unprofessional. Billing issues, unexpected fees, and challenges with communication and technical support are recurrent themes. Instances of funds being drawn from bank accounts after account closure and confusion around canceled services add to the negative sentiment. Additionally, some users report significant fee increases over time, contributing to the perception of Elavon as a more expensive option.

Elavon replies promptly to customer complaints and reviews, often to say that they have reached out privately by mail to protect the customer's privacy. The quality of their responses shows a spirit of collaboration and a desire to reach speedy, satisfactory resolutions.

Customer Service

If you have trouble with your hardware or software, their technical assistance is available by phone 24/7, all year long, by calling 1-800-725-1243. If you prefer to have them contact you, submit a request via this contact form. There is no live chat option available at this time, however.

They also provide an online resource center with FAQs as well as helpful articles on various business insights.

The Bottom Line

Elavon is a global payment provider that offers credit card processing and reporting services for businesses of all sizes. Their services include in-person and contactless payments, payment optimization, gift cards, virtual terminals, enhanced e-commerce, payment gateways, and reporting. The company caters to various industries and offers advanced analytics, management, and integration features, while ensuring high industry security standards. Elavon has a customer service team available to assist with technical issues and seamless integration with popular digital business tools.

While there are some disadvantages to using Elavon's payment processing services, such as an unclear fee structure and potential issues with account cancellation, the company's commitment to customer satisfaction and privacy protection may still set it apart from competitors.

Ultimately, your business's criteria will dictate whether you choose Elavon's payment systems and solutions for your card payment acceptance needs. If you want to learn about other credit card processing companies, check out our review page of top providers, then pit companies against each other using our comparison tool. Also, to help you understand industry-specific topics, we have a lot of blog articles you may find useful. When armed with enough information, your choice of payment processor should be easy to make!

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