Helcim Credit Card Processor Review
Helcim Credit Card Processor Review
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Quick Stats
Getting paid and increasing the cash flow is what every business owner wants to achieve. For this reason, companies like Helcim offers a secure and fast credit card processor, but is it what your business needs? Here comes our part, we'll walk you through Helcim credit card processor features, cost, and how it works.
As a customer, having multiple payment options is a preferred feature, besides resting assured that the service is secure and reliable. Helcim can help you get your customers what they need. So let's get right to what it has to offer.
What Does Helcim Have to offer?
1. Protected and secure payments with Helcim Fraud Defender and data encryption.
2. Multiple payment options include in-person, online, in-app, and over-the-phone payments.
3. Transparent pricing policy and no hidden fees.
4. Sync directly to Quickbooks Online, or export financial information by CSV to keep your books up to date.
5. Intuitive and user-friendly interface.
6. No setup, cancelation, or customer support fees.
Compared to other credit card processors, Helcim offers one of the most affordable solutions: No monthly setup, cancelation, or customer support fees. Besides, the credit card processor accepts all types of credit and debit cards across multiple channels.
The Helcim credit card processor can help your business thrive by providing customers with various ways to make payments, all secure and encrypted. They can pay online, in-store, in-person, or over the phone.
Helcim Credit Card Processor Top Features
Helcim is a full-service provider that allows access to a handful of capabilities, which help process customer payments and manage the business. As we stated above, Helcim stands out by offering flexible plans that accept a multitude of payment options, all managed from one simple and intuitive dashboard. Let's discuss the features more in detail:
Card reader
Helcim offers a very simple and easy card reader with transparent processing rates that you can estimate using Helcim Interchange Plus pricing. The card reader is good for Visa, American Express, Master Card, Discover, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.
If you decide on a Helcim card reader, you'll get it shipped for free to your doorstep within 2 to 3 days. The good news is that it can easily be set up for any business environment, and you can connect it to any devices you already have, which means no need for an expensive POS or SIM card.
Here's a quick comparison between a traditional credit card machine and a Helcim card reader, which we got from Helcim official website:
| Traditional Credit Card | Helcim Card Reader | |
|---|---|---|
| Tap | Available | Available |
| Chip and Pin | Available | Available |
| PIN Debit | Available | Available |
| Email Receipts | Not Available | Available |
| Inventory Tracking | Not Available | Available |
| Customer Tracking | Not Available | Available |
| Analytics and reports | Not Available | Available |
| Batch History | Not Available | Available |
| Card on File | Not Available | Available |
Helcim card readers can be connected to computers, workstations, tablets, iPads, smartphones, and iPhones. All can send email receipts directly to save paper, automatically track customers and their transactions, and can be managed via the Helcim app.
Virtual terminal
Besides the physical terminal Helcim offers, it offers a virtual terminal that allows accepting payments on computers by logging into a Helcim account from any workstation, tablet, or smartphone. Then, you'll need to enter the payment details in the payment form.
The Helcim virtual terminal gives two options to run the payment through; you can key in the customer's payment info manually or select the customer's card information stored in the card vault and run the payment directly from any device.
You can also accept other forms of payments through the virtual terminal, such as cash, checks, deposits, and ACH payments. Other tasks can be done through the virtual terminal. For example, if you want to perform voids, refunds, or set up recurring payments, all can be done on the virtual terminal.
Invoicing
Customers will always find an easy way to pay from anywhere with the customized invoice options. Helcim invoicing makes it easy to repeat payments or make one-time billing. You can also make invoices for as many customers as you want.
Future payments are easily made with the "Pay Now" option offered by Helcim; customers can use this option to store and view their payment information, receive invoices, and directly pay the amount due from any device.
Merchant account
Helcim provides a merchant account that you can use to accept credit or debit card payments, including Discover, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, and Visa.
Self-service customer portal
Customers can use a user-friendly dashboard to order or update their information or payment details. There's no programming required. All it takes is to direct your customers to the landing page and let them log in or register.
Through the customer portal, you can add or edit their personal or payment information or add videos and guides to help them make their payments with ease.
The customer portal can be kept secure using customizable password requirements, determining password complexity, and set expiry time-frames, and session timers.
Mobile app
As part of the Helcim Commerce platform, you can access the Helcim mobile app for iPhone, iPad, or Android devices. With this app, you can use the mobile card reader hardware to process payments directly on your mobile device. Although you can use the physical mobile card reader, you can also manually enter customer credit card information into your device. Helcim allows you to download the app to unlimited devices, and your data will automatically sync across them.
Helcim Payment Options with Further Explanation
Helcim helps customers pay wherever they are and at any time by offering a handful of payment options to suit every situation and customer. You can choose to pay in-person, keyed-in/over the phone, and online. Let's go through each option in detail:
Keyed in or over the phone
With this payment method, you accept payments on your device, and no monthly fees or contracts are required. This is a great option to accept secure payments on any computer, tablet, or smartphone. You can also make sure that your customer payments are secured by storing credit card information in the vault.
In-person
Payments made in person can be best suited for beauty centers, spas, retail, restaurants, and health facilities. You can also get real-time transaction data, save credit card information and repeat bills, and easily accept payments by only entering the amount on your computer, tablet, or card reader.
Online payments
Helcim offers a free online store with no developer needed and the ability to upload products and services. This option allows creating custom content pages, adding a blog, and having full control. The online store can calculate tax and is equipped with shopping carts, discount codes, multiple shipping methods.
Helcim Credit Card Processor Plan Options
Helcim prices vary based on the amount of transaction and the type of payment. Here is a brief on what you'll have with each plan and its estimated cost.
You can calculate customized rates on the website by clicking on the "Pricing" tab and entering the country, industry, monthly volume, and average transaction. This is an easy way to get an idea about the estimated cost. Additionally, there is a table with the transaction fees for each type of credit card and transaction method.
In-person VS Keyed-in and online payments:
| Monthly credit card volume | In-person payments | Keyed-in and online payments |
|---|---|---|
| $0 – $25,000 per month | 0.30% + $9.01 | 0.50% + $28.14 |
| $25,001 – $50,000 per month | 0.25% + $7.88 | 0.45% + $22.51 |
| $50,001 – $100,000 per month | 0.20% + $7.88 | 0.40% + $22.51 |
| $100,001 – $250,000 per month | 0.18% + $6.76 | 0.35% + $16.88 |
| $250,001 – $1,000,000 per month | 0.15% + $6.76 | 0.30% + $16.88 |
| $1,000,001 – $5,000,000 per month | 0.12% + $5.63 | 0.25% + $11.26 |
| $5,000,001 + per month | 0.10% + $5.63 | 0.20% + $11.26 |
Helcim Customer Service
Helcim assists customers via 24/7 telephone and email support, and customer feedback and reviews indicate that the company offers excellent customer support. You can expect a response within 24 hours if you reach out through email. However, if you want better help with technical issues, you can call during regular working hours.
There is also an easy-to-reach and comprehensive online knowledge base that answers almost every possible question and provides information on nearly all issues you have in mind.
We like that the website has a handful of tutorials and guides on setting up terminals and using Helcim virtual terminal. Besides, many other guides on running the mobile application and troubleshooting problems.
Final Verdict
Helcim is a good option for small and large businesses and different industries. The service is affordable compared to other credit card processor providers with free customer support and a virtual terminal, merchant account, and customer platform. Besides, there's a chance to update the plan to include more advanced features.
FAQs
Helcim assists its customers via live chat, email, and phone calls. Besides the FAQs page and the help center section that includes information about almost every issue: Helcim commerce, account, credit and debit card terminals, payment pages, PCI compliance, mobile app, and many other topics.
Cost varies based on the transaction amount, type of payment, and some other factors.
It's recommended to discuss the estimated cost ahead with one of the company's agents. However, Helcim doesn't charge any fees for termination, setup, PCI or non-compliance fees, bank deposits, or any other hidden fees.
No, there aren't any monthly fees.
No, you can use your existing bank account, provided by your financial institution or credit union.