Payline Data Review: Uniquely Streamlined Payment Solutions

Company Overview

Established in 2009 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Payline Data has been a trailblazer in the payments solutions realm. Following their acquisition by Pineapple Payments, the company offers customized solutions to small businesses and enterprises operating in a variety of industries, including healthcare facilities, non-profits, franchises, and omnichannel businesses.

Moreover, Payline Data specializes in catering to high-risk businesses, making them an excellent choice for business owners who have faced challenges with processors in the past. This strategic focus sets them apart in the industry.

Beyond conventional payment processing, Payline Data distinguishes themselves by providing businesses with a fully integrated payment gateway for seamless website transactions. They also offer support for online and in-person payments and ACH transactions, which ensures versatile payment solutions to meet the evolving needs of businesses.

Notably, the company exceeds standard services by facilitating surcharging and adept chargeback management. This comprehensive suite of services makes Payline Data an all-encompassing solution for businesses seeking reliable and flexible payment processing.

Service Offerings

Payline Data ensures your business experiences reliable and exceptionally efficient payment processing, offering a tailored suite of solutions to meet your unique operational needs. Dive into a plethora of standout features that elevate your payment experience, including:

• API and developer docs: Businesses can tailor their integrations seamlessly with the Payline gateway and mobile open-faced APIs, connecting to both native and third-party software
• Cart integration and payment page: You can integrate Payline Data's services directly into your online shopping cart or leverage your payment page to facilitate online payment through your website
• Custom reporting: Payline Data empowers users to generate tailored reports, enabling them to effortlessly access sales data categorized by status, dollar amount, date, and user details. With these reports, businesses can gain valuable insights and leverage them for sales forecasts and other critical business decisions
• Invoicing and recurring bills: This feature permits you to collect customer payments and send out invoices for recurring or one-time payments, ensuring timely collection
• Mobile options: With Payline Data, you can accept payments on the go with their iOS and Android compatibility application and mobile reader
• Hardware options: Various third-party terminals are available for businesses, ensuring payment acceptance in the most convenient manner. Additionally, if you operate in multiple locations, the terminals can synchronize with Payline Data's dashboards, ensuring seamlessness and unification
• Next-day funding: With their online payment processing, businesses can receive their funds within the next business day, optimizing cash flow
• POS systems: In partnership with leading POS systems providers such as Clover, NCR, Vend, Oracle, and many more, businesses can integrate the software with the hardware of their choice and begin accepting in-person payments
• Integration capabilities: By offering smooth integrations with several third-party shopping carts, businesses can use these integrations to accept payments through their website and increase efficiency
• Surcharging: Businesses can offset the total cost of payment processing with Payline's surcharging program. This feature allows you to maintain cost efficiency
• Virtual terminal and dashboard: The dashboard offers a centralized location to send invoices, store customer profiles, key in transactions, and view reports, streamlining the payment process

Distinct Advantages of Payline Data

The following characteristics set Payline Data apart in the crowded payment processing sector:

Direct integrations

Besides transaction tools, Payline effortlessly bridges your business to your services by integrating sought-after versions of QuickBooks, POS systems, and shopping carts. This cohesion simplifies operations, which allows your business to focus on what you do best.

Diverse POS options

Offering options like Oracle MICROS, NCR Aloha Cloud, and Clover gives you choices that ensure you have the optimal tools for your specific operations.

Next-day funding

Maintaining a healthy cash flow is paramount for business. Payline Data delivers funds quickly, allowing confident management of your finances, knowing your revenue is promptly available.

Transparent pricing

Payline Data's pricing ensures your business understands your cost upfront, which fosters a trustworthy relationship. They also lack hidden fees, such as PCI compliance, application, or cancellation fees.

Dedicated account manager

Each merchant account has a dedicated account manager with a calendar service used to schedule a call-back in as little as 15 minutes. You also get a response to email or phone questions within 24 hours, and the manager offers a free onboarding session for users new to Payline Data.

Free trial

With their free trial option, businesses can explore all features, test the usability, and assess whether their services suit their business needs without financial commitment and risk, ensuring an informed decision before committing to a paid plan.

No long-term contract

The absence of a long-term contract offers flexibility to businesses, providing them with the freedom to adapt payment processing to their changing needs without any commitment or hindrances to cancellation.

The Drawbacks of Payline Data

High processing fees

Payline Data charges a minimum monthly payment processing fee of $10 and a maximum of $20. Additionally, the interchange rate, along with the markup rate, might accumulate over time. These prices might not sit well with businesses with seasonal processing fluctuations or low transaction volume.

Learning curve

Initial setup with Payline Data may have a learning curve, requiring customers to be familiar with integration procedures and accessing various services.

Hardware costs

Although Payline Data provides several hardware options, these come at an extra cost that businesses must incur. Furthermore, the website does not provide specific cost details for these expenses, which results in a lack of transparency.

Pricing Structure

Payline Data offers versatile payment processing solutions for both online and in-store transactions. As mentioned above, equipment fees are not integrated into the pricing structure, and suggested equipment includes Clover Go for mobile readers with a separate $70 price and an $11 monthly fee. For countertop terminals, the recommended choice is the Ingenico iCT220, available at a separate cost of $150.

They follow an interchange plus pricing model along with subscription pricing, where they charge a monthly fee, interchange rate, and processor markup. In this scenario, the credit networks set the interchange rate, which is unchangeable.

Their in-person payments cost $10 per month and 0.4% + 10 cents for each payment. Meanwhile, online transactions cost $20 monthly and 0.75% + 20 cents per transaction. Additionally, they provide more pricing details based on the specific type of transaction and credit network, such as Visa Rewards Signature Preferred, which is available for viewing on their website.

Security & Compliance

Ensuring PCI compliance is imperative for businesses handling debit and credit card transactions, with Payline Data implementing various security features for enhanced protection. These measures include an Account Updater for continuous customer data accuracy, an Address Verification Service (AVS) for authenticating cardholders, and CVV verification for added authentication during checkout for card-not-present transactions.

Mobile payment processing employs NFC for contactless payments and biometrics, enhancing transaction security. Real-time alerts and a rule-based fraud solution provide robust security against potential threats. Payline Data integrates with Verifi’s Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN) for an additional layer of chargeback protection, ensuring transaction revenue and volume retention.

Payline implements Hosted iFrames for online payments that capture and tokenize all payment information and serve as a customer vault, securing payment information for recurring use. Furthermore, their mobile payment processing employs NFC and biometrics, enhancing security during transactions. Lastly, they provide rules-based credit card fraud protection tools to monitor and detect any fraudulent activity before it occurs.

User Experience & Testimonials

Payline Data presents an intriguing landscape. While the platform lacks accreditation from the Better Business Bureau, they have a 2 out of 5 rating in terms of customer reviews. However, this rating could be based on the fact that only one customer review exists on that file. Conversely, G2 paints a more positive picture, giving Payline Data a commendable 4.6 out of 5 rating.

Digging into customer experiences, numerous positive reviews underscore Payline's strengths. Users express satisfaction with the platform's ease of use after a learning curve, commending its intuitive nature once the initial hurdles are overcome. The customer service team earns accolades for their responsiveness and effectiveness, contributing to an overall positive perception. Additionally, customers favor the Payline gateway, lauding its functionality and utility and the lack of requirements for a third-party gateway.

Yet, as with any service, negative experiences surface. Some customers voice concerns about overcharging, signaling a potential area of improvement. There are also mentions of a perceived lack of thoroughness from the customer service team, urging a closer examination of service delivery. Additionally, the multiple pricing tiers have been a point of complication, with users, especially those new to payment processing systems, expressing the need for clearer explanations and transparency.

How Can You Contact Payline Data? 

For customer support, you can reach Payline Data at 412-235-7235 or email them at [email protected]. To contact sales, you can input your personal and business information along with your request on their webpage, and a Payline Data representative will get in touch. To sign up with them, you are required to fill out an online form with information about your business and contact information.

Payline Data also provides an FAQ section on their website, and while not extremely extensive, it addresses the basic inquiries about their services. Additionally, they offer a blog with educational content about their services and the credit card processing industry.

Conclusion

In summary, Payline Data stands out as a versatile payment processor, offering tailored solutions for businesses of all sizes and industries. They provide a comprehensive suite of features with direct integrations, diverse POS options, a mobile app, and next-day funding.

While their pricing is transparent, some cons include hardware costs and a learning curve for setup. In terms of security and compliance, Payline Data excels with PCI compliance measures, tokenization, and integration with Verifi's network. As for user experience, they vary with positive feedback on ease of use and responsive customer service and concerns, including overcharging and the complexity of pricing tiers.

All in all, Payline Data is a good option as they offer robust payment processing solutions with strengths and considerations for businesses to assess based on their specific needs.

If you're still assessing alternatives, we recommend you check out our reviews of the top credit card processors and use our comparison tool to evaluate the different features and characteristics of the providers. You can also scour our blog pages that explore informative topics in the credit card processing industry. 

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