Stax by Fattmerchant Overview
Stax by Fattmerchant is a great payment processing option for high volume businesses. And with Stax Pay Software Suite, you get a complete processing platform with many advanced features. They offer a full merchant account and use a subscription based pricing model. They are one of the few merchant account providers that do not take a percentage of your monthly volume. This makes them ideal for certain businesses, but it depends on your monthly turnover. Our Stax by Fattmerchant review will highlight why this pricing model may be right for your business.
Products & Services
Stax by Fattmerchant offers full business support to merchants. With its subscription based pricing, you can choose which membership is best for you. Each membership plan offers a full merchant account and Merchant-ID. You then pick from the rest of their products and services as add-ons. They use many of their own in-house products, as well as several third-party products. This allows them to offer a complete package and makes them one of the leading providers for high-volume businesses. They also boast Stax Pay, an integrated platform that offers everything a growing business needs.
Payment Processing
Stax takes a different approach to payment processing compared to many other providers. They offer a complete set of merchant services for a monthly fee. They have countertop terminals for retail stores and virtual terminals for online payments. And e-commerce stores can set up and customize a shopping cart easily. Developers get access to the API so you can customize your payment gateway. Overall, they truly offer a complete package.
Merchant Accounts
The biggest risk with providers of third party merchant services is account stability. When you share a merchant account, you run the risk of losing your account at any time. This may be because of the other businesses that are sharing your account. So while you do pay a monthly membership with Stax, you receive your own account. This means you need not worry about the bank freezing your account for no reason. As long as you are a legitimate business, your account is secure, and you can trade using your unique M-ID.
Countertop Terminals
While many companies focus more on online processing, Stax offers solutions for land-based stores too. They sell Dejavoo terminals if you do not already have your own in place. If you have a previous terminal already, they will help integrate it to work with their software. They include this service for free, so you can be sure that your countertop terminals will work with their systems. This makes it easy to set up your land-based stores. If you wish, you can also add on their protection plan and get full support for your terminals.
Integrations
If you have a point of sale system already in place, Stax integrates easily with third parties. You can enhance your current point of sale and credit card readers to get a powerful payment system. Stax can turn your previous payments terminal into a smart terminal. It unifies your in-store, mobile, and contactless payments to make everything work seamlessly. With everything connected as one platform, you can collect payments in any environment. And collecting data using one platform allows you to build a better customer experience. The data you collect will also help to grow your business faster.
Virtual Terminal
If you take a lot of payments via phone or computer, then Stax virtual terminal is perfect for you. You can simply key in your customer details to accept payments easily. Stax also helps you to think smarter and connect the virtual terminal to a credit card reader. Now you can also accept card-present payments and use the cheaper rate for payments. Depending on how sophisticated you need your terminal to be, you can add-on features with your membership level. Growth Plan and Pro Plan both offer detailed reporting to the virtual terminal.
Mobile Processing
With Stax Mobile App, you can turn your phone or tablet into a mobile point of sale. You can collect keyed, swiped, or tapped payments in any environment. The card reader connects via Bluetooth and works with iOS and Android devices. You can also access the wealth of reports and business insights the app provides. This allows you to monitor your business in real-time to help you grow faster. You can generate daily, weekly, and monthly reports with ease. The mobile processing solutions allow you to think smarter and work on the go.
Shopping Cart
If you run an e-commerce business, Stax online payment technology has everything you could need. They help you to expand your online shopping capabilities and engage more with customers. Stax software platforms integrate easily with all shopping carts. So you can add multiple gateways and offer your customers more payment methods. You can use Stax developer tools to build a custom shopping cart to integrate into our store. They also offer a pre-built cart that you can add with a single click. And you get access to in-depth reporting to help grow your business.
Stax Pay Software Suite
The real power of their payment technology comes with Stax Pay Software Suite. This is an all in one platform for a business to process payments. It takes care of all your processing needs, leaving you free to focus on building your business. There are no hidden fees or lengthy contracts, making it perfect for small businesses. The pricing model is transparent and easy to understand. You can accept every type of payment, and there are countless solutions for your business needs. And you can manage all your tools from a single dashboard.
Centralized Web Portal
You can access a wealth of information about your business from the web portal. The menu system is intuitive and easy to use. The top menu bar allows you to look at your reports for the day, week, month, or over the last year. The left menu bar contains all the payment technology tools that Stax provides. You can access reports, payments, invoices, and schedules. And can access your customer database, apps, and customize your settings.
Customer Database
The customer database gives you access to all your important customer data. It stores all their previous payments and their personal settings and preferences. This allows you to build up a positive relationship with your customers. You can see their previous purchases, making it easier to upsell and run promotions. And it stores their credit card details for you. This is great for returning customers and recurring payments as you don’t need to ask for your customer’s details.
Inventory Management
With the inventory management tools, you can manage your products and keep your stock up to date. You can track all your invoices and payments from your various payment methods. It links all of your payment methods for consistency across your store. It will alert you when stock becomes low, and you can manage your sales tax easily. And with everything linked together, you can set discounts and product descriptions from one place.
Invoicing
With all your payment methods linked to your dashboard, invoicing is incredibly easy. You can issue invoices via the mobile app or virtual terminal. This allows you the freedom to make invoices from anywhere at any time. And since it links to your customer database, you can schedule invoicing. This is ideal for managing your recurring payments. The invoices will have all the customer’s details and preferences already in place.
Reporting
There is a basic reporting system built into your dashboard. The basic reporting is free with all plans and gives you enough data to manage your inventory. You also have all financial data and sales reports. This is probably enough for a small business, but if you want more detailed reports, you can update your plan. The Growth Plan gives you more detailed reporting, and the Pro Plan provides advanced reporting tools.
Stax Fees & Rates
Stax’s pricing model differs from other payment service providers. They have no monthly minimums or compliance fees. Contracts are short-term, and there are no early termination fees. You pay a set fee each month and then a set fee per transaction. If your volume is less than $500,000 per year, you pay $99 per month. With higher volume, you pay $199 per month. This allows you to take card-present and keyed-in payments. You can Swipe, Dip or Tap a card to get a rate of $0.08 + interchange fee per transaction. Keyed-in transactions pay $0.15 + interchange fee per transaction.
Stax Pay Software Pricing
With Stax Pay Software, there are 3 separate plans to choose from. The Starter Plan is $49 per month and offers a basic dashboard, reporting tools, and support. ACH processing adds 1% of the transaction amount up to a ceiling of $10. The Growth Plan costs $89 per month and adds on advanced payment features and account management tools. You get access to web-hosted payments and can store card details on file. At $129 per month, the Pro Plan is ideal for single or multi-location businesses looking for a full-stack solution. It also gets you a dedicated account manager for support.
Contract Length and Termination Conditions
Considering all that Stax offers to customers, their contract terms are quite surprising. They don’t have lengthy contracts or early termination fees. All accounts work on a monthly basis, and you choose your plan each month. You can cancel your account at any time with 30 days notice. This is unusual for providers that give you a full merchant account. Most providers have a 3-year minimum contract and include an early termination fee. With Stax, you get all their amazing features and do not have to worry in the event your business closes.
Stax Technical & Customer Support
As you would expect from a tech-oriented company, there is a wealth of documentation and support. Their knowledge base offers everything you need to integrate your software and hardware. There is a search function for all queries. The Starter and Growth Plan both come with 24/7 support via a ticketing system. If this is not timely enough for your query, you can call them directly. Pro Plan members get access to a dedicated account manager for a more personal approach. With the Pro Plan, you get all the support you need, as soon as you need it.
Is Stax Right for Your Business?
As with most payment service providers, Stax packs lots of features to help a business grow. But their rates can be expensive compared to other providers. If you are a small business with less than $10,000 sales volume per month, Stax may be costly for what they offer. They also will not deal with high-risk businesses. Overall, they are best suited to bigger businesses that have higher sales volume. But if you fall into this category, they offer great plans that can save you a lot of money.
Our Verdict
Stax is a full-stack package that will suit bigger businesses. They have a complete range of products that can help you to grow. Stax’s pricing model is transparent and has no percentage rate for transactions. This makes them ideal for certain businesses, but costly for others. With a Stax Plan, you can choose a package that suits your business type. They offer many add-ons and features for more detailed information and tools. But, if they suit your business needs, they are a great choice, and their plans can save you a lot of money.