Worldpay Merchant Services Review

With a plethora of merchant accounts available to businesses of any scope and size, it is no wonder you may feel overwhelmed when it comes about the end result of your sale – payment processing!

There is no one size fits all and you must take into consideration the needs of your brand rather than the venerable reputation of a payment processing company.

So

Let’s take at look at one of the largest, Worldpay. 

In this guide you will find

As one of the largest payment service providers in the world operating in over 146 countries and the leading merchant acquirer in the UK, WorldPay processed 15 billion transactions worldwide in 2016.

With dedicated and specialised services for small to medium businesses, corporations and digital businesses, WorldPay has become a fully-fledged one-stop payment processing company.

However, their stellar performance and worldwide recognition does not implicitly mean your business can fully benefit from their services. Read on to find out how you can grow your company without worrying about the security of your payment processor.   

Here’s a quick outline of what you’ll find in this review:

• Adopting integrated payment solutions can save time and money while improving your cash flow. Future-proof your business with Worldpay and offer your customers the flexibility to choose from a wide variety of payment methods – terminals (countertop, portable, mobile and contactless), payment gateways (online processor for credit cards, debit cards and eWallet), Virtual Terminal (by phone) and even Pay by Link (by email).
• Flexibility – If you have a low volume of sales the Pay As You Go plan is an ideal solution. For those of you boasting large volumes of sales, a fixed or standard monthly plan would suit your business better.  While annual costs for a payment processor are hard to outline (it depends on the volume of sales and business type) consider setup costs + transaction costs + admin/security costs.   
• Compatibility with your business – Is your website developped in Magento or WooCommerce? Do you need a provider who can handle the installation process from end to end? Do you need 24/7 technical support? Read on to find answers to all your burning questions!

• Detailed breakdown of Worldpay services and customer support review – find out what the word of mouth says!

Prices quoted in this review are valid as of October 2017 for the UK market and may change anytime.  

What services do Worldpay offer and how do they benefit you?

While Worldpay offer valuable additional services such as data and analytics or fraud and risk management, our review focuses on the core products and services  related to a merchant account.

Physical products

Card (PDQ) machines are the clear-cut payment solution for every physical store. Worldpay offer modern devices which mould on your business needs, whether that implies portability or mobility. Secure and reliable, the terminals are equipped with the latest technology and come in very aesthetic and ergonomic shapes. All options accept PIN or fingerprint (through a compatible smartphone) verified payments and offer 24/7 UK support.

Countertop (contactless)

Sporting industry standard security features (PCI DSS compliance) and accepting all major credit cards, the countertop card machines also support built-in contactless technology compatible with Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. While smartphone payments are limited to £30 per transaction, they are bound to overtake both cash and credit card payments for small transactions by 2020 which will subsequently increase the limit. Currently they account for about one third of all payments on the UK market. Now is the perfect time to jump on the “wave and pay” bandwagon!

Portable

Boasting the same impressive features as its countertop sibling, the portable or wireless terminal offers another layer of modern technology with built-in Bluetooth or WiFi. Secure, fast and lightweight they are ideal for every type of business which needs more flexibility around its premises. As a restaurant owner or manager, you will devour the efficiency of these machines!

Mobile

Since this technology has been recently implemented and gaining traction at a timid pace, it is vital for your business to opt for a reliable provider. Worldpay offer mobile coverage and contactless payment so you can accept transactions anywhere within seconds. The payment will be transferred to your account within 4 working days. While this option is better suited for an industry like trading or delivery, if you have a catering company a mobile terminal will definitely come in handy!  

Tablet-based till and payment system

Comprising all the extraordinary features aforementioned in addition to a barcode scanner (£99.50 excl VAT), a smart cash register and a tablet management system, this futuristic and elegant machine seems to have been taken out of a sci-fi feature film. Craving unbeatable flexibility? How about managing your cash flow and volume of sales from home to maximise quality time with your family? With Worldpay’s ingenious and revolutionary smartill, your all-in-one point of sale system will save you time, reduce errors and increase flexibility. Depending on the needs of your business, packages start at £50/month.

Worldpay Total Mobile

A new way to delight your customers with a flexible payment method! All you need is a Worldpay keypad into which customer inserts their card. The keypad then connects to your iPhone or Android device via Bluetooth and through the Worldpay App you can manage your transactions and email receipts within seconds. With such a progressive method of payment, your customers will appreciate your going the extra mile to save their time and reduce queuing.

Digital and online services

Online Merchant Account

If you wish to accept credit or debit card payment for your online business you need either a dedicated merchant account or a third-party payment processor. While the latter option is cheaper and easier to implement (think PayPal payment processor), it comes with limited payment methods and less customisation solutions. When you invest large funds into your business or if your profits are soaring, having a dedicated merchant account will pin your business right on the success map.

A dedicated Worldpay merchant account comes with 24/7 customer support, payment gateway, a Business Manager account you can log in to, PCI DSS annual management, and various tailored services depending on the payment plan – Pay as you go, fixed monthly or standard. Scroll down for more details on pricing!

Payment Gateway

Worldpay’s payment gateway is a robust and advanced eCommerce solution with industry standard security (PCI DSS) and accepts transactions in over 116 currencies. You have premium reporting tools (accessed from your Business Manager account) offering valuable insights into the transaction history. What’s more – depending on your business scope and goals, Worldpay offer you the option for a hosted or integrated payment page! While administering a payment gateway normally requires technical skills, with Worldpay everything is taken care of by a professional team 24/7 at your disposal.  

Virtual Terminal

Sold and advertised as an add-on (£9.99/m), paying securely over the phone is an extra service which consolidates brand trust and personalises the shopping experience for your customers. You simply need to log in to your Business Manager account and introduce your customer’s details into a secure payment page. This service is also integrated into the payment gateway. User-friendly and requiring no technical skills, a virtual terminal can do wonders for your sales!  

Pay by Link

Do you feel like going with the flow? Then why not let your sales flow at the click of a “send”? This service is so convenient you do not even need a website – simply embed a secure link (PCI DSS compliant) and send it away to your customer. You may even customise the email with your own brand logo. All major credit and debit cards are accepted.  Whether you need to confirm a booking, ask for a deposit or send e-invoices, this service will cover you for all at £9.99/m!

Omni-channel payments

The omni-channel revolution is upon us! The ultimate goal of every business is to stay ahead of the curve and become as customer-centric as can be. Worldpay’s integrated point of sales helps businesses implement these innovative solutions so they can fully understand a consumer’s journey across multi-channels. By having one single trusted provider handle all technical, security and admin complexities of multi-channel transactions, your business will grow sustainably while merchant account related costs are considerably reduced by as much as 15-20%.

Best pricing plans for your business

For a company as large and diverse as Worldpay, it is no wonder that their pricing strategy is not fully transparent. The quotation will depend highly on the nature of your business, whether you need a high or low risk merchant account, the growth rate of your business and the sales volume. However, this review solely breaks down the basic pricing plans so you can make an informed and general opinion.

In a nutshell, Worldpay offer two types of merchant accounts for brick-and-mortar stores and online businesses which have different features but the same pricing plan models: pay as you go, fixed monthly and standard. As a rule of thumb, if you operate a family or small business mull over the pay as you go plan. If your company is rapidly expanding and making waves on the market, look for a fixed monthly or standard plan.

For a complete and accurate quote, it is recommended you contact an agent directly and discuss the needs of your business. Generally speaking, the costs for a merchant account depend on many factors but expect to pay in the ballpark of £100-£600/year, excluding charges such as transaction or gateway fees, for a small to medium sized business. Remember to negotiate the contract termination clauses if you can, otherwise you might be slapped with high cancellation fees if you decide to do so.  

How compatible is your business with Worldpay technology?

While a brick-and-mortar store presents less technical challenges, your online business depends on many aspects such as the coding and content management system used to create and maintain your website. Fortunately, Worldpay’s API supports numerous plug-ins for all major shopping platforms/open sources such as Magento, WooCommerce, Shopify and OpenCart.

Developed in mainstream coding languages (curl, Ruby, PHP, Java), the API keys give you access to the back-end from where you can integrate the plug-ins with your website. It does require basic technical skills to set up the plug-ins – but Worldpay have a very thorough and clear guide on how you can execute the process from end to end.

Here’s a breakdown of supported features:

You may wonder now – How long is integration with your website going to take? Worldpay have developed an easy and convenient 5-step process to facilitate and expedite the payment gateway setup. Best part? It all takes less than 48 hours to go live!  

1. Log in to your Business Manager account.  
2. HTML Coding – At this stage you simply need to insert a code into the HTML page on your website to point to Worldpay’s API. All you have to do is copy paste the coding.
3. Take a test transaction – While still in the test mode, you’ll need to specify the Test Environment URL in your website HTML. Full details can be found here.
4. Request a system check – Once the test transaction is successfully completed, Worldpay need to run a thorough system check to ensure you’re up and ready to go live so you can make your business grow fast and securely.
5. Go Live – Once the system check is completed, comes the most exciting stage of the process! Your account will be approved to switch from the test mode to the live version in which you can accept transactions from customers.

How can you personalise your payment gateway with your own brand?

Do you want to improve conversation and reduce bounce rates? It is quite a rhetorical question – it’s like asking “do you want more sales”? But many startups and even larger businesses fail to get the drift of the mighty power of branded/customized content at the checkout stage. Cart abandonment is the utmost nemesis of your sales – a customized and branded design of the checkout page will make your customers feel safer and more confident to purchase. Whether you opt for a hosted or integrated payment page with Worldpay, you can add your brand logo, change colours, control the display of menus, buttons and fields.    

Reaching Asian markets with Worldpay

Worldpay have dedicated services to helping UK businesses reach markets in APAC (Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, India, Australia). But the real gold here can be struck in China – the world’s second largest eCommerce market! In a Telegraph report from 2015, studies revealed that British shoppers spent almost £1 in every £5 of their shopping via the internet, which is about one fifth of their shopping budget. While the fact that this trend is currently growing at a much faster rate might not stupefy you, here’s a fun fact for your business –  Chinese shoppers order online from British retailers almost as much as British consumers but they spend 2.7 times more with UK retailers than domestic shoppers!

Any UK business kicking this golden goose to the curb is missing out on great opportunities! However, even if you seriously contemplate penetrating the Chinese market, there is a catch – standard methods of payment such as PayPal, Visa or MasterCard are not particularly popular among Chinese shoppers. This is where Worldpay come to save the day and your sale – through their comprehensive alternative payments system. Worldpay offer you the chance to accomodate the shopping needs of your Chinese consumers by introducing payment methods such as UnionPay (Chinese competitor of Visa and MasterCard) and AliPay (Chinese competitor of PayPal).  

As a genuine global payment processing company, Worldpay can help you grow your business internationally and target opportunities you haven’t considered before.  

How can you save money with Worldpay?

First and foremost, just by having one provider handle all merchant account related aspects of your business and one single merchant ID, you will manage your cash flow more efficiently. On top of that, you might be eligible for discounts and better rates once your company is growing under one payment processing company.

But that’s not all!

Worldpay have another trick down their sleeve to help you and your international customers benefit from a globalised transaction system – the Dynamic Currency Conversion. This convenient payment method which allows your international customers to pay in their own currency is more of a non-zero sum game. Both parties win! Your customers are charged better exchange rates while you may earn commission from this exchange margin. That also means you dodge the risk of currency fluctuation all the while providing stellar customer service. Albeit this option is available only for Visa and MasterCard transactions, it doesn’t charge you or your customers any additional fees.  

Speaking of international customers – Worldpay take customer service to an even higher level! It is not just you saving money, but your non-EU consumers as well. Worldpay offer tax free shopping for residents and citizens outside of the EU who spend more than £30 in your store. The Dynamic Currency Conversion is also included in this package.  

Not convinced yet? How about the Worldpay Benefits Club for which you qualify automatically as a new customer? From 3 months of premium SEO to saving up to 5p/litre on petrol and diesel, the membership is designed to help you save money and reduce some of the online marketing and software costs all the while maximising your sales. Once you redeem your benefits, you may be able to save anywhere from £99 to £600/year.  

How can Worldpay help with customer retention?

Most of the aforementioned features reviewed here can help you grow your business and retain customers, if properly executed that is. However, here is a pro tip on how Worldpay can further enhance your brand’s appeal, recognition and eventually loyalty.

Recurring payment –  A steady income and a more streamlined sales forecasting can be achieved simply through an efficient billing system. According to research from Harvard Business School the implications are huge – increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% – 95%. Similar to standing orders and direct debits, Worldpay’s Recurring Payment Service helps you create an optimal billing plan for your online customers – whether you use it for subscriptions, memberships or installments, this service will not only help retain customers but also create a stronger brand positioning. At the moment, only credit and debit cards are supported.    

Worldpay’s best features for your business

If at this point you still have lingering feelings, here are our top features about Worldpay:

1. Top-notch security – Although you are free to become PCI DSS compliant using another source, Worldpay SaferPayments (£29.99/year) has an upper hand on other merchant account solutions – Client Side Encryption. CSE (Client-side encryption) is a technique of encrypting data on the sender’s side, prior to transmitting it to your server. The whole gist – Worldpay decrypts customer’s confidential information safely and passes it on to you, reducing PCI DSS burden.
2. Fast Payouts – Your cashflow and accounts receivable are of paramount importance.  Worldpay settle funds twice a week, which means you normally receive payment within 3 or 4 days after an order is placed.
3. Industry-leading anti fraud technology – Their secure chargeback management platform won the Best Anti Fraud Initiative at the Smart Card Awards Asia 2013.
4. Solid focus on mCommerce – From contactless countertop payments to responsive and customisable payment page designs, Worldpay encourage and support you in adopting the new status quo of shopping.
5. Go big or go global – Through its Alternative Payment Methods (bank transfers, eWallets) and focus on international markets, Worldpay inspire you to dream bigger and see opportunities beyond imaginable for your business.   
6. User-friendly dashboard – Your Business Manager account is easy to navigate and contains valuable business information such as card sales, settlements and invoices. With this powerful data analytical tool, you also get insights into your customers’ spending patterns and breakdown of your card transactions among many others.  
7. Quick application process – As long as you have all the required documents, the whole online registration takes about 15 minutes.

How is customer support?

To stay fair and unbiased, we consider that a totally impartial approach and external reviews should be factored into this article.

Worldpay take great pride in their dedicated team of professionals and solid 24/7 customer support. However, you also need to understand that they are a large global corporation with a huge customer database and a draconic penchant for regulations – so, if you are looking for that “boutique” feeling, this might not be your best option.

While Worldpay US encourage Live Chat and email correspondence for customer support and complaints, in the UK you are urged to pick up the phone and call them. As such, if you are a Millennial business owner or employee with an acute phobia for phone calls, you might have to adjust that attitude a bit!

Scouring online for complaints, we’ve noticed that some customers complained about Worldpay’s steep cancellation fees and intransigence in dealing with delays for billing/collection. Advertising and sales opacity is another criticism Worldpay have been facing for some time, although currently they are taking applaudable measures to increase their transparency.

On the other side of the coin, Worldpay promote an amicable and responsive manner of dealing with complaints which, in direct relation to the size of their business, are lodged in low numbers especially compared to other companies. Technical support is spot-on and phone queues for such issues are handled in a timely and efficient manner. Employee satisfaction within the company is also higher than their competitors’ and this will directly reflect on how your problems are handled internally.  

Verdict

If you are serious about the trajectory of your business and don’t shy away from spending more than £100/year for your merchant account, Worldpay offer you the expertise, security and resources to grow your company without worrying about processing payments. They are constantly in the know about global market trends, new technologies and in many ways they pioneer commerce solutions, such as omni-channel payments in the UK. If you are eager to keep abreast of technological developments and implementations and do not mind the corporate-style customer communications, Worldpay is the company to beat!  

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