Getting paid should be the easy part. At least that’s what many new entrepreneurs think. But anybody who has started a business, particularly an eCommerce venture, knows that in some cases, accepting payments is actually where the complications really begin.

That’s because things have really changed since the old days when exchanging goods/services for cash in person was the way the majority of transactions happened.

With internet-based platforms, your ability to connect with people you’ll never meet in the “real-world” has scaled enormously. But how do you actually get the money for what you sell? And since there are digital records of everything, how do you use them to keep your books straight?

In our internet-powered age, most businesses can’t do things “under the table.” You need a tool like PaySimple to not only process credit card transactions, but also handle things like recurring billing, point-of-sale transactions, and relationship management.

What is PaySimple? Do you need it? In this ultimate PaySimple review, we dive into everything you need to know about this cloud-based receivable software tool. From its main uses, pros and cons, to its competitors; we explore all the PaySimple essentials to help you decide if it’s the right addition to your SME toolbelt.

What Is PaySimple?

PaySimple is a point-of-sale system that also offers a variety of other financial services. With it, you can market your business, manage customer relationships, accept payments, and more, all from inside an easy-to-use dashboard.

With PaySimple, you can set up an eCommerce storefront, set up subscription billing, track analytics, and generate invoices to accomplish both your eCommerce and brick and mortar goals.

PaySimple has been around since 2006. They’ve helped 20,000+ primarily US-based businesses. And they must be doing something right because they completed a $115 million funding round a few years back.

Finally, PaySimple’s plans start at $59.99/month for its complete suite of tools, putting it squarely in the middle of the pack compared to its competitors, and still an overall good value for most SMEs.

PaySimple Features

  • Credit Card Processing as low as 2.49% +
  • ACH / eCheck Processing – Flat 55¢ / each
  • Payment Acceptance
  • QuickBooks integration
  • Unlimited Customers
  • Customer Data Management
  • Billing Automation
  • Payment Vault & PCI Compliance
  • Free Mobile App
  • Online Payment Processing
  • Overpayment Processing
  • Recurring Invoicing
  • Recurring/Subscription Billing
  • Self Service Portal
  • Multi-Period Recurring Billing
  • Payment Processing
  • Receivables Ledger
  • Recurring Billing
  • ACH Payment Processing
  • Billing
  • Point-of-Sale
  • CRM

Getting Started With PaySimple

PaySimple offers a no credit card required 14-day free trial. To use it, simply sign up on their site with your email and set an account password. They’ll then ask you a few simple questions about your business to help tailor your experience before taking you to your account dashboard.

The free trial is pretty limited. You’ll be able to get a taste of how the software functions, set up a store, and manage customers, but you won’t actually be able to accept payments or even add customers until you upgrade to a full account.

PaySimple Getting Started

Still, it’s worth checking out even if you’re on the fences about whether you stick with it or go with one of PaySimple’s competitors.

One of the biggest pros it has going for it is how easiest it is to set up a store that will then be ready to go live as soon as you upgrade.

PaySimple Pricing

PaySimple basically has just one plan that starts at $59.99/month. This plan comes with:

  • Online payments
  • In-person payments
  • ACH
  • Mobile app
  • Credit cards and checks
  • Recurring billing
  • QuickBooks online integration
  • Email marketing
  • Customer Management
PaySimple Pricing

As you can see from above, $59.99/month doesn’t really tell the full story. There’s a flat $0.29 fee plus 2.49% of the transaction for credit cards. There are also a variety of other fees or percentages based on different transactions.

So, for example, if you do $1000 per month over 10 credit card sales in a month. You’ll not only have the $59.99/month but also $27.80 for the sales totaling to almost $90 for the month.

This isn’t terrible. For example, with Stripe, you pay 2.9% + 30¢ per successful charge, which equals $32.80 for the same amount of sales as above. Stripe is more expensive for sales, but it’s pay-as-you-gone for pricing meaning for smaller businesses. It’s definitely more affordable, at least in terms of payment processing.

All of this means you need to weigh the different options you have available and do your homework to find the best option for you. There’s also nothing precluding you from using a few different payment gateways and integrating them through one app.

PaySimple Features

PaySimple offers a broad array of payment and receivable services that definitely make the $59.99/month price tag pretty reasonable. Here are some of the main PaySimple features you’ll love.

1. Merchant Account

Unlike Stripe or PayPal, Pay Simple is a merchant account provider. This means, with it, you’ll be able to process credit card payments, accept checks, and do everything else directly yourself.

Looking for tools that will make you a better marketer? Check out this hand-curated list of 50+ digital marketing tools that will take your marketing to the next level (seriously!) Check out the List

There are a ton of benefits to this, including speeding up the amount of time it takes for you to actually get the money paid to you for goods and services, lower fees, and more flexibility. The only downside is that Pay Simple only works for US-based merchants and US dollar payments.

PaySimple Merchant Dashboard

2. Recurring Billing

This is one of the main features that has driven the success of the entire PaySimple platform. PaySimple makes setting up, managing, and evaluating recurring bills incredibly straightforward, making it a great option for SaaS providers.

PaySimple Recurring Billing

3. Online Store

If you’re providing services, you may not fit the usual eCommerce mold. With PaySimple, you create an online store to set up specialized payment forms for services as well as items in a catalog. You can set up recurring payments, collect customer data, and take advantage of store templates. eCommerce platforms will also love that you can host unlimited products.

This is one of those areas where PaySimple can save you money because you can opt for

simpler and more affordable web hosting through WordPress and then use this store for processing transactions.

PaySimple Online Store

4. Customer Management

PaySimple also has decent CRM tools that let you record customer information and create branded communication forms to maintain relationships, recover payments, and keep commerce happening.

You can then add reminders to your Appointment to get back in touch with certain customers, offer a sale, or find other ways to connect.

PaySimple Customers

5. Mobile App

The PaySimple mobile app takes most of the web version’s great features on the go. With it, you can process payments, access Business Insights, manage customers, and sync transactions immediately and it’s available for both iOS and Android

PaySimple Mobile App

Who Should Use PaySimple?

PaySimple is a solid payment solution. There’s a lot for SMEs to love about it. These types of small business in particular, however, we’ll likely benefit most from using it:

  • Merchants with limited tech skills: PaySimple walks you through setup through a step-by-step process. The cloud-based app handles everything and provides plenty of resources if you get lost along the way.
  • Primarily eCommerce merchants: PaySimple is an excellent online merchant service provider. It’s easy to accept both credit cards and checks. The POS system is excellent, and the app extends functionality. And if needed, you can get a physical card reader from them too.
  • Subscription-based platforms: It has gotten easier to find recurring payment options, but PaySimple is still one of the best. For one thing, you can integrate it fundamentally into your platform, so you don’t have to manually bill customers monthly. You can even set reminders to follow-up on overdue bills.

Is PaySimple Worth It?

If you fall into one of the three categories above, then absolutely. However, there are a few things to be aware of. The first is that PaySimple has very few direct integrations. That means you’ll likely need a developer to build an API into whatever other platforms you want to connect. It surprisingly doesn’t even connect with Zapier, which integrates everything!

PaySimple also doesn’t offer the best value out there on a pure cash basis. Depending on your website plan, you may already have a cheaper or built-in payment processing option available to you. Finally, it’s limited to US merchants, and US dollar transactions greatly limits its scope.

However, none of these things take away from the fact that its suite of tools is very useful, it is relatively affordable at $59.99/month, and a 2.4% transaction fee is one of the lowest generally out there. It also features no-fee cancellations and other perks, so you have nothing to lose by checking it out for a couple of months and seeing if it’s right for you or not.

Pros

  • Excellent selection of features
  • Mobile app
  • Lower credit card transaction fees
  • Good fit for service businesses
  • No early termination fees
  • Subscription-based pricing tools
  • Great customer support
  • Follow up on orders automatically
  • Can accept ACH payments
  • Easy to set up online stores
  • Unlimited prices
  • Discount for merchants who process $50K in transactions

Cons

  • US merchants only
  • No multi-currency support
  • Very limited integrations
  • Pricing could be more transparent

PaySimple Alternatives

It depends on what you’re trying to do and the types of goods/services you offer. If you’re a dedicated eCommerce platform and retail physical products, then you’ll definitely want to look into Shopify and WooCommerce (if you somehow haven’t already).

While PaySimple does offer great features, they don’t nearly match up with all the tools for sellers that Shopify does, including full website hosting.

We also recently reviewed Pabbly. If your business is subscription-based, then this up and coming rival is definitely worth checking out. They do offer multi-currency and multi-payment gateway support, and Pabbly plans start at just $19/month, making it one of the best bargains out there.

Finally, love it or hate, Stripe is everywhere. And there are numerous ways to integrate Stripe into just about any website. WordPress has built-in payment blocks for Stripe. Even Pabbly connects with it for some of its payment functions. If you want to escape from Stripe for whatever reason, then it’s definitely worth checking out PaySimple.

PaySimple: The Verdict

PaySimple is a comprehensive and easy-to-use payment solution ideally suited for most SMEs. It offers a broad array of features, is relatively affordable, and has great customer service. If you’re looking for a simple and flexible payment processing tool, then be sure to try out PaySimple.

PaySimple Review
  • Features
  • Pricing
  • Ease of Use
  • Support
4.3

Summary

PaySimple is a software used for online payments and transactions that was founded in 2006 by its president David Sharp. This software helps business owners streamline billing and payment acceptance. Additionally, PaySimple aims to help users sell more online and better market to their customer base with a state-of-the-art cloud-based payment management solution. PaySimple allows clients to automatically receive recurring billing schedules and pay by credit card or bank account automatically. Find out if this software lives up to all the hype in this review of PaySimple.