CardX Review

Pros & Cons

---

CardX Overview

Since 2020, CardX has been on a mission to lower transaction costs for businesses of all sizes. This goal remains unchanged even after its acquisition by Stax in 2021. Since its inception, the company’s saved over 4,000 businesses more than $27 million in credit card processing fees, sticking true to its mission.

With a unique zero cost processing model, CardX an ideal option for smaller businesses or those with high volume, low-value transactions—like coffee shops, gas stations, and other quick service businesses that typically get eaten alive by processing fees.

Unlike many merchant services providers who rely on third-party vendors for the majority of their solutions, CardX has its own software.

So, you get the combined benefits of low-cost processing and custom tools.

The company’s unwavering commitment to reducing fees speaks volumes, especially with how its maintained this focus post-acquisition. If you want to maximize savings on credit card transactions, CardX deserves a close look.

CardX Plans and Pricing

CardX uses a zero cost processing structure for credit card transactions, which means you (as a business) pay absolutely nothing and the customer covers the transaction fee if they decide to use a credit card. It’s a win-win—you get to keep 100% of your credit card sales while your customers only have to pay a small fee in exchange for convenience.

For debit cards, it works a bit differently. You’ll pay between 2-3.5% per transaction depending on factors like how the card is charged and the type of debit card used.

This gives customers a fee-free way to pay as well.

With this type of pricing structure, you don’t have to universally raise prices, which would impact cash and debit customers that cost less on your end. Instead, you can maintain current pricing and pass the credit card transaction fee only to the customers choosing that option.

When it comes to equipment, CardX charges $35 monthly for a physical terminal while virtual terminal and online software starts at $29 per month. So, it’s not exactly free.

But it can be significantly cheaper than using a traditional pricing structure as long as your customers don’t mind paying a small additional fee.

CardX also offers a specialized solution for government and education organizations. Called Intelligent Rate, it passes all fees regardless of card type to the customer. The dynamic fee ranges from 0.75% to 3.99% based on the type of card used. However, this is only an option for online and virtual terminal transactions in a few merchant categories.

While CardX offers a very straightforward and simple solution, Stax (its parent company) offers full business management solutions with payment processing bundled in. It’s a great option if you need more functionality, including a full POS system and more advanced analytics.

Check out our full Stax review to learn more about it.

If you don’t want to pass credit card fees onto your customers, Payment Depot—another of Stax’s brands—offers an affordable monthly subscription with no markups on transaction fees. Depending on the type of business you have, it could be more affordable for you. Our in-depth Payment Depot review covers more information.

Payment Options

CardX offers two physical terminals—the Dejavoo QD2 and QD4. Both effortlessly accept taps, dips, swipes, and chips. They also allow contactless mobile wallet payments through Apple Pay and Google Pay for maximum convenience.

These terminals have an automated system built in to instantly detect credit or debit transactions, notify customers of additional credit surcharges, and add the fees to their total if they opt to proceed.

Not only is it simple for you and your customers, but it also takes the guesswork out of compliance.

CardX enables consistency across all your payment channels, too—online, over the phone, and in-person. With virtual terminals and simple ecommerce options, you can minimize transaction costs no matter how customers pay.

While CardX does not provide full POS systems, you can add the intelligent terminals to your existing setup.

Ecommerce Functionality

If you want to sell online but don’t yet have the fundamentals in place, CardX can help you get set up with a basic system for selling on an existing website.

However, it’s important to understand that CardX won’t give you a full-featured online store.

The main ecommerce feature CardX provides is a popup payment window that is embedded into your site. When a customer clicks to buy one of your products, the popup appears so they can checkout without navigating away.

It’s a slick design that also includes Click to Pay integration so Mastercard users can breeze through checkout.

But that popup is really best for simple product catalogs—if you only have a handful of items to sell, it’s simple, straightforward, and likely more cost-effective than a full ecommerce system.

However, it won’t replace the need for a true full-service ecommerce platform if your catalog is large or requires complex configuration options.

The CardX lightbox just doesn’t have enough functionality to support store management features like detailed shopping carts, order management, shipping configurations, or the ability to schedule recurring payments.

The good news is that if you do need those more robust ecommerce capabilities, including better support for mobile payments on the go, the company that owns CardX—Stax—provides that through their subscription-based ecommerce platform. You’ll pay more, but you get just about everything you need to manage a large store.

Customer Support

Compliance support is often overlooked by merchant services providers. However, it can be complex, especially if you’re a new business. The good news is that you don’t have to figure it out alone. CardX provides complete guidance from their compliance pros who know intricate state surcharging laws inside and out.

They’ll walk you through everything required to avoid fees and fines so you can focus on your business with peace of mind. As an extra perk—they even handle registering your brand with credit card companies for you.

Aside from compliance, you can rest assured knowing you have a dedicated team of experts ready to assist you around the clock, regardless of what you need.

One call, click, or email is all it takes to get answers from their customer support staff. Whether you have a technical issue, a question about an invoice, or need guidance on compliance, their team is available even after hours, on weekends, and holidays.

The fastest replies may come during normal business hours, but you can still count on reliable service to have your back no matter when you need it.

Analytics

CardX’s proprietary software covers the analytics basics without feeling overwhelming. The aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-navigate dashboard provides the core metrics you need without overloading you with too much data.

You’ll get summaries of your total sales, transaction breakdowns by card type, and your savings from lower credit card fees.

The visuals are clear at a glance and drilling down is an option if you want more info.

Beyond summaries, CardX also lets you generate reports. Want to see total sales for last month? How much you’ve saved in fees over the past year? The dashboard makes it easy to create these views with a few clicks.

While it doesn’t have every bell and whistle, CardX provides the essential analytics and reporting functionality businesses need. The intuitive interface and focus on key data make it easy to monitor your transactions and savings.

For straightforward tracking of sales and costs, CardX hits the mark.

Ease of Use

Getting started with CardX by Stax is a breeze.

All it takes is answering a few quick questions, and someone will reach out to you to finalize your account.

The whole process can take two to three days but requires minimal work on your end.

Once approved, you’ll be able to log into your account and get started. Compared to others, getting prepped to take payments is far less complex and time-consuming because of the solution’s simplicity.

In fact, you can start keyed-in transactions right in your portal immediately.

The clean, modern CardX interface is visually appealing and thoughtfully laid out, making it easy to find anything you need. One thing to note—there’s no knowledge base. However, CardX is so incredibly intuitive, you likely won’t need much help anyway.

The bottom line? CardX brings merchant services into the 21st century through an elegant, hassle-free system.

Final Thoughts

For small businesses and those with high volumes of low value, zero cost processing is a great way to save on credit card processing fees. Plus, CardX’s intuitive software, automated compliance, full compliance support, and overall simplicity is a breath of fresh air.

Whether you need to process payments online, over the phone, or in person, you’ll get everything you need to get started.