CDGcommerce Review: Is It Right for Your Business in 2024?

CDGcommerce Offers Standard Features, but You Can Find Better

CDGcommerce is a good credit card processor for high-volume businesses and nonprofits, especially in the e-commerce, B2B, retail, and restaurant niches. It offers month-to-month contracts with no application, setup, or cancellation fees. If your business processes over $200,000/month, you can take advantage of more cost-effective wholesale rates.

CDGCommerce offers next-day funding for most merchants, a free payment gateway, and several terminals. If you’re a high-risk business or use specific platforms, payouts can take between 36 – 48 hours. The CDGpay app won’t accept international payments, and its sponsoring banks expect most of your sales to come from US-based cards due to higher risk and difficulty verifying payments.

In researching, I discovered that CDGcommerce offers several transparent pricing plans, including a flat rate, interchange plus, and wholesale membership plan. You’ll get competitive rates on all plans but pay between $49.00/month and $49.00/month on its wholesale plan. If you process high volumes, be aware that you’ll pay its monthly subscription fees 12 months in advance.

Continue reading to determine if CDGcommerce can beat the best payment processors in 2024.

Features and Ease of Use

CDGcommerce offers some pretty good features for startups and SMEs, including access to software, free products and services, and features for managing mobile payments. However, in comparison to the best payment processors, CDGcommerce isn’t unique. You aren’t going to get the standout e-commerce features that processors like Stax offer, for example.

When you open an interchange plus or wholesale membership account, you get free access to Authorize.net and CDGCommerce’s proprietary Quantum Gateway. Quantum Gateway offers a virtual terminal, secure vault, custom user permissions, and an API for integrating with other platforms. The only thing you don’t get with Quantum Gateway is an automatic card updater, which increases the risk of failed transactions – especially if you sell subscriptions.

Despite the lack of an automatic card updater, Quantum’s free recurring billing management software saves money overall. Every merchant gets access, allowing you to offer unlimited monthly, quarterly, or annual billing plans. Better yet, you can customize your plans and automate billing to ensure your customers never miss a payment.

CDGcommerce offers three POS systems: PastePay Cloud, Vital, and Echo. These are not free, but they come with perks. PastePay Cloud offers an integrated CRM and appointment scheduling system, Vital offers employee management software, and Echo offers lifetime equipment replacements. Payment Depot offers a free Dejavoo terminal if you’re on a tight budget.

Pricing and Support

CDGcommerce has three pricing plans, each optimized for different business sizes. The flat-rate plan is best for businesses earning $1,000 – $10,000/month; the interchange plus plan is good for $10,000 – $200,000/month; and the wholesale membership plan is for $200,000+/month.

All plans come without setup, processing, or cancellation fees, while flat-rate plans come without monthly fees – unless you choose specific optional add-ons. However, if you join the wholesale membership plan, you’ll pay up to $49.00/month upfront each year.

 CDGcommerce isn’t great for hybrid businesses processing $1,000 – $10,000/month due to extra fees that can eat into profits. For example, you’ll pay $10 – $15/month for its gateways, $79/year for countertop terminals, $79/year + $20/month for handheld wireless terminals, and $15/month for data breach protection. In addition, you’ll pay $9.99/month for Vital, $49 for its Bluetooth card reader, or $299/year for PastePay Cloud.

On the flat-rate plan, you’ll pay a total of 2.90% + 0.30¢ (Swiped) for swiped and mobile payments, plus a 0.60% surcharge for keyed-in sales and 3.50% + 0.30¢ (Online) for online payments. On the interchange plus plans, you’ll pay 0.30% + 0.15¢ (Online), 0.25% + 0.10¢ (Retail), and 0.20% + 0.10¢ (Non-Profit), depending on your business type. It’s nice that nonprofits get a low rate of 0.20% + 0.10¢ (Non-Profit). The wholesale membership rates depend more on your specific business, but it’s unlikely you’ll be able to save 40% on processing, like with Stax.

CDGcommerce offers 24/7 phone and live chat support. During my research, I contacted its sales team via live chat several times and received detailed responses in under 1 minute. CDGCommerce’s site doesn’t have much information, meaning you’ll have to rely on that support if you run into any issues. Several customer reviews mention unresponsive phone support, so live chat may be your best bet.

Compliance & Security

CDGcommerce’s chargeback defender service gives you immediate notifications of chargebacks, dedicated support, and expert guidance to help you increase your chances of success. CDGcommerce’s chargeback collector will only return 50% of any chargeback disputes you win, but at least there aren’t fees if your debt can’t be collected.

CDGcommerce is PCI-compliant for all plans. However, it offers extra PCI security solutions on its interchange plus wholesale plans, like level 2 and 3 processing and a fraud loss reimbursement program. The reimbursement program allows you to validate your customers with IP identity and address verification and get protection for up to $250 per chargeback if you use its Fraud Defense Suite.