Our verdict: 3.9 out of 5, a strong price at volume with a broad reserve clause
Stax scores 3.9 out of 5. It runs on a subscription model: you pay interchange at cost with 0% markup, a flat cents fee per sale, and a monthly membership set by your yearly card volume [1]. The agreement Stax posts for its payment facilitator accounts names Synovus Bank, d/b/a Columbus Bank and Trust Company, as the bank alongside Stax, with you signing as a sub-merchant [4]. Stax's site footer also lists Fifth Third Bank and Elavon among its bank and processing partners [1].
What decides it: your volume (the membership is cheap per dollar only when sales are high), your ticket size (8¢ is small on a $60 sale), and whether you can live with a reserve clause that leaves the amount to Stax's judgment [4].
Pros
- 0% markup on interchange, just 8¢ in person and 15¢ online [1]
- Lists no cancellation fees among its membership features [1]
- Terminals bought outright, from $125 for a mobile reader [2]
- Organic Trustpilot average of 4.8 in our sample [6]
Cons
- Membership of $99 to $199+ a month, whatever you sell [1]
- Reserve size set at Stax's sole discretion [4]
- Chargeback fee and support hours not published
- Deconversion fees if you ask for help moving away [4]
Stax pricing and fees
Stax publishes its membership tiers and per-sale fees on one page [1]. The tier depends on yearly processing, so a business doing $30,000 a month ($360,000 a year) lands in the $199-and-up band.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Membership, up to $150,000 a year | $99 a month [1] |
| Membership, $150,000 to $250,000 a year | $139 a month [1] |
| Membership, $250,000+ a year | $199+ a month [1] |
| Card present (dipped, tapped, swiped) | Interchange + 0% + 8¢ [1] |
| Card not present (keyed, online) | Interchange + 0% + 15¢ [1] |
| ACH bank payment | 1%, capped at $10 [1] |
| Debit sale on the surcharge program | 1.25% + 25¢, paid by you [1] |
| Terminal protection plan | $19 a month, cancel anytime [1] |
| Funding | Next business day [1] |
| Chargeback, international cards | Not listed on the pricing page |
We priced Stax on the same model shop we use for every review: in-person sales of $25. Interchange comes from Visa's April 2026 rates, mixed 40% regulated debit (with the 1¢ fraud add-on), 30% basic credit and 30% Visa Infinite, which works out to 1.755% of sales [3].
| Monthly card sales | Interchange (1.755%) [3] | Per-sale fees [1] | Membership [1] | Total | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 (400 sales) | $175.50 | 400 x 8¢ = $32 | $99 | $306.50 | 3.07% |
| $30,000 (1,200 sales) | $526.50 | 1,200 x 8¢ = $96 | $199+ | $821.50+ | 2.74% |
| $75,000 (3,000 sales) | $1,316.25 | 3,000 x 8¢ = $240 | $199+ | $1,755.25+ | 2.34% |
Read the rows as a slope. At $10,000 a month, the $99 membership is almost 1% of sales by itself, and the total runs above many flat-rate plans. At $75,000 it is about a quarter of a percent, and Stax undercuts the published Helcim markup in our model. Larger tickets help too: at $60 a sale, the same volume needs fewer 8¢ fees. Card network fees come on top of all three totals.
Contract, cancellation and hardware
Stax lists "No cancellation fees (long term contracts)" among the features every membership includes [1]. Its agreement says either party may end it "at any time upon thirty (30) days prior written notice" [4]. Give that notice in writing and keep a copy.
One cost can surprise you on the way out. If you ask Stax for help moving to a new processor, the agreement says you pay its then-current deconversion fees, and Stax is not obliged to provide that help at all [4]. Export your customer and card-on-file data yourself before you give notice.
| Device | Price |
|---|---|
| SwipeSimple B350 mobile reader | $125 [2] |
| Dejavoo QD4 countertop terminal | $310 [2] |
| Dejavoo QD2 mobile wireless terminal | $495 [2] |
| Dejavoo D1 cloud register | Price not listed [2] |
These are purchases, not leases, and the optional $19 protection plan can be dropped at any time [1]. Stax does not state whether a Dejavoo device bought from it can be moved to another processor, so ask before you buy.
Holds, reserves and account terminations
Stax's agreement gives it three ways to hold back money: delaying payouts into an account it controls, requiring a minimum balance in your operating account, or making you fund a separate reserve account [4]. The trigger is broad: "We may require Reserve Fund for any reason related to your use of the Services" [4]. The amount can be raised, reduced or removed at Stax's sole discretion [4].
On termination, Stax may end your service for any reason with 30 days' notice, or immediately for cause [4]. Funds it holds when you close are paid out on your normal schedule, less fees, unless an investigation is pending, in which case it may hold them until it decides what you are owed [4]. Stax's developer documentation says it uses a capped reserve, which holds a fixed percentage of sales until a cap is reached, and notes a reserve can last for the life of an account [7].
The review record is calmer than the contract. Across three Trustpilot pages, none of the 43 unprompted reviews described held funds, a reserve or a closed account [6]. One invited review did describe a risk hold on deposits. Zero per 100 is the best result in our sample, but the clause still lets Stax act without stating a release date, so we scored on the contract.
- Ask at signup whether any reserve applies to your account and get the percentage and cap in writing.
- Warn Stax before a large invoice or a seasonal jump in volume.
- Keep invoices, signed estimates and delivery records, which answer most chargebacks.
Support and customer evidence
Stax publishes a customer support number, 855-550-3288, and a separate sales line, 833-782-9729 [5]. Its contact page does not give support hours, and we found no hours on Stax's own pages, so ask before you sign.
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Reviews read (featured repeats removed) | 60 [6] |
| Invited (labeled Verified) | 17, or 28% [6] |
| Organic (labeled Unprompted) | 43 [6] |
| Organic average | 4.8 stars [6] |
| Organic reviews on holds or closures | 0 [6] |
| Organic reviews unable to reach anyone | 2 [6] |
| Profile total shown | 1,245 reviews, 76% five star [6] |
Organic reviews were strongly positive: 41 of 43 gave five stars. The invited reviews were more mixed and held most of the complaints, including missed deposits, a weekend outage and slow answers. That is the reverse of the usual pattern, where invited reviews lift a score.
Stax alternatives
- Helcim: no monthly fee, so it costs less than Stax at $10,000 and $30,000 a month in our model.
- Dharma Merchant Services: a small markup and a $20 monthly fee, lower than Stax at every level we priced.
- Clover: full point of sale software, but hardware plans and higher percentages. See Clover fees.
- Square (our processing service, BatchOut, earns money on Square sign-ups): no monthly fee and easy setup, but a flat rate that costs more at volume.