Shannon Vissers

Upstart is an online lending platform that offers consumer loans to qualified borrowers. It has relaxed credit score requirements, competitive terms and fees, and an easy application process. Upstart is an excellent resource for many people who do not fit the traditional model of a loan borrower.

Kiva offers crowdfunded microloans and is one of the least expensive forms of financing available to business owners. It is definitely worth checking out if you run a community-oriented business that needs a small infusion of cash. It is suitable for startups but not for large businesses.

Credibly is an online lender that offers short-term financing in the form of business loans and merchant cash advances. Credibly’s qualifications are much lower but its origination fee is high. If you’re in a pinch and don’t have access to other financing options, Credibly might be the lender that works for your business.

Designed to be a smaller, more accessible version of the popular Clover Station POS system, the Clover Mini comes with a built-in receipt printer, a USB hub (to allow for interface with peripheral hardware), and a customer-facing camera. Read on for more details and a comprehensive review of the Clover Mini.

At first glance, Clover seems like an ideal POS solution. It’s flexible, feature-rich, and functional. However, it’s not a cheap product. But if you want a simple, attractive POS solution — and don’t mind taking a risk on customer service and payment processing — you could do a lot worse than Clover and its many different offerings.

Can you buy a used Clover POS? Absolutely! Should you? No! While you can certainly find a used Clover POS system for sale on eBay or Amazon, it’s never a good idea to buy one. Used Clover POS are not reprogrammable and new systems are always sold with a merchant services contract — which you should never enter lightly.

We feel that the total value provided by Stax’s platform — including credit card terminal sales, centralized invoicing, data analytics, inventory management, and other features — makes the service worthwhile, especially combined with the stability of a full-service merchant account.

If you run a high-risk business or have had a hard time getting approved for a merchant account, Instabill might be your saving grace.

In May 2019, Global Payments, another very large direct processor from Georgia, announced that it was acquiring TSYS for $21.5 billion. The combined organization will operate under the Global Payments brand name, and the TSYS name will eventually disappear. However, mergers of this size take a long time to complete, and as of May 2020, TSYS still has its own website, which lists the company as ‘TSYS – A Global Payments Company.’ We haven’t received any indication of how Global Payments plans to transition existing TSYS customers into its system, but we expect that you will probably be switched over to a Global Payments contract at some point. If you’re a merchant looking for a new provider, now is not the time to sign up with TSYS.

Payline Data offers interchange-plus pricing for all its merchants, with discounted rates for nonprofits and medical organizations. On top of that, every plan includes a gateway and virtual terminal, with no long-term contracts. What’s not to love?