Volusion Review

• What is Volusion?
• Volusion Services
  • Credit Card Processing
  • SSL Certificates
  • Ecommerce and Shopping Carts
  • Marketing and SEO
  • Integrated Shipping Labels
• Is it secure?
• Costs
  • Credit Card Processing Rates and Fees
  • E-commerce Costs
  • Fraud Score Tool Costs
  • SEO and Marketing Costs
  • Costs for Custom Design
• What about contracts?
• Customer Service
• Volusion Reviews
  • Volusion at the Better Business Bureau
  • Volusion at Ripoff Report
  • Volusion according to their customers
  • Volusion according to CardFellow

What is Volusion?

Volusion is primarily a provider of e-commerce and shopping cart services for setting up an online store, but also offers a payment processing solution for taking payments online. Volusion offers “ala carte” style e-commerce and processing services that let you put together the exact package you need.

Volusion Payments is designed for online processing and created specifically to work with Volusion e-commerce solutions. Volusion Payments services are only available to businesses in the United States, but Volusion e-commerce services and fraud tools may be available to international businesses. Volusion Payments boasts clients such as Intel and Nalgene.       

Volusion Services

Volusion offers services in several different plans, which include features such as site builders, abandoned cart reports, Ebay and Amazon integration, and more. Volusion integrates with many major gateways for payment processing, including gateways that can support international payments.

Credit Card Processing

Volusion Payments gives you the ability to accept credit and debit cards online. You can take most major credit and debit cards including MasterCard, Visa, and Discover, with American Express acceptance optional. Volusion Payments currently does not offer support for accepting electronic checks, so if you need to accept checks regularly, Volusion may not be for you. Volusion Payments is not currently available for in-store or mobile processing.

All websites that wish to use Volusion Payments are required to have an SSL certificate with a minimum of 128-bit encryption for security when processing card information online. Volusion can provide SSL certificates at an additional cost.

SSL certificates

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates help ensure security by encrypting sensitive information (such as credit card details) online. Volusion offers SSL certificates, currently priced at $89. Alternately, for businesses that already have an SSL certificate from a third party, Volusion can transfer it for a fee of $99. Volusion can also provide SSL certificates from other companies (such as Norton and GeoTrust). All costs are subject to change. Volusion has a list of SSL certificates and costs available on their website.

E-Commerce and Shopping Carts

Volusion specializes in e-commerce design and maintenance. The company offers pre-made templates or custom designs. Basic free templates are available in addition to premium templates. Custom design is available in several different plans with different features to suit your needs.

Marketing and SEO

If you don’t have the time or resources to conduct your own marketing and SEO efforts, Volusion offers services to help. The company can set up and manage pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns, assist with analytics, help with social media marketing, and more. All marketing and SEO services are an additional charge and not included with other Volusion monthly plans.

Integrated Shipping Labels

Volusion offers shipping label printing directly from the order processing screens or through a Volusion shipping API. Labels are available for shipping via the United States Postal Service, FedEx, DHL, and UPS. USPS, FedEx, an DHL labels can all be created from the order processing page. UPS labels require a Volusion API and a third party shipping label program.

Is it secure?

Volusion is PCI certified and is on Visa’s list of PCI certified providers. In accordance with PCI regulations, Volusion doesn’t provide a customer’s full card number to you when you accept a credit or debit card.

Volusion also offers a Fraud Score tool designed to help you asses the risk of orders before processing them, which can reduce suspicious or fraudulent transactions. Fraud Score assigns a risk level to each transaction. There are three risk levels: minimal, moderate, and high. Minimal risk indicates a low likelihood of a fraudulent transaction, moderate indicates some suspicious information, and high warns that many parts of the transaction appear suspicious.

The Fraud Score tool is a separate monthly charge that varies depending on which fraud plan you choose.

Costs

Volusion has different rates and fees for different services. The “ala carte” style pricing lets you choose only the services you need, but it can add up quickly.

Credit card processing through Volusion Payments is separate from monthly charges for e-commerce services. The Fraud Score tool is another separate monthly charge. Optional marketing and SEO services are also a separate cost. Optional custom e-commerce design is again a separate charge.

Credit Card Processing Rates and Fees

Volusion doesn’t fully disclose rates or fees for credit card processing. They do say that processing rates are 2.15% with no setup fee. However, Volusion’s website also refers to “low monthly fees” for processing, but doesn’t state what those fees are. Additional fees beyond the 2.15% rate are almost certain.

The best way to get a full cost estimate for credit card processing from Volusion is to request a quote through your CardFellow account. If you don’t have a CardFellow account, you can sign up for free and then request a quote from Volusion tailored to your business.

E-commerce Costs

For e-commerce and shopping carts, Volusion offers 4 plans: Mini, Plus, Pro, and Premium. All plans boast unlimited storage and no transaction fees. Features from there vary by plan. Volusion’s website includes a list of features for each plan. Currently the monthly rates are as follows:

• Mini: $15
• Plus: $35
• Pro: $75
• Premium: $135

Volusion also offers a yearly option which provides a 10% discount over the monthly cost of plans.

Fraud Score Tool Costs

There are 3 plans for the Fraud Score tool: Basic, Standard, and Deluxe. The difference between plans is how many transactions per month you scan for a fraud assessment. Currently the number of transactions and monthly rates are as follows:

• Basic: $12.95 – 250 transactions
• Standard: $29.95 – 2,500 transactions
• Deluxe: $49.95 – 5,000 transactions

If you expect to scan more than 5,000 transactions per month you’ll need to contact Volusion for pricing and further information.

SEO and Marketing Costs

Marketing and SEO services are individually priced depending on the service. For example, social media packages are a separate charge from SEO packages or site analytics packages. Most services have different plans available, allowing you to choose the plan that fits your marketing needs and budget.

Costs for Custom Design

Custom e-commerce design is available in three plans: Starter, Growth, and Advanced. Custom design plan features are available on Volusion’s site. Pricing is currently as follows:

• Starter: $3,500
• Growth: $4,800
• Advanced: $6,000

Published rates and fees are subject to change, and additional fees may apply in certain situations. To get the most accurate idea of your costs, sign up for a free account with CardFellow to request a quote from Volusion.

What about contracts?

Volusion doesn’t list information about contract terms on their website for either e-commerce services or for processing through Volusion Payments. Complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau indicate that there are termination fees associated with service contracts.

Always read any contract carefully and check for automatic renewals and penalties for cancellation before you sign.

Customer Service

Volusion lists a phone number and an email address on their website, as well as providing a live chat option. You can use any of those methods to contact Volusion for customer support. Additionally, Volusion is generally active in replying to comments left on their social media pages, and regularly reply to complaints on the Better Business Bureau website.

Volusion Reviews

Volusion has racked up some customer complaints in its 15 years in business, both for difficulties with their e-commerce services and for customer service perceived as unhelpful. Volusion customers have varied levels of experience with technical services such as website set up, so your experience may be different depending on your level of knowledge and comfort with e-commerce set up.

Volusion at the Better Business Bureau

Volusion, LLC has been accredited with the Better Business Bureau since 2001. The company has had 130 complaints lodged with the BBB in the past 3 years, with 23 in the last year. Despite the complaints, Volusion has an A+ rating with the BBB, partially influenced by the company’s responsiveness to complaints.

54 complaints are in the “Billing/Collection Issues” category, 39 complaints are in the “Problems with Product/Service” category, and 33 complaints are in the “Advertising/Sales Issues” category. The remaining 4 complaints are in the “Delivery Issues” category.

Details for all complaints aren’t available at the BBB website. Details of complaints that are available allege difficulty cancelling accounts (including not being informed that cancelling web services and credit card processing require separate cancellations), continuing to be charged after sending written notice of cancellation, and difficulty adjusting images to stay within bandwidth requirements.

18 complaints are listed as resolved. For the remaining complaints, the BBB states that they either haven’t received a response from the consumer regarding the business response, or that the business responded but the consumer was not happy with the proposed resolution.

In addition to the complaints, there are 4 negative customer reviews for Volusion on the Better Business Bureau site. Reviews complain of being billed for services not used and being charged upfront for website set up and not being able to make changes without incurring additional fees. Additionally, reviewers complain of slow and rude service.

All 4 reviews checked a box indicating that they would not recommend Volusion to others.

Volusion at Ripoff Report

Volusion has 22 complaints filed with Ripoff Report. Complaints allege high hidden fees, expensive custom templates that are never delivered, difficulty cancelling accounts, unauthorized charges after account cancellation, never receiving SSL certificates, and unresponsive customer service.

Volusion According to Their Customers

Volusion includes a section of customer testimonials on their website. Reviews praise the company for helping with business growth, the intuitive tools available, and helpful customer service. Testimonials include the reviewer’s name and business name.

Volusion According to CardFellow

CardFellow doesn’t rank processors. Instead, we offer input based on factual information we’ve reviewed firsthand. As of autumn 2015, CardFellow has not reviewed documents from Volusion customers. Until we have evaluated Volusion firsthand through processing statements or merchant agreements, we’re not able to offer more information about strengths or weaknesses in Volusion’s service.

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