Gary Grabbed a Case of Toilet Paper and a Payment Processor. One Was a Bargain.

Elavon reviews were the last thing on Gary’s mind when he stopped at the kiosk. He owns an HVAC company outside Nashville. He has been an Executive Costco member for fourteen years. He buys his shop supplies there, his crew snacks, his cleaning products. He trusts Costco the way people trust a brand that has never once let them down. So when he saw the payment processing sign on his way out — the one that said Costco members get exclusive rates — he stopped. He did not call anyone. He did not look anything up. He signed up on the way to his truck.

Three years later, a rep from another processor pulled his last three months of statements and ran the numbers. His effective rate was 3.9%. On $30,000 a month in volume, that is $1,170 in processing costs every single month. He had assumed Costco meant the same thing it always means: you are getting the best deal in the room. He was not. Before he signed up, he did not read any Elavon reviews. He did not think he needed to. It was Costco.

The Costco-Elavon partnership has been running for 27 years. That is not an accident. Elavon is one of the largest payment processors in North America, serving more than two million merchants. Costco gives them access to something no amount of advertising can buy: a room full of business owners who already believe they are getting a good deal. Most of those merchants never read Elavon reviews before signing up. The Costco brand makes that feel unnecessary.

The Kirkland Signature effect is real. When Costco attaches its name to something — olive oil, vodka, a mattress — shoppers assume the buying team has vetted it and the price is fair. That assumption is earned on products Costco actually controls. It does not hold on services Costco simply resells. When you sign up for Elavon merchant services through Costco, you are signing up for an Elavon merchant account. Costco does not set your rates. Costco does not handle your support calls. Costco does not determine what happens when your funds are held. Elavon does all of that, under Elavon’s terms.

The Qualified Rate Illusion

The advertised rate — around 2.30% plus $0.10 per swiped transaction — is real. It applies to a narrow category of transactions called qualified. Most real-world card transactions do not qualify. Rewards cards, corporate cards, keyed entries, and e-commerce transactions all fall into higher tiers. Merchants processing $25,000 to $50,000 a month routinely find their effective rate running 3.5% to 4.5% once the non-qualified transactions are counted. Nobody at the kiosk explains that part. Reading Elavon reviews before signing up would have.

Elavon reviews on Trustpilot, the BBB, and PissedConsumer tell a consistent story. Elavon holds a 1.2 out of 5 on Trustpilot based on hundreds of submissions. On the Better Business Bureau it sits at 1.12 stars despite an A+ rating — the BBB rating reflects complaint response, not resolution. The complaints cluster around the same four issues regardless of whether the merchant came through Costco payment processing, a bank referral, or directly.

Account Closures Without Notice

The most common theme in recent Elavon reviews is account termination with no warning and no explanation. Merchants report logging in one morning to find their account closed. Support agents confirm the closure but cite only a vague internal note — in some cases the phrase used is simply “do not reopen.” No appeal process. No grace period. No opportunity to address whatever triggered the decision. For a business processing $30,000 a month, losing the ability to accept cards overnight is not an inconvenience. It is a crisis.

Merchants in flagged verticals need specialized underwriting — see high-risk payment processing for how approval and pricing work outside the standard rails.

Fund Holds With No Release Timeline

Multiple BBB complaints from 2024 and 2025 describe 100% fund holds — every dollar processed sitting in reserve with no explanation of when it will be released. One merchant described processing thousands of dollars for long-term customers only to find Elavon had already decided to terminate the relationship while continuing to collect processing fees. The funds were held indefinitely. Another merchant, in business for eleven years with a clean processing record, watched their business collapse within a month of the account freeze. Elavon reviews from this group share one phrase repeatedly: no explanation.

The Ladco Leasing Trap

Elavon offers terminal equipment through a company called Ladco Global Leasing Solutions. The leases are four years, noncancelable. If you sign up for a terminal lease and decide to switch processors eighteen months in, you still owe the remaining thirty months of payments on equipment you are no longer using. Industry reviewers consistently flag Ladco as one of the worst leasing arrangements in payment processing. The Costco payment processing kiosk does not mention any of this.

The Wrong MCC Code Problem

One merchant discovered that Elavon had set up their account with the wrong Merchant Category Code — a lodging code meant for hotels. Every Visa transaction downgraded because the required lodging data was never sent. They paid non-qualified rates on the majority of their volume for years. When they asked for a refund of the overcharges, Elavon pointed to the ISO that originally set up the account. The ISO pointed back at Elavon. The merchant recovered nothing.

PCI Fees Charged With No Guidance

Several Elavon reviews describe PCI non-compliance fees — typically $75 per month — running for extended periods with no outreach from Elavon on how to resolve them. The fee appears buried in a statement line most merchants never investigate. Completing the PCI self-assessment questionnaire takes under an hour and eliminates the fee. Elavon collects it indefinitely unless the merchant asks.

Gary processes about $30,000 a month. His HVAC customers pay mostly with credit cards — rewards cards, corporate cards, the kind that never hit the qualified tier on a tiered pricing plan. His effective rate on Elavon through Costco was 3.9%.

Gary spent three years overpaying by roughly $16,200. Not because he was careless. Because he trusted a brand that had earned that trust on bulk groceries and applied it to a financial product they do not control. Costco sells the relationship. Elavon sets the terms. Reading Elavon reviews before signing up would have taken fifteen minutes.

The toilet paper is still a good deal. The payment processing never was.

Pull your last three months of processing statements. Calculate your effective rate: total fees divided by total volume. If you are above 2.8% and processing more than $15,000 a month, you are likely overpaying. The number does not lie regardless of what the advertised rate says.

Before you do anything else, check your contract for an early termination fee and the length of your term. Elavon merchant services contracts through Costco range from twelve months to three years with automatic renewal. Know what you are in before you decide to leave.

Also check your equipment situation. If you are leasing a terminal through Ladco, you may owe payments regardless of whether you switch processors. Factor that cost into your decision.

The alternative to tiered pricing is interchange-plus pricing — the model that shows you exactly what you are paying and why. On a statement review, most merchants processing over $15,000 a month find real savings by switching. The Federal Reserve publishes payment processing research, and the CFPB covers merchant rights.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Toilet Paper Is Still a Good Deal. The Processing Never Was.

If you are on Elavon — through Costco or anyone else — we will review your last three months of statements and show you your actual effective rate. No obligation. No sales pitch until you ask for one.

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