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Secure Trading Review
Despite talking a good talk, Secure Trading lets itself down with opaque fee details and lack of information around the cost of its financial services.
Based on what we have read, however, it seems that Secure Trading would best suit an SME who is in need of an all-in-one payment solutions — with the option to include a virtual terminal, among many other merchant services.
Dedicated account managers, along with the variety of flexible integrations, makes Secure Trading’s payment platform beneficial for small companies with limited technical potential who want bespoke support.
Things we like:
- All-in-one payments platform.
- Flexible integrations that accommodate your technical capacity.
- Dedicated account manager with UK & EMEA support.
- Supports both local and international payments.
- Fraud and security services, such as 3D Secure.
Things we don't like:
- Lacks transparency no fees published on their website.
- Negative online reviews.
Company background
Secure Trading — who operates its payment processing service under the name TRU//ST Payments — is a payments solutions company located in London, UK. Founded in 1997, Secure Trading has built relationships and a strong B2B customer base that includes both well-established companies and startups.
It endeavours to become a global, omnichannel payments solutions company, meaning it can offer a wide variety of services to fit most companies’ needs. To achieve this, Secure Trading has expanded across the world — with new offices in Birkirkara, Malta and Atlanta, North America — and has grown to 100+ employees.
Products & services offered
E-Commerce
Secure Trading helps businesses build online stores with “simple and beautiful” payment pages. It offers a variety of integrations and payment methods, with the aim of meeting any and all customer needs.
Point-Of-Sale
Secure Trading offers secure and practical card machines with cloud-based software. This ensures you can access and enter financial data from different devices. The variety of terminals on offer from Secure Trading means that the business’ needs are met too.
MOTO
MOTO payments — short for mail order/telephone order — can be facilitated through Secure Trading’s virtual terminal. Not all POS companies provide such a service, so Secure Trading customers can capitalise on all types of card sales, not just online and in-person.
Pay By Link
Pay By Link enables a business to accept payments via email. To use the service, you just need to send a link to the customer — arguably the most direct form of digital payment.
Fees
Even the most thorough dissection of Secure Trading’s website will lead to the same conclusion: no costs or fees are published.
Sales & advertising transparency
As with the fees, there’s not a lot to go on from Secure Trading’s website or promotional messaging on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Whilst detailed information is likely available upon request, this lack of transparency isn’t a positive experience for a prospective customer.
Customer service and technical support
There are a number of ways to contact Secure Trading.
With an office in London, Malta and the USA, you can contact each and any one with a separate phone number. This is most notable for enquiries however (i.e. a first point of contact), and for support there is easily reached via a separate hotline number and email address. All three offices have a physical address too, which you could contact.
There’s also a live chatbot on the website, however it’s not very accurate at first — we’d recommend you navigate around off-topic answers by asking to speak to a human.
Head to the site, and you’ll also see a lot of FAQ help with PDF helpsheets, such as this one for integrating PayPal with Secure Trading. Customers could also use Secure Trading’s LinkedIn and Twitter accounts as another place of contact too.
Secure Trading openly strives to have a strong European-centred customer support system. Your named account manager works hand-in-hand with a set of flexible integrations, somewhat bespoke service and a quote-based pricing system, so customers do receive a personalised experience.
Typical user reviews
Looking at TrustPilot alone, you may find yourself put off from using Secure Trading.
There are two reviews, both only give 1 star and both are very damning. Whilst 2 reviews are not a large enough sample size to provide any meaningful insight, it doesn’t make a great first impression either.
One review states: “Anyone who deals with this opaque and incompetent bunch need to have their heads read! Shameless. Avoid at all costs”.
Secure Trading does, however, get overwhelmingly positive reviews on Glassdoor. Sure, this shows employee reviews, not customer feedback, but with so little else to go on, these insights do suggest a functioning, positive, healthy company culture.
Finally, there are a number of handpicked positive testimonials from established business owners/directors on Secure Trading’s website. For example, Guy Tambling, Director at Phase Eight, praises the service in the retail space by saying: “In online retail, you need a payment solution that you can trust will be available to your customers at all times, that is easy to use, and that keeps your customers’ data safe. This is what we have found in Secure Trading.”
Secure Trading Verdict: 5/10
Secure Trading offers a variety of services and integrations that could be a good all-in-one payment solution for many businesses, particularly if they plan on receiving both international and local payments.
Its longevity as a company and technical conveniences (i.e. PayPal integration) makes it worth looking into as a possible provider.
The real downfall of Secure Trading is its lack of transparency. Whilst the two negative online reviews hardly form a representative view, they shouldn’t be discounted. Both are quite understandable, with one in particular referencing the “opaque” nature of Secure Trading.
