Viva Wallet or Viva.com is a payment processing platform offering a range of card processing services.
Here, small business owners can benefit from an online payment gateway, card machines, and a business debit card, all with transparent fees and pricing. Viva Wallet stands out as a top choice for everything from micro business and startups to established organizations.
Viva.com is extremely popular, but are they right for your business? This review covers features, offerings, ratings, and pricing, so you can make the best decision for your business.
What Is Viva.com?
Viva.com, formerly Viva Wallet, is a part of the Viva Group of financial tech (fintech holdings). The group includes Viva Bank and Viva.com. Together, these two organizations offer a complete card processing service.
Here, you get your business bank, card terminal, online payment gateway, acquiring service, and merchant account for complete card processing.
Viva.com is officially a bank. It has a banking license in Greece. That means you’re protected under European Banking legislation, which might make this alternative to high street banks a little bit more tempting than most eBanks.
Viva.com Features
Viva.com offers everything you need to start accepting card payments online or face-to-face. Let’s take a look.
Online Payment Gateway
Viva.com’s online payment gateway comes with a merchant account, checkout, and tools for integration into most payment solutions. It also accepts all major cards and digital wallets.
The platform also supports pay by QR code, pay by link, and tap to pay for accepting online payments with your phone.
- E-Commerce Zero – Minimum monthly charge of £3.99
- E-Commerce Default – £3.99 per month
- E-Commerce Standard – £10.99 per month
- E-Commerce Premium – £15.99 per month
You’ll also pay transaction fees averaging 2.06% + 24p. However, you’ll pay a 0.20% fee for debit and 0.30% for credit for all domestic card transactions.
In addition, you can negotiate a custom deal with Viva to pay for transaction fees as part of a lump monthly fee so you get predictable costs.
Card Machines
Viva.com offers a wide selection of card machines. In fact, with 10 models in its store, you get more options than most of Viva’s competitors.
| Card Machine | Price | Screen | Payment Types | Extras | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ciontek CS50C | £225 / £8.99 per month | 6” | Chip & Pin Contactless | Printer, Camera, Barcode Scanner | Android PoS with 8-hour battery |
| Mini Card Reader | £49 | No | Contactless | No | 8-hour battery |
| Pax A35 | £240 / £8.99 per month | 4” | Chip & Pin, Contactless | Camera | Countertop |
| Pax A77 | £258 / £10.99 per month | 5.5” | Chip & Pin, Contactless, MagStripe | Camera, Barcode Scanner, 4G connection | 12-hour battery, Android PoS |
| Pax A80 | £120 / £8.99 per month | 4” | Chip & Pin, Contactless, MagStripe | Camera, Printer | Countertop |
| Pax A8900 | £229 / £8.99 per month | 5.5” | Chip & Pin, Contactless | Printer, Camera, 4G | 12-hour battery, Android PoS |
| Pax IM304G | £561 | 7” | Chip & Pin, Contactless, MagStripe | Camera | Self-Service, Vending |
| Sunmi P2 Lite SE | £249 / £7.99 per month | 5” | Chip & Pin, Contactless | Camera | Android PoS, Portable, Suitable for outdoors, 8-hour battery |
| Sunmi P2 SE | £235 / £7.99 per month | 5” | Chip & Pin, Contactless | Camera | Android PoS, 8-hour battery (removable) |
| Sunmi P2 Smartpad | £245 / £7.99 per month | 4” | Chip & Pin, Contactless | Camera, Pin Pad, Privacy Shield | Countertop |
With options to hire or buy every model, you can decide to try out a model or buy it upfront to save as much as possible over the duration of your contract.
Business Banking
Viva.com offers business banking and acquiring services. This means you need a Viva.com account to get started. Here, you can choose from three account options:
- Zero
- Default
- Standard
- Premium
You get a business bank, business debit card, and either same-day or real-time payouts. That means funds you process from customers are normally instantly available in your business bank to be spent.
The downside is that, if you already have a business bank account, you’ll have to use two or make the switch to Viva Bank.
Viva.com Pricing
Viva.com uses simple pricing for in-person payments, omnichannel payments, and online payments.
| Account Option | Zero | Default | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Rate | £0 (min. monthly charge: £3.99) | £3.99 | £10.99 | £15.99 |
| Endpoints (Terminal or Website) | £1.70 each | 3 terminals + 1 website / £1.70 per extra | 10 terminals + 3 websites / £1.70 per extra | 20 terminals + 5 websites / £1.70 per extra |
| Users | 85p per user per month | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Viva Wallet uses transaction fees for its standard accounts. However, you can also work with Viva to get a flat rate subscription with no transaction fees.
For normal accounts, the transaction fees are:
- 1.69% for card present transactions
- 2.19% + 24p for online payments
- 1.16% card present acquiring fee
- 2.06% online payments acquiring fee
- Klarna and Alipay cost 2.40%-4.99%
You’ll also pay extra for additional services. For example:
- Support with a human agent (£3.99 per month), Video support with a human agent (£15.99 per month)
- 80p bank transfer fees/2% transaction fees
Viva also offers a lot of convenience in terms of delivering both acquiring and card processing in one service. You won’t need two accounts.
Instead, you’ll have everything through one service, including business spending cards. That can greatly simplify your entire contract, so you have less to worry about and less to manage.
Viva Wallet vs Competitors
Viva compares well with competitors, including Lloyds Bank Cardnet, Tyl by Natwest, Handepay, Takepayments, and Tide. In fact, it’s one of the few of its competitors that offers a self-service card reader as part of the service. That makes this brand ideal for vending machines, carwash, and other unattended businesses.
Let’s take a look at how Viva’s pricing and features compare:
| Provider | Viva.com | Lloyds Bank Cardnet | Tyl by NatWest | Handepay | Tide | TakePayments | Square |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardreader Cost | £54-£258 or £7.99-£10.99 monthly | £21-£23 monthly or £54 upfront | Included in monthly | £10-£30 monthly | £79-£199 | Custom | £19-£599 |
| Monthly Fee | £0-£15.99 or custom | Custom | £9.99+ | £9.99 | £0 | Yes | £0-£29+ |
| Transaction Fee | 1.69%-2.19% + 24p average | From 1.75% but usually custom | 1.39% + 5p -1.99% + 5p | Included in monthly | 1.5%-1.95% | 0.3-2.5% | 1.75%-2.5% |
| Online Payment Gateway | Custom pricing | Custom Pricing | £14.99 | £19.99 | NA | Custom | Free |
| Payouts | Instant | Next day | Daily | Next day | 1-3 business days | Next day | 1-2 business days, Instant |
| Tap-to-Pay | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Trustpilot Rating | 3.2 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 4.2 |
Overall, Viva compares well, especially on pricing, where it’s one of the cheapest. That’s also true for card terminal rentals, where the cost to hire the same Pax model is about half the price with Viva as with Tyl by Natwest.
Viva.com Reviews & Ratings
Viva.com is overall very well rated by customers online. However, not everything is positive.
On the positive side, the company maintains an average 3.2 star rating. Customers quote reliable service, low fees, and ease of self-service.
- Easy to set up and get started on your own
- Android-based card terminals are easy to use
- Fees are lower than most competitors
- Fees are transparent
However, Viva.com also has negative reviews. For example, some customers complain that the AI used for setup can take too long or can be buggy. That can cause frustration during setup. The app might also sometimes have bugs, which means it’s not always 100% reliable.
Benefits Of Viva.com
Viva.com offers a lot of benefits to consumers including;
- All-in-one service, with merchant account, business account, acquiring services, card terminal, and online payment gateway, you won’t need another provider
- Plenty of choice of terminals with 10 models
- Transparent fees and low rates
Some customers don’t like that you have to pay extra for human support for customer service. However, that’s increasingly the norm and means you only pay for what you need.
Who Should Use Viva?
Viva.com (Viva Wallet) is a great low-cost business banking option.
While primarily aimed at SMEs, the solution is versatile enough to work for micro businesses and startups as well. You can also negotiate flat-rate pricing, meaning early business costs are as predictable as possible.
In addition, Viva.com brings the best of both worlds of eBanking and traditional banking together. Viva.com has a banking license, meaning you get the same protections as when working with a traditional bank.
Overall, this bank is best fit for small businesses, especially if transparency and predictable costs are important for you.
Choosing The Best Payment Processor For Your Small Business
Viva Wallet, now Viva.com, stands out with transparent pricing, low fees, and scalable services. It’s also an all-in-one payment services provider, which can make a huge difference to new business owners still trying to figure out how payments work. You’ll only need one provider. However, there are plenty of options on the UK market and comparing them can help you to get the best deal. In most cases, transaction rates are fully negotiable, and the higher your transaction rate, the more you can save.
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