Epoch

What Is Epoch?

Epoch is a payment facilitator that provides a turnkey online billing stack for merchants. According to its official materials, Epoch supports credit and debit cards alongside a wide range of alternative and local payment options, offers one-time and recurring billing, and provides secure data storage with 24/7/365 merchant and customer support.

Core Capabilities At A Glance

• Payment gateway with hosted, brandable payment forms.

• One-time, recurring, per-unit, and one-click billing choices.

• Global acceptance across cards and numerous local alternatives.

• Automatic language and currency presentation to match the buyer.

• PCI DSS Level 1 and early adoption of VBV and Mastercard SecureCode, as stated by Epoch.

• Volume-based, all-inclusive pricing with no rolling reserve, per Epoch’s FAQ.

Payment Methods And Local Options

Epoch positions itself as supporting “the most” payment types in its industry and lists a broad set of card networks and local methods. Examples include Visa, Mastercard, Discover, JCB, Maestro, PayPal, BLIK, iDEAL, EPS, Euteller, Multibanco, Pay By Bank, Paysafecard, PIX, and Przelewy24, in addition to bank transfer flows and mobile payment options.

For merchants targeting multiple regions, this breadth can reduce the need to contract separate local PSPs. Since capabilities are presented in a hosted checkout, you can expose relevant options per market while preserving your site’s look and feel.

When To Use Epoch’s Alternative Methods

• You need to increase conversion in markets where local methods dominate over cards.

• You want to cover Brazil, Poland, the Netherlands, or similar markets using PIX, Przelewy24, or iDEAL without integrating separate providers.

Currencies And Localized Checkout

Epoch’s payment pages can dynamically display the buyer’s local currency and language. The documents state that the checkout page reads the customer’s IP and browser language to present localized pricing and translated UI, which can increase buyer confidence and completion rates.

Supported currencies include a long list across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC, for example USD, EUR, GBP, BRL, MXN, JPY, AUD, SGD, ZAR, TRY, AED, and UAH, among others. The same materials note support for major world languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, and more.

Why Localization Matters

• Shoppers see familiar currency and language without extra configuration.

• Pricing is shown as a local equivalent, stated to be calculated on the fly.

Merchant Eligibility And Regions

Epoch services merchants incorporated in the United States or within the card associations’ Europe region. For European entities, the company indicates that at least one principal must reside in the European region, and sole proprietors must reside there as well.

The Europe region list provided includes Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

Billing Models And Monetization Options

Epoch’s checkout supports multiple billing patterns, which can be mixed across different products:

• Recurring billing for subscription products until cancellation.

• Per-unit billing for tokens, credits, or time blocks.

• One-time billing for single purchases.

• One-click billing for follow-on purchases by existing customers.

Because Epoch handles card data and tokenization on hosted pages, merchants can layer upsells and one-click offers without customers re-entering details.

Security And Compliance

Epoch states that it is an approved Visa and Mastercard payment facilitator and highlights PCI DSS compliance at Level 1, with a historical claim of first third-party certification in 2002 under CISP and early adoption of Verified by Visa and Mastercard SecureCode.

For merchants, this means the hosted payment workflow is designed to keep card data off your infrastructure, while still allowing brandable forms and variable data collection on the checkout page.

Pricing And Fees

Epoch describes its pricing as an “all-inclusive” percentage of sales that scales with volume. The materials specify no separate transaction, decline, maintenance, monthly, or annual fees. New accounts without established volume start at 15 percent, and rates adjust downward as sales grow under tiered thresholds.

Additional fee details called out by Epoch include:

• Setup fee: No setup fee to open an account. Merchants selling digital content from US or EU-based companies pay a Visa and Mastercard registration fee of 1,450 USD at initiation and annually thereafter.

• Chargebacks and credits: 12.50 USD per chargeback and 1.00 USD per credit.

• Reserves: No security deposit and no rolling reserve withheld.

Epoch also notes that its volume-based percentage can be reviewed and adjusted periodically as sales change, and that established businesses transferring volume can request a rate quote.

How The “All-Inclusive” Model Works

Epoch’s positioning is that one percentage covers hosted payment pages, PCI Level 1, global call center, 24/7 merchant and billing support, customizable and device-friendly forms, and integration resources, without a separate reserve.

Integration And Developer Experience

Epoch offers hosted, secure forms that you can style to match your brand while choosing how much customer data to collect. The documentation describes feature-rich APIs and the flexibility to adapt to different business models, from startups to large enterprises.

API materials are provided after you begin the signup process and are assigned a sales representative. This aligns with a gated approach where technical documentation is shared post-qualification.

Support And Operations

Support is available 24/7/365 for both merchants and end customers. The all-inclusive bundle highlighted by Epoch specifies worldwide call center coverage and always-on billing support. If you need help with payment page links after onboarding, the technical support team can test and verify setups.

Conclusion

Epoch provides a hosted-checkout approach that aims to simplify global payments by pairing a wide choice of methods with automatic localization and a single, volume-based fee. Its stated PCI Level 1 posture, payment facilitator status, and 24/7 support are designed to reduce operational overhead while enabling subscription, per-unit, one-time, and one-click billing models. If your priority is fast access to a broad set of local methods across regions while keeping card data off your servers, Epoch’s model is worth evaluating against your conversion targets, target countries, and tolerance for percentage-only pricing.