Forte's Extra Costs

Forte's Extra Costs

Hello everyone in the Zoho community,

I wanted to share some information about Forte in case anyone wanted to look into them as a processor.  I currently use Stripe, but wanted to use Forte's ACH to pay vendors and take ACH payments for our products.  This is one of the only ACH processors that Zoho accepts.

They state their cost is $25/month plus their transaction fees for ACH.  However, after signing up and going through their approval process, I found this out they work with a PCI compliance service that charges you more.

See below for their exact wording form their acceptance email:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING CARD ACCEPTANCE AND PCI-DSS!!!!
You have been approved for Forte credit card processing services; as such, you are required to be compliant with the PCI DSS at all times to protect cardholder data If you do not comply, your sensitive data - and your customers' sensitive data - is at risk for compromise. You may also face fines levied by the card associations and processors for non-compliance, and fees for costs related to the breach, such as chargebacks and card reissuance fees.
The security of card processing is a top priority at Forte. We have partnered with Aperia Solutions to help launch our Forte PCI Compliance Program. In order to proceed with enrollment into the Forte PCI Compliance Program, please email your request to customerservice@forte.net. Be sure to include your Merchant Name and Merchant ID. The email must be sent from the primary contact email address provided on your application. You will be provided further instructions once you have been enrolled.
The monthly fee for this program is $7.99 and will be included on your regular monthly invoice. The cost of the program includes online instruction and assistance with registration and completion of the PCI online questionnaire, individualized response for any questions you have in completing the questionnaire, notification of PCI compliant status and ongoing monthly vulnerability scans of your systems.
Merchants who have not validated PCI compliance will be charged a PCI Non-Compliance fee of $29.99 per month until a PCI compliant status is achieved.
Merchants who have already validated PCI compliance by:
Use of another Qualified Security Accessor, or
Validating PCI compliance on their own;
must provide a copy of their Attestation or Certificate of Compliance to avoid a monthly PCI Non-Compliance fee. Merchants that validate PCI compliance in this manner will not be charged.



Just thought I'd share this with everyone in Zoho in case they are considering Forte, they do not tell you about their extra PCI compliance fees until after you are approved.

And I might add, they are not very helpful when you ask them about it.  It'd be super great if Zoho would just allow ACH through Stripe so things are more clear and customers are better supported.




      • Sticky Posts

      • Introducing Invoice Consolidation for Offline Subscriptions

        Hello Folks, Glad to announce the feature of Invoice Consolidation for Offline Subscriptions. If you are having multiple subscriptions for your customers, now, you can send a single consolidated invoice for all the Offline Subscriptions that are getting renewed on the same date. Advantage?  Customers will be receiving single invoice instead of multiple invoices upon renewal. Also reduces your efforts in follow-up with your customers for payment collections. For Example: If Customer has Subscription
      • New feature: Create back-dated subscriptions

        Hello from the Zoho Subscriptions team. :)   We’re happy to announce that today marks the launch of a much-awaited feature: creating back-dated subscriptions!   From here on out, whenever you create a new subscription with an activation date that is earlier than the present date, you’ll no longer get an error. Instead, you'll be creating a back-dated subscription. This means that the subscription started at that earlier point in time. The next billing date will be calculated automatically based on
      • Announcement Regarding Notification Emails

        Hello Everyone! This announcement is regarding the admin notification emails which you've been receiving from the email address "support@zohosubscriptions.com". From the 1st of October, 06:00 GMT, the emails with the following subjects will be sent from "no-reply@zohosubscriptions.com". Unable to send invoice for the profile - {profile_name} Unable to process auto payments. If you have set up any filters or workflow in your email account, please add "no-reply@zohosubscriptions.com” and  “support@zohosubscriptions.com”
      • Zoho Subscriptions plugin for WordPress

        Zoho Subscriptions plugin for WordPress allows you to easily embed your plan specific checkout page in an iframe with just a few mouse clicks and without a single line of code. How can WordPress Zoho Subscriptions Plugin boost your productivity? It's now easier to embed Zoho Subscriptions checkout page in your WordPress site. Forget the old method of logging in to Zoho Subscriptions, copying a URL and scripting to make adjustments. All this can be done automatically through this plugin. A great time
      • Indian GST organisation Migration Guide

        With respect to the new GST regime releasing on July 1, 2017in India, Zoho Subscriptions Indian edition is also gearing up to make your business GST Ready. This article focuses on how to get your existing organisation in Zoho Subscriptions to migrate to the new GST regime.    Note:  Any organisation created on or after July 1, 2017 will already be GST ready. You wouldn't have to migrate your organisation. Migrating your existing organisation to support GST To migrate your existing organisation to

        • Recent Topics

        • Bug: OAuth 2.0 State Parameter fails with Pipe Delimiters (RFC 6749 Non-Compliance)

          I've discovered a bug in how Zoho's API Console handles the OAuth 2.0 authorization flow when the state parameter contains pipe characters (|), and I'm hoping the Zoho team can address this in a future update. The Issue Zoho's OAuth 2.0 implementation
        • Zobot with Plugs

          Hello, I am having a problem with Zobot using Plugs. Here is my current flow: When I run the flow, I should immediately see the messages from the initial cards (Send Message cards), then after running the plug, and finally, see the messages after the
        • Print a document from Zoho Writer via Zoho Creator

          If i use the code below i can get writer to create a new document or email it to me but i want to be able to print it directly from the browser and not have to send it via email and then print. Below is the code im using. Attached options form zoho writer
        • Is it possible to use HTML formatting in SMS messages sent from Zoho?

          Hi everyone, I have a question regarding sending SMS from Zoho When we send emails from Zoho, we can include HTML code to format the message (like adding links, styling, etc.). Is it possible to do something similar when sending SMS messages through Zoho
        • Zoho Sign 2025–2026: What's new and what's next

          Hello! Every year at Zoho Sign, we work hard to make document signing and agreement execution easy for all users. This year we sat down with our head of product, Mr. Subramanian Thayumanasamy, to discuss what we delivered in 2025 and our goals for 2026.
        • Training for How can i Operate the Software Features

          need to Help for Training of the ZOHO Billing Software
        • Automating Vendor Contract Management between Zoho Contracts and Zoho Books using Zoho Flow

          Managing vendor agreements across procurement and finance systems often requires manually downloading executed contracts and attaching them to vendor records. This can become time-consuming and difficult to manage when dealing with a large number of contracts.
        • Problem applying batch operation error keeps looping that error

          Problem applying batch operation error keeps looping that error an wont login
        • Shared Email Sending Duplicate Copies of Emails

          Hi there, We recently have moved our info@ email to Team Inbox to trial. We set this channel up using the Microsoft setup which works fine and have 3 users. I am wanting to know: 1. When I send a new email, it will create a copy of that email and send
        • merhaba

          merhaba sosyal medya paketimiz mevcut ama yorumları göremiyoruz ve o yüzden cevap veremiyoruz destek rica ediyoruz.
        • Teaminbox not working

          We couldn't send or receive any mail within the team inbox. Displaying error 'Unable to process this request.'
        • Related lists New option in missing

          hi I have created quite a few modules and added as related lists to my main module. Some have new, some dont I can not see why?
        • Detailed list of scoring rules in Zoho CRM

          Good morning Zoho community, warm greetings The reason for my message today is that I have a problem with my CRM, which I will explain below: Our organization has scoring rules designed to rate our potential customers or leads in the application based
        • Cliq and ToDo integrations?

          I'm a bit surprised not to find any way to open a Cliq chat for the current thread, or to create a Zoho Mail ToDo from a thread. Are these on the roadmap?
        • Reply-to names are mangled

          Hello, I'm seeing an odd behavior in replies. Steps to reproduce: 1. Click reply to an email from "John Doe <doe.john@example.com> in TeamInbox Expected outcome: TO field pre-filled with "John Doe <doe.john@example.com>" Actual outcome: TO field pre-filled
        • I CANT UPGRADE MY FREE ACCOUNT

          I TRY TO UPGRADE MY FREE ACCOUNT AND I COULD NOT UPGRADE IT CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHY? AND I HAVE THE MONEY SO.
        • Level up your ASO game with tags & categories in store reviews

          Introducing tags and categories in Apptics' store reviews Dear Apptics community, If your app is listed on the Play Store or App Store, you already know how important store reviews and ratings are. They’re one of the most direct signals of user sentiment
        • Including attachments with estimates

          How can attachments be included when an estimate is sent/emailed and when downloaded as a .pdf? Generally speaking, attachments should be included as part of an estimate package. Ultimately, this is also true for work orders and invoices.
        • Adding VENDOR SKU to PURCHASE ORDERS

          how can we add the Vendor SKU when issuing a Purchase Order , so the PO shows the Supplier SKU and our own Internal SKU , which is what we want to receive into the system .
        • Possible to freely prompt/query CRM data using Zia?

          Is it possible to prompt Zia to query on any information stored in the CRM, especially on the data stored in custom text fields? My use case is the people in my organisation have entered lots of text in custom text fields to capture information from an
        • Restrict employees to take only one day holiday from a multi-day festival holiday

          Hi everyone, I have a requirement related to Optional/Festival Holidays in Zoho People. For example, in the month of May there are three optional holiday dates: May 11, May 12, and May 13. Employees can choose one of these days as their optional holiday.
        • Cannot modify colours in invoice email template

          I have tried switching browsers... but I cannot change the (pretty horrible) default colours in the preset email when sending an invoice... the blue banner, red outstanding total and the bright green button... I can change other things but not the colours?
        • Cannot find zpuid for Zoho Projects user

          I'm using the Zoho Projects v3 API to create a task. The task is created successfully, but in order to assign the task owner, the "Create a Task" API also requires the zpuid of the task owner. Unfortunately I cannot find any user-related API calls that
        • Print a document from Zoho Writer via Zoho Creator

          If i use the code below i can get writer to create a new document or email it to me but i want to be able to print it directly from the browser and not have to send it via email and then print. Below is the code im using. Attached options form zoho writer
        • Allow styling for specific Subform fields in Zoho Creator

          Sometimes in forms we need to visually highlight a specific field inside a Subform (for example Sanctioned Amount, Approved Value, Critical Fields, etc.) so that users immediately notice it while entering data. Currently there is no direct UI option to
        • Career site URL - Suggestion to modify URL of non-english job posting

          Hi, I would like to suggest making a few modification to career sites that are not in english. Currently, the URL are a mix of different languages and are very long. It makes for very unprofessional looking URLs... Here is an example of one of our URL
        • 3/18 オンライン勉強会のお知らせ Zoho ワークアウト (無料)

          ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 3月開催のZoho ワークアウトの開催が決定しましたのでご案内します。 今回はZoomにて、オンライン開催します。 ▶︎参加登録はこちら(無料) https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/BoNTN7zYR8OvOPGShqBY0A ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは? Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目指すイベントです。
        • New 2026 Application Themes

          Love the new themes - shame you can't get a little more granular with the colours, ie 3 different colours so one for the dropdown menu background. Also, I did have our logo above the application name but it appears you can't change logo placement position
        • Placeholder format in Number field does not reflect Max Digits configuration

          When the Max Digits (Maximum digits of number) property is set to a smaller value (for example, 2 digits), the placeholder in the input field still displays a 7-digit format (#######). The same behavior can also be observed in Decimal and Currency field
        • How does SKU work when selling products in parts in Zoho Inventory

          Hello everyone, Zoho Inventory does not understand the physical cutting of the piece.. It only tracks quantities of the unit (like feet ). So when you sell part of an item, the system simply reduces quantity for that SKU. Assume that i have a 50 ft long
        • Ability to Attach Record-Specific Files Automatically in Workflow Email Templates

          Currently in Zoho CRM, email templates allow attachments to be added, but these attachments are static and remain the same for every recipient. There is no straightforward option to automatically attach a file that is stored within the specific CRM record
        • CRM Cadences - working timesThe Friday afternoon? The next Monday morning? Not at all?

          I think I’m writing saying that cadence emails are only sent during the organisations set working hours in CRM. So if a particular email is set to send for example in three days and that lands on a Sunday (when working hours are not operational) when
        • CRM Cadences - working times

          I think I’m right in saying that cadence emails are only sent during the organisations set working hours in CRM. So if a particular email is set to send for example in three days and that lands on a Sunday (when working hours are not operational) when
        • Push Notification for New Bookings in Zoho Bookings App

          when a someone schedules an appointment through the booking page, is there any option to receive a push notification in the mobile app?
        • Trying to access records in a custom module in Zoho Desk and not having luck

          I've built a custom module in Zoho Desk and am using a custom function to query the records in the module and I'm not having any luck. The only way I have found to retreive a record is by getting it by its recordID (the long zoho assigned one). The function
        • Intergrating multi location Square account with Zoho Books

          Hi, I have one Square account but has multiple locations. I would like to integrate that account and show aggregated sales in zoho books. How can I do that? thanks.
        • Add the same FROM email to multiple department

          Hi, We have several agents who work with multiple departments and we'd like to be able to select their names on the FROM field (sender), but apparently it's not possible to add a FROM address to multiple departments. Is there any way around this? Thanks.
        • Zoho Desk View Open Tickets and Open Shared Tickets

          Hi, I would like to create a custom view so that an agent can view all the open tickets he has access to, including the shared tickets created by a different department. Currently my team has to swich between two views (Open Tickets and Shared Open Tickets).
        • Clone Banking Transaction

          Why is there no option to CLONE a Transaction in the Banking module?? I often clone Expenses (for similar expense transactions each month) so I would also like to clone Income transactions. But there is no option in Banking to clone an existing Income
        • Organization wide Account and Contacts Visibility/Sharing Capabilities?

          Has anyone figured out a way to make visibility or sharing of Accounts and Contacts to be available across the entire organization without having to have every individual user edit their Sharing permissions? For our sales folks they need to be able to
        • Next Page