Wallester Review: Advantages and Disadvantages of Business Cards
Wallester offers free cards to manage business expenses.
The Estonian firm serves businesses throughout Europe, offering
solutions for companies of every scale.
Introduction to Wallester Business Cards
Various businesses require their staff to handle transactions on their behalf, given the nature of their everyday duties.
This could happen during business travels (for fuel, snacks, accommodation) or for purchasing goods and services essential for executing a specific job.
In such instances, the common practice is to use an advance reimbursement system: the employee makes the payment themselves, submits the receipts to the company, and the reimbursement is made through a bank transfer.
Nonetheless, this approach has its limitations, particularly in terms of the inconvenience involved in the reimbursement process.
To address this issue, Wallester provides a solution: business cards for partners, employees, and collaborators.
Features
Traditional cards are available in their physical form, while virtual cards, or dematerialized cards, are also accessible. Virtual cards are more affordable and, without the need for cash withdrawals, facilitate payments in stores via electronic wallets.
Each card is personalized, allowing for the customization of budgets and spending limits across different spending areas.
The account manager oversees all card transactions in real-time, reviews expense reports, and ensures that holders of Wallester cards have submitted their receipts to the system.
In this section, we will explore the features, costs, and fees associated with Wallester business cards.
Expense tracking and management features
Wallester provides a range of tools for tracking and managing business expenses that are incurred by partners, collaborators, and employees using company cards.
Business cards with personalized spending limits
Each package comes with a predetermined number of both virtual and physical cards. These cards can be activated through the Wallester web platform or the mobile application.
These cards are linked to the Wallester account, allowing for immediate debits. The account balance can be increased through bank transfers.
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Virtual cards are instantly activated without any charges and are ready for use.
They can be utilized for online transactions and in-store purchases through Point of Sale (POS). To make in-store purchases, simply add them to your digital wallet (such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Garmin Pay, etc.) and make payments using your smartphone or smartwatch, rather than a physical card.
These cards are accepted globally on the Visa network.
Wallester account managers have the ability to tailor each card within the set boundaries. This includes setting budgets, imposing spending caps on specific areas, and blocking certain transactions.
Beyond individual cards, it's also possible to create group cards for teams or specific spending categories. For instance, you could create cards for vehicle-related expenses, fuel cards, and more.
The platform offers the convenience of digitalizing receipts and monitoring transactions in real-time.
From the platform's dashboard, administrators can view all transactions in real-time, whether on their mobile or through the website. Transactions can be sorted to gain a better understanding of individual spending.
The platform's feature of digitalizing receipts is particularly noteworthy.
Each cardholder is given their own profile in the Wallester app. When a purchase is made, they can choose the transaction in the app and snap a photo of the receipt, which is then automatically uploaded to the platform.
For those with Premium and Platinum plans, a feature is available to set up automatic receipt upload reminders.
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Cancellation of advance payments
The system also facilitates the cancellation of payments made in advance by employees.
An employee, if they have an account set up in the Wallester app, can directly submit a cancellation request and attach the relevant receipt. After the request is approved, the administrator will process the cancellation through the same system.
Financial management and connection with external tools
Data related to expenses can be exported in various formats such as Excel, PDF, CSV, among others. Transactions can be sorted by time period, department, type, or dependents.
Thanks to its REST API, the process of integrating Wallester with other external tools is made easier. This integration ensures that all expenses are automatically recorded in the company's financial records.
Expense categories and fees
Wallester provides three pricing plans, one of which does not charge any upfront fees:
- Free
- Premium
- Plantinum
Each plan comes with a monthly fee (except for the Free plan) and includes a range of features or a certain number of free cards and/or services.
The plan without fees offers a more basic service but is still appealing to small businesses with staff.
The table below outlines the primary costs and fees associated with the service:
|
Wallester
Plans |
Free |
Premium |
Platinum |
|
Monthly
fee |
Free |
199 € |
999 € |
|
Activatable
virtual cards |
Up to 300 |
Up to 3,000 |
Up to 15,000 |
|
Activatable
physical cards |
Unlimited |
||
|
Sending
physical cards |
€5/card |
||
|
Cash
withdrawal in Europe |
2% (min. 2€) |
||
|
Cash
withdrawal outside Europe |
2 € + 2 % |
||
|
Exchange
rate surcharge |
2 % |
||
The Basic plan is completely free and lets you activate up to 300 digital cards, with the option to add more for a monthly fee of 35 cents per card.
The Basic plan offers a significantly larger number of digital cards compared to the Premium and Platinum plans, which have a higher monthly cost but are ideal for medium to large businesses needing to handle a large number of expenses and staff.
You can activate physical cards as needed, and there's no set cost, just a shipping fee.
Why are physical cards free? The reason is the fees for certain transactions. People who get a physical card likely need to withdraw cash: cash withdrawal transactions come with a 2% fee, with a minimum of €2 (for every €100, Wallester keeps €2, but still charges €2 for withdrawals below €100).
This fee structure applies to all Wallester plans.
When using the card abroad, or in a country that uses a different currency than the Euro or outside the EU, a 2% extra fee is added to the official Visa exchange rate.
This exchange rate is less favorable than what Revolut Business offers, a platform designed for international currency transactions.
In summary, cards are "free" because they don't have a set fee, but there are additional costs associated with running the service, which are quite high.
Wallester is a good option for small businesses that can manage with the Basic plan, which is free, but it's not recommended for businesses that need to make a lot of withdrawals or deal with a lot of international payments.
Reaching out to customer support
Customer support is accessible round the clock via various communication methods.
To get information before signing up as a client, you can fill out the contact form on the Wallester website, submit it, and expect a reply via email.
Clients, meanwhile, can use the live chat feature in the app and the personal section of the website.
However, details like wait times or the languages supported by customer service are not readily available.
Reviews from users
The credibility of a service is enhanced when it also takes into account user reviews, which are the perspectives of platform users on a daily basis.
Currently, there aren't enough reviews from Spanish users to make a definitive judgment on the true level of customer satisfaction.
While we've found mostly positive comments in the online reviews, these are often from anonymous users with just one review each.
In essence, the online reviews of the service cannot be fully trusted at this time.
How to set up a Wallester account
Any legal entity from the European Union or the United Kingdom is eligible to set up an account with Wallester. However, individuals are not permitted to do so.
The process to register is straightforward and involves four steps. Initially, you need to provide your email and mobile number, which will be used to send you links and temporary passwords for accessing the rest of the registration process.
Next, you'll be required to supply the personal details of the person opening the account (who will later become the account administrator), details about the company (including shareholders), and registration with the Chamber of Commerce.
After completing these steps and uploading the documents, you should expect to receive a confirmation of your account within a few business days.
Should there be any discrepancies in the information provided, the support team will request that you repeat some of the steps or submit additional documents.
Conclusion
Wallester is portrayed as a platform designed for managing business expenses, with a focus on providing business card services.
It leans towards digital cards, as it offers physical cards but these come with high fees for withdrawing cash.
Digital cards, however, enable transactions in stores due to their broad compatibility with various electronic wallets, including those from Apple, Google, Garmin, Samsung, FitBit, and more.
We believe that, in addition to the mentioned cash withdrawal benefits, Wallester offers a cost-efficient option for small businesses in need of employee or fuel cards that don't have ongoing fees.
Nonetheless, its capabilities should not be seen as a substitute for a bank account: the balance needs to be topped up as needed, similar to any other prepaid card.
|
Criterion |
Assessment |
|
Product |
Must improve |
|
Costs and
commissions |
Well |
|
Transparency
and registration |
Well |
|
Value
added services |
Well |
|
Customer
Service |
Must improve |
|
Final
assessment |
3.8 out of 5 |
Want to register? Go to Wallester.com
Not convinced? Check out other Business Expense Solutions
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