Flagship Merchant Services Review

Flagship Merchant Services is a transaction processing company headquartered in Charlestown, Massachusetts.  The company has been in the industry since 2001.

In 2012, Flagship was acquired by iPayment as a subsidiary. Then in 2018, iPayment was acquired by Paysafe Group. This means that Flagship is now a part of Paysafe Group, a leading merchant account provider. According to Flagship, they provide merchant solutions to over 25,000 businesses.

In this article, I am going to take you everything you should know about Flagship and how to determine whether it’s the best merchant service provider for your business.

Before we get into Flagship review, let’s define a merchant service provider.

What are Merchant Services?

As a merchant service provider, Flagship helps businesses to accept credit and debit card payments. This means Flagship will provide you with the software and hardware required to accept these payments.

If you are not aware, credit cards are the most used form of payment in the US, with over 70 million Americans having credit cards. A merchant service provider like Flagship enables you to safely process payments made by credit cards.

Flagship Product and Services

Flagship offers three processing solutions:

• Instore

• Online

• Mobile

Let’s now go through each of them and what they entail.

Instore

For physical businesses like a restaurant, Flagship provides you with the necessary technology, software, and hardware to accept all major credit cards.

After opening a merchant account with them, Flagship will provide you with either Verifone VX 520 credit card terminal or Clover POS Terminal.

The Clover POS System Includes:

Clover Flex. This is a battery-powered hand-held device that accepts a wide range of cards including contactless, swipe, PIN entry, and chip cards. You can also use this device to capture signatures and opt-in for email or text receipts.

Clover Station. This is an all-in-one POS system. Apart from accepting, this system can also be used to track inventory, manage employees, among others.

Clover Mini. A small countertop POS system

Clover Mobile. A portable and travel-friendly POS system

Clover Go. A POS for smartphones.

Online businesses - E-commerce

If you have an e-commerce Flagship will provide you with the resources needed to accept credit card payments through your e-commerce store. Flagship will offer you various hardware and tools that will help you accept payments conveniently and securely.

Apart from accepting all major credit cards, the company mitigates fraud by giving you different defensive tools like address verification and card verification value.

First, you’ll get hooked to a payment gateway. This software will enable you to safely and securely accept payments right on your website. The software is DSS/PCI compliant and has a fraud detection capability.

With Flagship’s API, you can tailor your checkout the way you want, and even integrate it with the shopping cart. If you wish, you can embed an HTML script onto your e-commerce website to integrate the “Donate” or “Buy Now” buttons. You’ll also be provided with a central console through which you can manage and track your account and sales.

Phone Mail Order

Flagship also facilitates businesses to accept payments through the mail and over the phone. After setting up a merchant account with them, you will get a virtual terminal that you will use to enter the credit card information manually.

This system also features a built-in barcode scanner that lets you scan QR codes and barcodes. The iPayment MobilePay Swipe also lets business owners manage inventory and accept chip cards

Pricing and Fees

Flagship offers tailored pricing, which mainly depends on sales volume, among other factors. With its three-tier pricing model, some transactions will qualify for high rates and others for low rates. Transactions that attract high rates include high-reward or corporate cards, the former of which is the most popular.

Flagship Merchant Services also offers interchange-plus plans. Even though these plans are quite predictable, you need to find out the full information on what you’ll be expected to pay because the rates vary depending on card type and the card provider. From Flagship’s website, the lowest rate is 0.38% plus $0.19 for every transaction. However, those are not the exact figures that will end up in your contract. There is also a PCI compliance fee of $99 per year.

One thing you need to consider carefully is that Flagship has some plans in which it claims to offer “free” equipment. This could be a form of leasing in disguise. Experts warn against leasing credit card processing equipment because the amount you’ll end up paying will be more than what you could pay if you bought the equipment in cash. Again, easing would mean an early cancellation fee will be applicable.

It’s worth stressing that you should read the content of the contract carefully to know what you are getting into. In case the equipment is on a lease, the company should provide you with a separate contract specifically for the lease. Flagship claims it doesn’t charge a cancellation fee, but you need to have that expressly stated in a contract.

As stated before, Flagship resells First Data-owned Clover credit processing equipment. First Data performs many transactions for several Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), but Clover equipment is not compatible with some competing processors. So, you have to carefully check hardware compatibility before you commit.

If you are an online merchant, you can benefit from Quiq, an e-commerce offering from Flagship. This is an API that integrates a shopping cart with third-party software. You can also opt for Fagship’s mobile credit card processing which allows you to transact wherever you are.

What we like

Flagship is a great merchant services provider with exceptional software and hardware that have helped thousands of businesses with their debit and credit payments. They also offer additional financial products and services that help businesses boost their revenues.

Some of the things we like about Flagship include:

Merchant Cash Advance

If you sign up for Flagship services, you can get a merchant cash advance (MCA) of up to $150k. The company will also expedite your approval so that the moment you log into the application, you’ll have instant access to the funds within 24 hours. You can use the advance for any business-related need including expansion, growth, and team expenses.

However, it’s worth mentioning that the cash will be advanced to you as a lump sum, but you’ll be charged a fee and some amount will be deducted from your daily sales. While this can help you in many ways, the charges associated with it can harm your cash flow. So, before you take the MCA make sure you have a good plan for it and are ready for the cuts.

Gift Cards

Flagship allows you to order branded or pre-made gift cards through their system. These gift cards can help you increase your revenues by developing customer loyalty and boosting your brand identity.

Loyalty Program

Flagship offers a loyalty program app called Pirq. Your customers can download this app onto their phones to help them track their services. When using this app, they’ll earn rewards. Pirq will also gather information about the spending behaviors of your customers. This data is important for your marketing campaigns because, once you understand your customer behavior, you can use Pirq’s marketing tools to reach them with targeted rewards and materials.

Business Management Portal

Flagship offers a business management portal through its iAccess technology. This tool can help you track your monthly, weekly, or daily credit card transactions. It also allows you to access self-support, view important performance analytics, and access statements digitally. This tool has a host of other important business management tools.

What could be better

Generally, Flagship is a great merchant provider. But just like all other credit processing companies, it has a few shortfalls. For example, its pricing model needs some improvement. The tiered pricing model is quite unpredictable, meaning you’ll never get to easily know what you need to pay beforehand.

Secondly,  they've not listed the prices of their equipment. This will also make it hard for you to know how much you’ll pay for the equipment.

Wrapping up

Flagship Merchant Services is among the best merchant service providers in the market today, despite the negative feedback it has received from some users. Most users complain that the information about fees is not available upfront. That’s why you need to take your tie to find out what you’ll be required to pay before signing up. The platform has excellent hardware, software, and tools, explaining why it has many satisfied clients.