Flagship Merchant Services says that it offers custom pricing based on your business and your needs. Unfortunately, that means there is no pricing listed on its site. You have to contact a salesperson to find out pricing, and at that point, they might begin trying to sell you on Flagship.

That said, they offer both tiered and interchange-plus pricing. Tiered is more expensive, and there’s a good chance Flagship will push you towards it. Since there’s no defined pricing, you can likely negotiate a bit and cut your bill if you opt to work with Flagship.

Additionally, you’ll have to pay the following fees.

• Gateway fee: $7.95 per month to use Authorize.net and NMI.
• Monthly account fee: Varies, generally falls around $7.95 per month.
• Monthly minimum: In most cases, you’ll face a $25 monthly minimum in your contract.
• PCI compliance fee: $9.95/month
• PCI non-compliance fee: $19.95 per month. Avoid by completing Flagship’s PCI assessment survey.

Also, you can rest assured that there are none of the following types of fees:

• Application fees
• Setup fees
• Early termination fees

Mergers and acquisitions seem to be a common occurrence in the credit card processing industry. One example is Flagship Merchant Services.

Flagship Merchant Services is a merchant services provider founded in 2001 and headquartered in Charlestown, MA. About 11 years later, processing giant Paysafe acquired Flagship. Paysafe is also known for merging companies like Payment Depot and Leaders Merchant Services into its organization.

Since then, Flagship has served as a reseller for PaySafe’s services. That said, they have their own in-house customer service team for handling their clients’ accounts.

So is Flagship worth a shot? Learn more about this payment processing company in our Flagship review below.

*NEW-  Unique Cash Discount Program*

• Zero Cost Processing option with our compliant Cash Discount Program

• 0% Processing rates through unique Cash Discount Program

Value Proposition for Business Owners:

Why cut payment processing companies in your profit, when you can pass on the cost to your customers. Boost your bottom line with our Cash Discount.

• Quick and easy signage to place at your business entrance and checkout area.

• Out-of-the-box payment processing equipment with cash discount software preloaded.

How does it work?

Cash Discount pricing lets business owners enjoy the same profit margins on cash payments and non-cash payments by including processing fees into the price of sales made by customers paying by credit card. Customers who pay with cash, as opposed to a credit card, receive a discounted price. With their Cash Discount Program, Flagship essentially offers businesses a 0% payment processing option and the opportunity to increase overall revenues.

***Special Promos***

Meet-or-Beat Processing Rate or Receive a Free Gift Card. Guaranteed

• Flagship will send you a $200 AMEX GIFT CARD if they do not provide the lowest total processing cost

Business Management Portal

Flagship Merchant Services provides its customers with a business management portal called iAccess 3.0. In your business management portal, you can keep up with your account activity, view reporting and analytics, access support resources, and more. Flagship Merchant Services offers two versions depending on your budget: Lite (the lower-priced option) and Essentials (the higher-priced option).

Digital Loyalty Program Creation

Loyalty programs let you reward your best customers and encourage more sales. Customers can save money or earn rewards by shopping with you enough.

Flagship uses a solution called Pirq that allows you to easily create and manage a digital loyalty program. Your customers all get a little card they can scan with each purchase and earn “punches” — kind of like a digital punch card.

You can also use the customer data you collect through this program to improve your marketing and segment your customers. For example, you can send your best customers with special discounts.

Gift Cards

Some research has shown that gift cards can boost sales even beyond the amount of a gift card. That means a $25 gift card might make a customer spend $30. This is likely because the customer gets the gift card (which is essentially free money), loves the store, then spends more than the gift card.

Also, some gift cards are never redeemed, for better or worse. This can enhance cash flows, as you earn gift card revenue without an accompanying sale. Plus, you can offer gift cards for returns and keep a tighter hold on your cash.

Flagship gives its clients the capability to set up their own gift card programs. Businesses can offer reloadable gift cards with flexible redemption options. You can add your branding and custom design to these cards, and Flagship also supports gift card reporting and analytics.

Business Funding/Financing

Need some additional business financing, but you don’t have time to go the traditional loan route? A merchant cash advance can serve you well when used right.

Flagship Merchant Services offers its customers merchant cash advances of up to $150,000, depending on your current and predicted future sales. You can then use this funding for a variety of purposes, from boosting working capital to make further investments in your business.

Flagship sells a variety of hardware you might need to run your business, including PoS systems, smart terminals, EMV and NFC devices, and wireless credit card processing. Many of these are Clover devices, which are popular among credit card processors. When you sign up, you get one free basic PoS terminal, as well as one free PoS reprogramming.

Flagship itself is cloud-based, so you can use it on any device that you have an Internet connection with. It uses the PaySafe mobile app so you can use your Google or Apple phone/tablet to accept payments on the go.

Flagship uses NMI Payments to offer in-house payment gateways. You can also obtain an external gateway, thanks to Authorize.net. Other than those, there isn’t much information about whether Flagship integrates with business software for other areas, such as accounting.

Flagship Merchant Services is generally fairly easy to set up and use. Plus, having access to a range of hardware devices does make it easier to get the right stuff for your business needs. Flagship has 24/7 customer service available by phone if you have any questions about using the service.