Flagship Review

COMPLETE REVIEW

The company offers a comprehensive list of payment processing solutions:

• merchant accounts (set up through iPayment and sometimes First Data)

• payment gateway/virtual terminal (the company uses Authorise.Net)

• free credit card terminal when you sign up

• POS solutions (they offer Banq POS and Clover)

• mobile processing (through the MobilePay app and card reader; the app is compatible with both iOS and Android)

When it specifically comes to their POS solutions, Flagship offers the Banq POS and Clover Suite.

Banq POS

Banq is an iPayment product. It is an iPad based app, but it can also be used with an iPhone. It is best suited for small or medium businesses. The app lets you connect with hardware such as scanners, drawers and receipt printers and it is EMV compatible (pin and chip technology), which ensures a higher security. It also comes with useful features that let you easily connect with your clients: loyalty programs, text message and email marketing, etc.

Other useful features: Banq comes with an easy implementation. It accepts any form of payment, it has an unlimited number of products and customers, it offers real time reporting (product sales, staff performance and customer retention reports), it has built in CRM (customer relationship management), multi-languages.

Banq comes with four packages: Basic, Small, Medium and Large. The fees are not specified on their website. All packages include a full feature set, tech support, preferred credit card rates and 1 employee (for the Basic plan), 3 employees (for Small), 5 (for Medium) and 35 (for the Large plan).

Clover Suite

Clover offers POS solutions in 4 available options: the Clover Station, Clover mini, Clover Mobile and Clover Go.

The Clover Station is an all-in-one POS system that lets you access more than 200 useful apps suitable for any type of business. Important features: it accepts EMV and NFC payments, it offers full encryption and tokenization, which is significant in terms of security, it tracks, stores and manages sales and customer information, etc.

Clover Mini has a 7 inch touchscreen, an integrated thermal printer and a front camera that can be used as a barecode scanner. It comes with Wi Fi , 3G or 4G connectivity.

Clover Mobile is a small, portable POS that can fit in your palm. It comes with a built in barecode scanner, EMV and NFC payment acceptance, tokenized encryption and digital signature, data and reporting that let you track your sales online.

Clover Go is the smallest POS solution offered by Clover. It is a smartphone-ready system, compatible with iOS or Android smartphones and tablets/iPads. It comes with EMV payment acceptance and can be used anywhere as long as there is a WiFi or cell connection available.

One annoying drawback in Flagship Merchant Services is the fact that the rates and fees are not available on their website. All you can find out by visiting their page is a paragraph explaining that their fees are 'tailored to the needs of each particular type of merchant'. You are thus invited to give them a call in order to learn more about their pricing.

Flagship offers month to month services and doesn't require a long-time contract, which is a good news given the fact that they are not the most transparent providers on the market. The monthly fee is reasonable and it is somewhere below $8. Your account set up takes about 24 hours. They don't charge you if you want to cancel your account, but there were customers who complained that the process was a bit difficult.