Best for
Standard to high risk businesses, including cannabis dispensaries.
Specializes in
Advantage Payment Processing seems to specialize in standard to high risk businesses including cannabis businesses.
Pricing Summary
Setup Fee: Undisclosed
Monthly Fee: Undisclosed
Swipe Rate: 2.69% + $0.19
Keyed-in Rate: 3.69% + $0.19
Early Termination Fee : Up To $495
Contract Terms:
Advantage Payment Processing (APP) is a reseller of Fiserv (formerly known as First Data). The company specializes in standard to high risk businesses including cannabis merchants.
APP was founded in 2009 as a reseller of First Data products. It is currently located in San Diego, California. Carrie Portugal was listed as the president of the company as recently as 2012.
Advantage Payment Processing (APP) is a reseller of First Data, now known as Fiserv. As a reseller of Fiserv, the company likely uses the Fiserv payment processing network rather than being a direct payment processor themselves.
Although APP has little information about their contract, they likely offer the Fiserv contract which is a three-year contract that includes an early termination fee as well as several other fees.
Advantage Payment Processing does provide its payment processing services to standard and high risk businesses, and specially mentions experience working with cannabis businesses.
The company is headquartered in San Diego, California, and has been in business since 2009.
APP is a small company with a low complaint profile. Customers seem happy with the pricing and the customer service they receive.
Head Quarters
San Diego, California
Year Founded
2006
CEO
Carrie Portugal - President
Employees
10
Merchant Provider Risk Tolerance
Hardware and Software
Advantage Payment Processing is a merchant account provider that will process all cashless payments. They also provide online gateways and virtual terminals. They do not offer any long-term equipment leases.
Value-Added Services
Advantage Payment Processing offers gift and loyalty card programs. It is unclear what other additional services are available from APP.
Supported Payment Types and Services
Advantage Payment Processing will process all cashless payments including checks, cards, or online payments.
They accept all credit cards including:
Discover
Mastercard
Visa
American Express
They also process checks, gift or loyalty cards, and online payments through apps such as Google Wallet or Apple Pay.
Discloses All Important Terms
No
Public Pricing Available
No
Advantage Payment Processing is not very transparent about its rates and fees, but it is a Fiserv reseller, so its rates and fees are likely to be very similar to Fiserv’s.
Fiserv offers variable processing rates. For merchants that process less than $50,000 a year the rates are 2.69% plus $0.19 for swiped rates and 3.69% plus $0.19 for keyed-in rates.
For companies that process over $50,000 a year the advertised rates are 2.29% plus $0.19 for swiped rates and 3.29% plus $0.19 for keyed-in rates.
Some of the fees included in a standard Fiserv contract include a $495 early termination fee and a monthly $19.95 PCI compliance fee.
There may also be other fees included that are not disclosed on the website, especially for customers that need virtual terminals or payment gateways.
Keep in mind that Advantage Payment Processing does provide services to high risk businesses, and some additional fees may apply to businesses that fall into that category.
Pricing Model
Tiered Pricing
Swiped Rate
2.69% + $0.19
Keyed-in Rate
3.69% + $0.19
Mobile Payment Rate
Virtual Terminal Rate
1.00% - 4.99%
Monthly Fee
Undisclosed
Payment Gateway Fee
Undisclosed
Batch Fee
Undisclosed
Early Termination Fee
Up To $495
PCI Compliance Fee
$19.95 Per Month
Equipment Lease Terms
N/A
Address Verification Service (AVS)
Application Fee
Account Setup Fee
Undisclosed
Gateway Setup Fee
Annual Fee
Monthly Minimum
Undisclosed
Statement Fee
Undisclosed
Advantage Payment Processing did not have clear details on its website about its contract terms, but it is likely the contract is similar to Fiserv.
This would be a three-year contract that includes an early termination fee of $495.
Advantage Payment Processing does not do any long-term equipment leases, so that would not be included in the contract.
Sometimes high risk businesses have stricter contract terms that don’t apply to standard-risk businesses. It is unclear if that is the case with Advantage Payment Processing, as they don’t specify on their website.
Contract Length
Variable
Early Termination Fee
Up To $495
Advantage Payment Processing offers live customer support. There are support numbers and emails available on the website.
Every customer is set up with a dedicated personal consultant to help them through any issues in setup, as well as to provide a personal support person if they encounter any problems during the length of their contract.
BBB Rating
Advantage Payment Processing has a non-accredited Better Business Bureau profile with no complaints or reviews associated with it. The Better Business Bureau has labeled them as NR (not rated).
Other Online Reviews
Advantage Payment Processing has no complaints online which indicates that most customers are happy with the service they receive.
APP has a positive review citing excellent customer service and response time as well as competitive pricing.
BBB
NR and is not BBB Accredited. (0 Reviews; 0 Complaints)
No Reviews
N/A
Yelp
5 Stars / 1 Review
Total Online Reviews
10+
Total Online Complaints
Lawsuits
None
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