by Ben Dwyer Despite being a fairly new company, you may have come across Fattmerchant already. Fattmerchant is one of the companies offering the trendy “subscription” style flat rate processing. With a subscription pricing model, you won’t pay a percentage markup on your sales volume. In this Fattmerchant review and profile, we’ll provide more information on the subscription pricing model in general as well as details about Fattmerchant’s rates and fees, customer reviews, services, and more.
- History
- What is subscription flat rate pricing? Is it really the best pricing model?
- What methods can I use to take cards with Fattmerchant?
- Fattmerchant Platform
- Security
- Fattmerchant Rates and Fees
- Fattmerchant Reviews
History
Fattmerchant (also known as Sunshine Payment Services) was founded in 2014 in Orlando, Florida, making them a relative newcomer to the payments industry. The company has gained attention quickly due to its 0% markup subscription pricing model. Fattmerchant is spelled with two T’s in ‘fatt’ to stand for Fast Affordable Transaction Technology.
Fattmerchant processes through NPC/Vantiv and Sunshine Payment Services, LLC is a registered ISO/MSP of Fifth Third Bank.
What is subscription flat rate pricing? Is it really the best pricing model?
Subscription flat rate pricing is similar to interchange plus pricing in that the processor passes the costs of interchange and assessments separate from its markup. Where the two differ is in how the markup is calculated. With interchange plus, processors often use a percentage of volume and a per-transaction fee. A monthly fee may also apply. With subscription flat rate pricing, there is no percentage of volume markup. The processor makes money solely from a per-transaction fee and a monthly or annual subscription fee. Whether it’s the “best” pricing model depends on the specifics of your business. In many cases, the 0% markup looks appealing but isn’t actually as beneficial as a competitive interchange plus solution.
A comment posted by Fattmerchant on its Web site has created some confusion about whether a processor charges a markup when billing via the subscription pricing model. Despite the implication of Fattmerchant’s statement, a processor does charge a markup when billing a business using a subscription pricing model.
Note that here at CardFellow, processors in our marketplace can quote using either interchange plus or subscription flat rate processing.
What methods can I use to take cards with Fattmerchant?
Fattmerchant offers all of the commonly used payment methods, including in-store point of sale processing, e-commerce card acceptance, virtual terminal processing for mail or phone orders, and mobile processing. The company guarantees next-day funding for all services. You can accept major credit and debit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. You may also be able to accept checks.
Point of Sale
For traditional in-store payment processing, Fattmerchant can support small countertop credit card terminals (including EMV-capable equipment) or full point-of-sale systems. Equipment features vary, but may include the ability to accept EBT and gift cards in addition to credit and debit, integrated PIN pads, thermal printers, and more. If you have existing equipment you would like to use, Fattmerchant may be able to reprogram it at no additional charge.
E-commerce
If you need to accept credit card payments online through your website, Fattmerchant offers an e-commerce solution through Authorize.Net. The e-commerce solution offers customizable forms, the ability to accept coupons, and the choice to set up recurring billing such as for subscriptions or monthly “clubs” of products. Fattmerchant helps businesses set up their Authorize.Net account in order to take advantage of all of the popular gateway features needed for smooth, secure e-commerce transactions.
Virtual Terminal
For businesses that accept payment by phone or mail, or prefer to use their existing computer with internet connection to take credit and debit card payments, Fattmerchant offers a virtual terminal though NPC Secure. As an online system, there is no software to install, and businesses can easily accept cards and checks, set up recurring billing, and run reports. Additionally, NPC Secure is compatible with QuickBooks for easy business management.
Mobile Processing
Businesses who accept payments on the go or in non-traditional locations outside of a storefront may benefit from Fattmerchant’s mobile processing option. The NPC Mobile card reader can be attached to many existing mobile devices to turn them into a handheld terminal in almost any location. The NPC Mobile reader works with both iPhone and Android operating systems and is supported my all major wireless carriers. With mobile processing, businesses can accept payments, apply discounts, add tax or tips, issue returns or process refunds, and view reports. Additionally, security is assured with encryption technology that meets PCI standards.
Mobile processing is highly recommended for businesses who frequently accept payments on the road, such as caterers, landscapers, artists, tradeshow sellers, plumbers, and more.
Fattmerchant Platform
In spring 2017, Fattmerchant announced a new reporting dashboard to provide easy access to reports and key metrics to help you make better business decisions. The dashboard can be accessed through smartphones in addition to tablets, giving you the ability to check on information from anywhere.
The platform is designed to bring information into one central location so that you don’t need to search for the details you need. You’ll be able to view transaction summaries, sales data by time period, data from multiple locations, rate of growth and customer retention, and weekly reports. You can also receive a weekly ”big-picture” summary of data by email, as in the example screenshot below.
In addition to the comprehensive analytics aspect, the platform also provides access to the Fattmerchant marketplace, where you can do things like order reciept paper, enable ACH transfers, and manage PCI compliance.
Security
Fattmerchant boasts PCI compliant solutions and gateways, including tokenization as part of the e-commerce platform offering. The mobile solution features an encrypting card reader to help ensure safe transactions for businesses and customers.
Fattmerchant Rates and Fees
As previously mentioned, Fattmerchant offers a subscription model for pricing, meaning that businesses pay interchange and assessments at cost, and pay Fattmerchant a monthly fee and a per-transaction fee. Fattmerchant boasts that they don’t have additional fees, including statement, PCI compliance, annual, contract, batch, or IRS fees.
Fattmerchant offers several plans, depending on your needs and size.
As you can see from the screenshot above, plans are split into categories: terminal, shopping cart, virtual terminal, mobile, integrations, and API. Within each category are basic and enterprise subscriptions. If you process more than $1 million/annually, you’ll need to choose the enterprise level package, which starts at $199/month. The pricing noted below is for the basic subscriptions for businesses processing less than $1 million/year.
- The Terminal subscription, designed for businesses using an EMV chip terminal, costs $99/month + 8 cents per transaction.
- The Shopping Cart subscription, deisgned for businesses using a gateway for online processing, costs $99/month + 15 cents per transaction.
- The Virtual Terminal subscription, designed for businesses taking cards over the phone or by mail, costs $99/month + 15 cents per transaction.
- The Mobile subscription, designed for businesses using a smartphone or tablet with a mobile reader, costs $99/month + 8 cents per transaction.
These fees are in addition to the costs of interchange and assessments.
To get an accurate, fully-disclosed quote for your specific business, request one through CardFellow. Fattmerchant will respond to your request with pricing information. If you aren’t already a CardFellow user, you can sign up for free.
Fattmerchant offers month to month contracts with no early termination fees. The company promises that businesses are not locked into lengthy service terms with Fattmerchant.
EMV Non-Compliance Fees
Since Fattmerchant processes through NPC, you may be subject to an EMV non-compliance fee if you don’t have and use EMV capable equipment. Read more about EMV non-compliance fees.
Fattmerchant Reviews
Fattmerchant was founded in 2014, and as such doesn’t have a lot of information (such as reviews or complaints) available online yet. Fattmerchant was accredited with the Better Business Bureau in August of 2015 and currently has an A+ rating, the highest available. As of January 2016, there are no complaints against Fattmerchant lodged with the BBB and the company doesn’t have any reviews on either Yelp or Ripoff Report.
Fattmerchant doesn’t provide testimonials or awards on their website. Fattmerchant does have some positive reviews on their Facebook page, but not all reviews indicate that the reviewer themselves used Fattmerchant, instead mentioning that they’ve referred clients to Fattmerchant, or wishing them luck. Some reviewers praise the company’s transparency and cost savings.
