Coastal Acquiring Review

In this review, we’ll look at what businesses Coastal serves and what you can expect if you choose to work with this company.

• Payments
  • Chargebacks
• Additional Services
  • Gift and Loyalty Programs
  • Merchant Cash Advances
  • Security and Compliance
• Equipment
• Rates and Fees
  • Termination Fees
  • Sales Channels
• Coastal Acquiring Reviews

Payments

Coastal Acquiring specializes in ecommerce, MLM, and high-risk businesses, but can support many different business types. It helps you accept major credit and debit cards, as well as EBT cards and fleet cards such as Wright Express and Voyager. You’ll also benefit from quick access to your money thanks to next-day funding. Coastal has a chart showing when you'll receive funds based on the time you batch transactions. 

The company offers monthly discounting, meaning that they will deposit the full amount of your sales upfront and deduct processing fees in one lump sum at the end of the month. At CardFellow, we typically suggest monthly discounting, as it makes it easier to track your transactions.

Chargebacks

Many businesses express concern over chargebacks. Coastal Acquiring helps you fight chargebacks by informing you of the chargeback online, by fax, or by email, and offering one-on-one support with online dispute management.

Additional Services

In addition to payment processing, Coastal Acquiring offers gift cards, a loyalty program, and merchant cash advances for businesses that need working capital.

Gift and Loyalty Programs

Coastal Acquiring offers a gift card program with customizable or standard-designed electronic gift cards. A minimum order of 100 standard cards or 500 custom cards applies, with a sliding scale for cost per card, though there is no set up or artwork fee.

We’ve reached out to Coastal for clarification on the per-transaction fee and any monthly fees that apply to the gift card program.

In addition to the gift cards, Coastal offers a loyalty program in punch card-style or point-based systems. It includes an app for customers to check their loyalty rewards balances. We’ve reached out to Coastal for details on the cost of the program and will update this section when more information is available.

Merchant Cash Advances

For businesses that need access to funding, Coastal Acquiring offers merchant cash advances, or an advance on your future credit card sales. Funds are available in amounts from $10,000 to $100,000.

In order to qualify for a cash advance, you’ll need to be in business for 1 year and have a minimum of $10,000 in monthly credit card sales. There’s no personal credit score requirement.

Security and PCI Compliance

Every business that accepts credit cards must be PCI compliant. Coastal helps with that process. If you’re not compliant, you’ll receive a non-compliance fee, but Coastal will notify you of the fee in advance and provide you a chance to become compliant.

For security, Coastal supports modern anti-fraud tools, include 3D Secure.

Equipment

Coastal Acquiring prefers “processor-agnostic” terminals, meaning terminals that you can use with different processing companies. That’s typically what we suggest here at CardFellow as well, since it allows you the flexibility to change processors in the future if necessary.

Coastal suggests Verifone models for countertop machines, Poynt, NCR, and Talech for POS systems, and Authorize.Net and USAePAY for ecommerce gateways. The company also sells accessories, such as cash drawers, barcode scanners, and receipt printers so that you can create the right checkout setup for your needs.

One drawback is that Coastal leases credit card equipment – a practice we frown upon here at CardFellow, as it’s typically an expensive option. Coastal leases through the LADCO company.

Rates and Fees

Coastal Acquiring doesn’t require a specific pricing model, and can set you up on interchange plus, tiered, flat rate, and automatic surcharge pricing models. Not sure which is right for you? Check out our article Credit Card Processing Pricing Models to read more about the pros and cons.

Or, if you’d rather skip the reading and just see your pricing, use CardFellow’s free quote comparison tool to request a quote from Coastal Acquiring.

Note that in addition to the transaction costs of accepting payments, additional charges apply for optional extra services (such a the gift card program) and required services like data breach protection. Coastal currently charges $25/month for its data breach protection service.

Termination Fees

Coastal confirmed to CardFellow that it does not charge early termination fees. That’s great to hear, as we firmly believe that there’s no reason to charge a termination fee.

Sales Channels

Some companies, including Coastal Acquiring, use independent sales agents to sell services. Coastal requires agents to abide by company terms and pricing guidelines, and inside sales staff is given best practices to follow. This helps ensure consistency in the sales process.

Coastal Acquiring Reviews

Unfortunately, there’s not much to talk about for Coastal Acquiring reviews online, under that name or Cash, LLC. The company doesn’t include testimonials on its own website, nor does it have an official Facebook page. We also couldn’t turn up Google reviews, Yelp reviews, or a Better Business Bureau profile.

With so little go on, it’s important to hear from current or former clients. Help us (and other business owners!) by leaving a Coastal Acquiring review!