Review of Phone Swipe, by North American Bancard (NAB),  a proprietary mobile payment application for merchants using NAB merchant services.

FEATURES:

• Application supports both cash and credit cards
• Works on Android and Apple iPad, iPhone, Blackberry
• Tax, tip, and discount options
• Email or print receipts
• Add inventory including photos
• Receipts can be printed directly though AirPrint-enabled printers or Star thermal printers (Apple only) or emailed
• Can be connected to a compatible cash drawer
• Multiple readers can be linked to one merchant account

PRICING:

• Swipe 2.69% flat rate
• keyed 3.49% plus $.19 per transaction.
• reader is free.
• no monthly fees
• The fine print: There are a ton of rules in the fine print. “Transactions that do not clear as priced are subject to MID or non-qualified surcharges (MID/NQS) that are billed back to you on your monthly statement.” Merchants will likely pay more than the quoted 2.69% on at least half of their transactions.

PROS:

• Good video tutorials
• See features

CONS:

• Merchant cannot search history by cardholder name.
• Does nothing to help merchants qualify for better rates; high penalties if you don’t.
• Mobile requires NAB merchant account; if you change processors, the entire operation is impacted
• NAB merchant account is typically a 3 year agreement with early termination penalties.

North American Bancard is a registered Independent Sales Organization/Merchant Service Provider for HSBC Bank USA, National Association, Buffalo, NY.

EDITOR SPEEDY COMMENTS:

• I like some of the functionality of this device. If you’re already an NAB user, give it a try.
• The distinguishing functionality of this app is the cash drawer. If you have limited space, and special needs, then this may be a solution. Note, it has very limited functions so would only be viable for very small businesses.
• If you’re not an existing customer, then buyer beware. Merchants change processors on average every 2-3 years. It may be very disruptive to business operations when you change processors later since the mobile app is proprietary to North American Bancard. 
• There are other options for mobile payments, including a different set of merchant benefits without tying you to specific processor.

DISCLAIMER: This review uses publicly available information posted on the product web site as of 5/25/2012. The review does not include the processor, just the product.

Following the Transfirst review with Transaction Express Gateway,  this article shows a direct comparison of two gateways. Because CenPOS is more than a gateway, and is a complete cloud payment processing platform, the differences are significant when you dig in beyond the surface of accepting credit cards.

When you first look at the chart below, it seems that the gateways are very similar. If you think all gateways are alike, you’re wrong.

For example, if your company is primarily business to business, it’s virtually impossible to qualify transactions correctly for the lowest interchange. Why? Because there are so many rules about how and what data to capture. Some businesses try to deal with that by entering lots of information on every transaction. What a colossal waste of time!

A traditional gateway has some fields that are required and some that are not. You decide what to enter.  All transactions are processed as Retail or MOTO, however  your merchant account was set up.

The CenPOS gateway doesn’t leave decisions up to employees. When the card number is entered, the intelligent gateway identifies all the relevant factors for the merchant and then automatically prompts for just the information needed for that transaction. Nothing more, nothing less. Users do not get to decide what to enter. CenPOS will process as a MOTO or retail transaction based on merchant and system defined rules, not a one-time merchant account set-up.

Payment Gateway Features As Listed on Transfirst 5/25/2012
Payment Gateway	TransFirst® Transaction Express				CenPOS
Gateway Features	Online	Retail	MOTO	Mobile	Online	Retail	MOTO	Mobile
Connection methods
Customer Support
Support via Phone
Merchant Interface
Virtual Terminal/ Batch Upload		n/a		n/a		n/a		n/a
Security and Compliance
Shopping cart – supported		n/a	n/a	n/a		n/a	n/a	n/a
Virtual Point Of Sale					n/a
Mobile App (note 1)	n/a	?	?		n/a
VALUE ADDING PRODUCTS
Recurring Billing						note 2		note 2
Secure Card Data Storage
ACH Check Processing	future	future	future
Advanced Fraud Protection	?	?	?	?
THIRD PARTY SOLUTIONS
API
Shopping Carts		n/a	n/a	n/a		n/a	n/a	n/a
Point of Sale Solutions	n/a		n/a		n/a		n/a
Kiosks	n/a		n/a	n/a	n/a		n/a	n/a
Mobile Device integrations	n/a	n/a	n/a		n/a	n/a	n/a
Payment Gateway Features DIFFERENTIATORS
Note 1	1. Are all payment sources integrated to a single hub for Transfirst? That is, can you view all transactions and reports from the virtual terminal?2. If you have a MOTO merchant account, but add a mobile device, will those transactions qualify at retail interchange rates? If you have a Retail merchant account and also set up recurring billing, are your recurring billing transactions presented with the MOTO indicator to qualify for card not present interchange and proper receipt requirements? With CenPOS, the answer is yes.
Note 2	CenPOS empowers merchants to swipe the first transaction, and store the payment data for future card not present needs. All of the payment information needed to qualify the transaction properly for future card not present transactions is automatically collected. The initial transaction will qualify for RETAIL and the subsequent transactions will qualify under MOTO rules. Both are represented properly to mitigate risk of chargebacks from disputes with regard to proper receipt and signature requirements.
“Company” or “Family” contract management for recurring billing
Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment
Capture accounting codes at time of payment
Secure Online Paypage
Change installment or recurring pay date after started	?		?
Variable recurring billing- encrypt and tokenize			Tokenize-yes. Method not known.
7 years data storage and retrieval, including signature capture
Automated email transaction alerts- custom criteria
Dashboard and corporate hierarchy reports
Custom Crystal Reports – actionable data intelligence
Customer transaction Search by name
Integrated ACH/check processing

Companies change processors every 2-3 years on average because they are looking to reduce expenses. What you really need to do is switch to the industry’s only intelligent gateway, which uses a variety of proprietary methods to positively impact EBITDA. Cenpos is the only intelligent gateway to automatically optimize payments for EBITDA improvement. CenPOS removes users from making decisions that can negatively impact profits through a variety of proprietary methods.

Another significant difference is portability. With CenPOS, a merchant can change processors with minimal business disruption. The merchant CenPOS account is updated with the new processor account number.  It won’t impact stored payment data (tokens), reports, 7 years transaction history and insights, online payments, internet integrations etc. Because Transaction Express is proprietary to Transfirst, when you switch processors, you lose not only the data, but you may need to update everything else – equipment in the field, mobile apps, web integrations and more.

WHERE TO BUY

CenPOS is sold through direct agents and resellers. There is also a referral program. Click here to become a CenPOS agent, reseller, or referral partner.  Click here to become a customer or call the hotline at the top of this web page.

Transfirst Merchants had a .10% increase in their merchant discount rate last month, resulting in an uptick in calls from merchants searching for other options. I have no way to know how widespread the increase is, but thought now would be an appropriate time to write a review.

BACKGROUND:

Founded in 1995, Transfirst is a privately-held direct processor that lists over $15 billion in portfolio additions on their web site through mergers and acquisitions. Their objective is to help merchants with technology and product differentiation.

SALES & PRICING

Like most processors, they use both an internal sales force and independent sales agents. As well, prices are subjectively offered to merchants based on a number of different factors. Transfirst agreements may include a cancellation fee at the end of the term or liquidated damages for early termination. This is not typical in todays market, so merchants should exercise caution.

comment: A merchant educated about interchange, and identifying negotiable and non-negotiable fees,  will always have an advantage negotiating “Schedule A”.  General contract terms are usually not negotiable with any processor and merchants frequently sign ackowledgement that ‘cross outs and deletions’ will be ignored.

TECHNOLOGY

Transfirst launched it’s own gateway in 2011, Transaction Express. The gateway works with multiple end points, including retail, mobile and integrated web services. It supports recurring and tokenization.

WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED

Merchants often don’t know what they’re missing until they need to use it. Here are some things you should know:

• Search by or view customer name in settled batch is NOT AVAILABLE.
• Data is stored for only 13 months.
• Does not support signature capture for retail.
• It is unclear how multiple merchant accounts are managed. Does the user choose whether to use the retail or moto account, or does the gateway automatically switch depending on how the transaction is received? This is a SIGNIFICANT since it will impact fees, fraud risk, and ability to defend against disputes.
• Does not support level III data.
• The gateway is an integral service with their processing. Merchants who desire to switch processors at any later date will lose all their stored payment data/token capabilities.
• Their gateway does not currently support ACH, though it will in the future.

CONCLUSION

Transfirst has made a critical step for client retention and growth with Transaction Express, and their mobile app. That puts them ahead of some players in the market and behind some others. In our opinion, there are better options for both merchant services and technology.

DISCLAIMER

Data was obtained almost exclusively from publicly available information on the company web site. If there is an error, your correction is welcome.  This author sells and markets competitive services.