AppNinjas Overall Rating
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AppNinjas Overview
AppNinjas Logo
AppNinjas is the creator of a credit card processing app called “Swipe,” (formerly “iSwipe”) which is similar to that of GoPayment, Square and Pay Anywhere. In fact, the company has actually been around longer than these three competitors.
Founded in 2009 by Bryan Kennedy and Zander Ford, AppNinjas was acquired by Inner Fence (one of its competitors) and Merchant Focus in an apparent joint venture. The company is based in Dublin Ohio and is sponsored by HSBC Bank of Buffalo, NY as its Acquiring Bank.
How Swipe Works
AppNinjas’ “Swipe” app allows merchants to accept credit card payments from customers on their smartphones. The company also supplies a credit card reader that can be attached to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices making it possible to swipe the customer’s credit card. As of this review, the service is not compatible with Android or Blackberry devices.
AppNinjas Sales Tactics & Marketing Strategy | A-
The only strike against AppNinjas’ marketing and sales tactics is that the company does not disclose all of the processing rates on its website. This reviewer had to call the company to get a better understanding of the rates because they are quoted rather vaguely online (pricing is covered below). It was also difficult to find out which devices AppNinjas supports.
Aside from these issues, no deceptive advertising or marketing appears to be in use by the company.
AppNinjas Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | A-
AppNinjas’ pricing shares more similarities with a traditional merchant account than it does with competitors like GoPayment and Square. First, the company charges a monthly fee of $24.95 which covers the company’s service fee and a third party payment gateway fee that is supplied by Authorize.net. Next the company has a three-tier rate model similar to the Qualified, Mid-Qualified, and Non-Qualified models found with traditional credit card processing.
The first tier applies to swiped credit cards (excluding AMEX) and runs at 1.74% per transaction, but AppNinjas does not bundle the VISA/MasterCard “Dues & Assessment Fee” of 0.11% (0.925% for Discover) into the rate like most other processors do. This means that the effective rate is actually 1.51% for the majority of transactions.
The second tier applies to transactions that are typed into the keypad and will cost an effective rate of 2.4%. The third tier applies to international cards, government cards, business cards, and high-end rewards cards which costs an effective rate of 3.9% whether keyed or swiped. Additionally, there is a $0.24 transaction fee added to each transaction regardless of the tier. AppNinjas also assesses a $30 fee for each Chargeback.
On the positive side, the company has no setup fees, no annual/PCI compliance fees, no cancellation fees, and a free card reader; however, it appears that the free card reader offer may expire 1/15/2012. Overall, the AppNinjas pricing will cost less than an average merchant account but is slightly more expensive than other mobile processing competitors.
AppNinjas Complaints & Service | A+
AppNinjas has no complaints filed online in the usual forums. The company has a dedicated customer support phone number and appears to have good merchant support.
AppNinjas Better Business Bureau Report | N/A
The Better Business Bureau does (BBB) not have a profile for AppNinjas. It is unclear if the company shares its profile with Merchant Focus.
Bottom Line
AppNinjas’ “Swipe” credit card processing app appears to be a good option for most mobile merchants. The company has some fierce direct competition that offers no monthly fees, less expensive fees and flat rate pricing. AppNinjas can improve its rating in this review by offering more transparency of its pricing and supported devices on its website, as well as expanding compatibility across more devices.
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