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A Rebirthed Cost Comparison Website
Formerly known as TransFS, FeeFighters is a startup founded in 2008 that was acquired by Groupon in 2012. FeeFighters’ website initially shut down following its assimilation with Groupon Payments (now known as Breadcrumb), but a former customer purchased the company’s website domain to revive and build upon FeeFighters’ unique offerings. The company provides merchant account cost comparison shopping services as well a proprietary payment gateway called “Samurai.” Although FeeFighters itself is not a processor or merchant account provider, this review will score it as such because its ultimate goal is to help merchants obtain a low cost merchant account.
Competing Bids from Credit Card Processors
The FeeFighters merchant account comparison service allows a merchant to provide some basic information about his business in order to receive “customized” instant rate and fee quotes from various merchant account providers. The merchant’s information is not given to any of the providers unless they choose to apply, so FeeFighters essentially eliminates many of the annoyances associated with getting rate quotes such as non-stop telemarketing calls. Additionally, among other requirements covered later in this review, FeeFighters forces processors to offer interchange-plus pricing (See “Fee Sweep” for more information on Interchange-plus). Due to this requirement, the company claims to save the average merchant customer 40% in merchant account fees.
FeeFighters Location and Ownership
Sean Harper is the original founder of FeeFighters, and Matt Mandell is the company’s current owner. FeeFighters lists its address as 213 N Racine Ave Apt 201, Chicago, IL.
FeeFighters Review Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: FeeFighters offers a free service and requires processors to offer Interchange-plus pricing and no early termination fees.
- Complaints & Service: FeeFighters has received fewer than 10 public complaints.
- BBB Rating: FeeFighters has a “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau and has received 0 complaints in the last 3 years.
- Sales & Marketing: FeeFighters does not hire independent sales agents and has not received any complaints about its sales practices.
- Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With FeeFighters
FeeFighters Reviews and Complaints
Here's What Their Clients Say
Complaint Summary
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Total Online Complaints
<10
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Live Customer Support
Yes
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Most Common Complaint
N/A
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Low Complaint Total
We are currently able to locate only a handful of negative FeeFighters reviews, and none explicitly accuse the company of being a ripoff. A couple of complaints allege that the company’s reviews of its vendors may be unbiased. These postings state that a few vendors score highly on the FeeFighters site while receiving poor ratings and reviews elsewhere.
FeeFighters Lawsuits
We have not found any outstanding class-action lawsuits or FTC complaints filed against FeeFighters. Dissatisfied merchants who wish to pursue a non-litigious course of action against the company should consider reporting it to the relevant supervisory organizations.
FeeFighters Customer Support Options
FeeFighters offers phone and email contact information on its website. Initially, the company offered to personally assist merchants through the entire process with a dedicated representative who was to be available by phone and/or email, but it seems that FeeFighters’ team has been minimized since its resurrection, so it support capacity may be reduced.
FeeFighters BBB Rating and Report
Our Better Business Bureau Profile Assessment
BBB Summary
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Product & Service Complaints
0
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Billing & Collection Complaints
0
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Advertising & Sales Complaints
0
|
|
Guarantee & Warranty Complaints
0
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Delivery Complaints
0
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No BBB Complaints
FeeFighters is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau and currently has an “A+” rating based on 0 complaints in the last 36 months. FeeFighters also has not received any negative informal reviews.
A Complicated Relationship
In 2011, a writer from FeeFighters’ blog began investigating a claim that Better Business Bureau raised a processor’s BBB rating from an “F” to an “A-“ after the processor paid the BBB $760. FeeFighters tested it themselves by paying the BBB $1000 and was awarded BBB accreditation and a high rating even though the BBB actually knew nothing about FeeFighters. Shortly after, FeeFighters wrote a post detailing the investigation decreeing the BBB as a scam. In reaction to the post, the BBB vindictively revoked FeeFighters’ accreditation and downgraded the company’s rating. You can read more about it here and here.
An “A” Rating
It should be noted that the BBB is not a government organization or non-profit. It is, in fact, a for-profit corporation. Perhaps owing to the time that has elapsed since the incident, the BBB now awards FeeFighters an “A+,” which we are inclined to agree with at this time. As plainly evidenced in this case, merchants should note that there are reasons to be skeptical of BBB ratings.
FeeFighters Fees and Rates
A Closer Look at the Contract
Cost Summary
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Swiped Rate
None
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Keyed-in Rate
None
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Early Termination Fee
None
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PCI Compliance Fee
None
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Equipment Lease Terms
None
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A Completely Free Service
Using FeeFighters is free for the merchant and there are no added fees, costs or service agreements for getting a merchant account through the service. Additionally, FeeFighters enforces strict rules on providers that participate in its program. These rules are written to effectively eliminate many of the problems that merchants have with merchant account providers. The rules require month-to-month service agreements with no cancellation fee, offering Interchange-plus rate pricing (eliminates downgrade surcharges) and requiring reasonable monthly service fees.
Potential for Savings
An interesting effect of FeeFighters’ requirements is that it forces providers that would normally have undesirable terms in their merchant account agreements to remove them. Even if a provider has numerous complaints of a high cancellation fee, merchants that go through the company will not have the same problem. Therefore, merchants could receive processing rates that rival the cheapest merchant account providers by opting to use FeeFighters.
FeeFighters Jobs and Employment
Hiring Standards and Ethical Marketing Assessment
Key Points
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Employs Independent Resellers
No
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Advertises Deceptive Rates
No
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Discloses All Important Terms
Yes
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No Sales Issues
FeeFighters primarily markets itself via its website and social media channels and does not seem to employ independent sales agents. There are also no FeeFighters complaints regarding the company’s sales tactics to be found on this or other consumer protection websites.
A Focus on Transparency
FeeFighters’ business model is built around forcing providers to fully reveal all rates and fees as well as eliminating early termination fees. In keeping with this philosphy, FeeFighters itself uses no misleading sales tactics or marketing. No matter the payment processor merchants select through FeeFighter’s comparison service, we always recommend merchants seek a third-party statement audit to find and eliminate any potentially hidden fees.
FeeFighters Review Summary
Our Final Thoughts and Opinions
A Reliable Cost Comparison Service
FeeFighters rates as a solid merchant account cost comparison service. The company has received very little negative feedback from merchants, but the company has only recently been revamped and may begin receiving new reviews on its service. The only potential issue currently found among merchant reports is the possibility that the company artificially raised ratings for its vendors. Before signing up with a processor through FeeFighters, merchants are advised to compare all terms and pricing to that of top-rated merchant account providers to obtain the best deal.
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Chris P
I was disappointed with the FeeFighters service. I found them online and used their site to review credit card processing companies. They had a lot of positive reviews about First Data and virtually no negative reviews per my recollection (note that on this site cardpaymentoptions.com there are mostly negative reviews about First Data).
I signed up with First Data after being given a side by side comparison of First Data’s rates by comparison to my existing vendor. I was told I would save 40%+, but when my First Data invoices started arriving the charges were approx. 25% higher than with my previous vendor.
First Data hasn’t been at all responsive to my complaints so now I will have to switch again.
My complaint with FeeFighters is that they seem to filter their reviews to make their vendors look good. I went to the FeeFighters site to try to leave a negative review on First Data and there doesn’t even appear to be a way to leave a review – which begs the question, where did they get the reviews on their site to begin with.