8 replies to this topic

[HooseFoose]

Vending Chat Members,

I am interested in your feedback on cashless vending systems. I found one in a "LinkedIn" group forum. I think the concept is a good one. People carry less and less cash these days, so I think it is a viable option, provided that you have the capital to invest in it. I have brought up other equipment in the past that had it already installed from the factory (i.e. multi-max.com), but those machines have a very small capacity and would not do well in a large account.

Microtronic (http://www.microtron...com/product.php) has a product that will retrofit to most late model machines. They have options for both a closed and open system. Closed is where the customer must "load" their card by pre-paying it. An open system accepts credit cards. I think I would be more interested in the closed system because I understand that the fees to process credit cards are quite high.

Please add your thoughts or experience with cashless systems. I am interested to hear what you have to say. Thank you.


Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

[Brassine Vending]

I have seen the CC type at Walmart. But obviously they can afford it. most places that will do CC processing for you (under $100,000/yr) often like to charge around 10-20cents/transaction plus 3% of the initial charge.

IE, $1.25 for a bottle of soda, 10-20 cents for the fee and then 3% of the amount. Your looking at around 11-21 cents just to accept someone's CC. To me, that is too dang much to be spending just to sell someone a Cold drink.

[Agee Vending]

Vending Chat Members,

I am interested in your feedback on cashless vending systems. I found one in a "LinkedIn" group forum. I think the concept is a good one. People carry less and less cash these days, so I think it is a viable option, provided that you have the capital to invest in it. I have brought up other equipment in the past that had it already installed from the factory (i.e. multi-max.com), but those machines have a very small capacity and would not do well in a large account.

Microtronic (http://www.microtron...com/product.php) has a product that will retrofit to most late model machines. They have options for both a closed and open system. Closed is where the customer must "load" their card by pre-paying it. An open system accepts credit cards. I think I would be more interested in the closed system because I understand that the fees to process credit cards are quite high.

Please add your thoughts or experience with cashless systems. I am interested to hear what you have to say. Thank you.


Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

There is a competitor of mine here in SoCal that is using USA Technology, he replaced them on a location and he said sales doubled in the first week. Now... I didn't believe him, but he offered to show me his location and sure enough he had two empty soda machines... and this is not a guy that misses his routes, they were empty because product was flying out of them. Just while we were standing there 3 people both soda with a debit card.

His hooks up via wireless to the internet processing system. He installed the card reader himself, was just like a bill validator except it has an antenna on it.

I'm considering putting card readers in my larger locations. only thing about USA is that you have to give up your bill validator. Coinco has one that can take Credit/Debit and bills... but is BIG $$.

Oh... the merchant account I researched is 1.5% of the transaction amount, with a $500 a week minimum or pay $20 a week for the processing services + a annual account fee $49 + setup of $250. If one of my vending centers can increase sales by 100 a week.. it will pay for itself just in the convenience.

[HooseFoose]

Agee,

That is very good news! Thank you for sharing that. Do you know what kind of location that was? (school, industry, office, ect?) The people I have talked to said that cashless (debit/credit cards) vending seems to work best around white collar and around locations with a younger age range (colleges), so I am interested to know what kind of location your friend had.

I called USA Technologies today and they told me that to get their credit/debit reader that it was $289.00. Then it was $9.95/mo for the service and 5% transaction fee. They said your machine has to have MDB capabilities and DEX. Their service is also cool because it will post what has sold (both credit and cash sales) on a website. So you also are getting remote monitoring. This seems to be way more affordable than Microtronics stuff.

Microtronics wants $479.00 per unit and then they want $2,800 for a smartcard charging station (You can use your debit card to charge your smartcard, or you can use cash) and then they their monthly fee + a 3% transaction fee.

Can you provide more info on the merchant account you were talking about? (website?)

Thanks!

Sincerely,
~HooseFoose~

[For The Kids Vending]

I researched this a little and the advantage of USA solutions is that you are getting the cellular service to do this. Remember you have to connect your machines to the internet and its hard to find a wireless provider willing to give low prices for Internet services. Lowest I found would be $20 per location per month.

As far as the $500 week minimum or $20 fee for credit cards, shop around. If you are connected to the Internet and can use your own merchant account you should try Sams Club. Their rates are also pretty low and they won't have such a huge minimum. If you hit $500 your fee will be 1.5% or $7.50. But if you are at $499 you fee is $20? That's pretty bad in my opinion.

I'm not doing it yet so I'm not speaking first hand, but I would suggest at least starting out with USA solutions or another all in one provider. The fee might be 5% instead of 2% or so but wireless connectivity is included and you won't need to try to get an ethernet/wifi connection out of your locations.

[Agee Vending]

The merchant account I was looking at was through Cardservices.

http://www.cardservice.com/

I didn't know sam's club has merchant services, but that a good place to look too.

On the merchant services, the 500 min is for your account, not one machine, so if you have the card reader on 5 machines they only have to do 100 per week. I think its a better deal to lock in a lower transaction rate even if the minimum is high. The 4 accounts I have in mind to test it out with do about 2k a week together, a 5% rate would cost me $100 a week vs $30 @ 1.5%. If you have the volume, it works in your favor.

I dont know about the wireless fee. I haven't gotten that far down the road with it yet...

[kevin]

The merchant account I was looking at was through Cardservices.

http://www.cardservice.com/

I didn't know sam's club has merchant services, but that a good place to look too.

On the merchant services, the 500 min is for your account, not one machine, so if you have the card reader on 5 machines they only have to do 100 per week. I think its a better deal to lock in a lower transaction rate even if the minimum is high. The 4 accounts I have in mind to test it out with do about 2k a week together, a 5% rate would cost me $100 a week vs $30 @ 1.5%. If you have the volume, it works in your favor.

I dont know about the wireless fee. I haven't gotten that far down the road with it yet...

Vending is different, you can just use any merchant services and its 5%/ transaction and 5 cents if under $1.00. You pay 9.99 a month but you can also see problems with machines and item sales so you can pre pull the product before you go or not go if its not low enough. We did this for the pre pull and are working to get 18 credit card machines online this summer and more the following winter. I am using USA tech for my processing right now and plan on changing when a certain service is finally authenticated fully, hopefully this summer.

[cash flow]

Vending Chat Members,

I am interested in your feedback on cashless vending systems. I found one in a "LinkedIn" group forum. I think the concept is a good one. People carry less and less cash these days, so I think it is a viable option, provided that you have the capital to invest in it. I have brought up other equipment in the past that had it already installed from the factory (i.e. multi-max.com), but those machines have a very small capacity and would not do well in a large account.

Microtronic (http://www.microtron...com/product.php) has a product that will retrofit to most late model machines. They have options for both a closed and open system. Closed is where the customer must "load" their card by pre-paying it. An open system accepts credit cards. I think I would be more interested in the closed system because I understand that the fees to process credit cards are quite high.

Please add your thoughts or experience with cashless systems. I am interested to hear what you have to say. Thank you.


Sincerely,

~HooseFoose~

[cash flow]

HooseFoose,

Hey, how many cashless machines do you have? How are sales on cashless machines vs. traditional cash machines?

Also, do offer smartcards?

Thanks!

Cash_Flow