No more Coins..CC or Cash Only..Very Nice.. 54% Cards.

[CarWashBoy]

Hi.. I operate a 6 Bay, 8 Vacuum Self Serv.. in January of 2015, I did a total update to the site.. New Vacs, Bay Controllers, Bill Breaker etc.. I ditched all coins and tokens etc.. I went Bills or Credit/Debit with CryptoPay..all Bays and Vacs.. after 1 yr of operation we are averaging 54.3% Cards.. our GROSS REVENUE on the site is up 88% over same period in 2014 (exactly 1 yr) .. Very Nice, no coins to mess with etc. Customers love it.. My Credit Card fees are confusing to me.. I know this question has been discussed, but what is the final result of fees with CryptoPay and Worldbank all in, combined??.. I come up with 8.1% overall.. is this in the ballpark? Your input will be most helpful and appreciated.. don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, just curious..
Thanks in Advance..
Doug..

 

[MEP001]

What is your transaction fee and the merchant service %?

 

[Earl Weiss]

My all in with First Data / Cryptopay is about 5.5%. ( 8 SS bays and Tunnel)

 

[bighead]

Like to use the following equation because it includes all costs (even the BS statement/monthly fees)

gross credit card expenses for the month / gross credit card receipts for the month.

I have 2 SS, 1 Auto, and 1 DW with the DAN system. I use E-xact and costco (elavon) and my cost was 3.75% last month using the equation above.

 

[Jeff_L]

8%+ seems high to me. Mine are around 5% by using TSYS with my WashGear system.

 

[BBE]

My all in with First Data / Cryptopay is about 5.5%. ( 8 SS bays and Tunnel)

Are you doing count up or count down in your bays?

 

[CarWashBoy]

What is your transaction fee and the merchant service %?

Transactions fees are 5.4% CPay and WPay.. until WPay adds on a additional charge at end of month.. we are still trying to get a good handle on it.. shame on me.. but the system works very fast and smooth..so even if it's high, it's worth it.. I look at it like on $100K CC per year, it works out to be around $2200 per yr.. so if you look at that way.. it's OK.. it works out to a additional $6 per day.. I'm good at rationalizing.. LOL..
Doug

P.S.. I see some other questions here on this thread that I will gladly answer later on this morning.. I have to run right now and dump some trash..

 

[MEP001]

Transaction fee is usually a fixed amount per swipe, not the same as the percentage charged.

 

[CarWashBoy]

Are you doing count up or count down in your bays?

We use Count Down.. they can add time by pushing button on swiper or add bills for more time.. our prices are the same.. Cash or Card... Bays $3 4 mins... $5 10 minutes... Vacs $3 5 min 10 seconds.. All Cash or Credit.. No Coins.. going No coins was best thing I have ever done.. I thought at first, maybe customers would be upset, but it was total opposite.. they don't have to drop in all those coins.. they just swipe or use bills.. we have bill breaker rather than coin changer..

 

[CarWashBoy]

Transaction fee is usually a fixed amount per swipe, not the same as the percentage charged.

I will double check that.. and let you know..

 

[pgrzes]

Switch to count up, you will make more $$$ Especially if you have Blowers in your bays. I have seen people stand there for 20 minutes with the blower trying to get every water drop off!!!> I can understand not changing quarters, but I dont understand not accepting ANY coins?? The more convenience your customers have the more $$ You will make. This has been discussed numerous times, and it seems as though convenience is one of the most important things to offer at a SS wash. I went from.25 tokens to $1 tokens and that woked great, adding bill acceptors and Cryptopay in the bays were the biggest gainer I have ever had. I am going to change my remaining 2 .25 changers to 1 $1 coin machine and the other to another $1 token machine. Then I want to look into putting a $5 bill bonus on the bay timers. Try to get less $1's. But I will still accept everything.

 

[mmurra]

Congrats on dumping the coins. You seem to be getting ripped on fees. This is normal for the CC industry, where stealing as much of your profits as possible, is the name of the game. Part of the problem is the relationship between the hardware provider and the credit card processor. The hardware people generally get a clip from the CC processor, raising your costs. I have lost tens of thousands of dollars at my businesses over the decades by not being sharp on CC processor pricing. So I try hard to pay attention to this area by watching it every month and aggressively shopping the market. I trust other operators in my fields, not the CC reps, who will tell you anything to get your business.

Work to try to get under 5% (I am under 4%). Work hard to convince your hardware people to help you negotiate a better deal for you from processors instead of them being more interested in getting a clip from the CC guys. Ultimately, the hardware guys are better off if the only make money by offing a better rate for us, not taking a clip from us. Good luck!

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

No cash at all that means no more beer money or going out to eat with the wife money. I thought that was the only reason we are still in this business ha ha. Credit card fees get me depressed when I look at them. The merchants are the ones getting paid when we are doing all the work. Has this cut into your net profit or are you still netting as much as before just curious. I got a feeling thats what we are all going to have to do in the future when uncle sam stops printing money 10 years from now.

 

[CarWashBoy]

Switch to count up, you will make more $$$ Especially if you have Blowers in your bays. I have seen people stand there for 20 minutes with the blower trying to get every water drop off!!!> I can understand not changing quarters, but I dont understand not accepting ANY coins?? The more convenience your customers have the more $$ You will make. This has been discussed numerous times, and it seems as though convenience is one of the most important things to offer at a SS wash. I went from.25 tokens to $1 tokens and that woked great, adding bill acceptors and Cryptopay in the bays were the biggest gainer I have ever had. I am going to change my remaining 2 .25 changers to 1 $1 coin machine and the other to another $1 token machine. Then I want to look into putting a $5 bill bonus on the bay timers. Try to get less $1's. But I will still accept everything.

Hi.. We tried Count Up but it was confusing to the customer.. at least at our wash.. Count down is working fine and makes it simple.. as far as coins go.. not having to deal with coins streamlines our operation.. both for the customer and operator.. people don't like dealing with coins.. I've had MANY customers say "good, no more searching for coins or lost tokens etc ".. it makes it much faster.. also, rather than adding maybe 50 cents or 75 cents to keep the timer running, they add green or push credit card button.. just my 3 cents..
I should mention $5-10 min Bonus Time, is a large share of our Cash/CC business.. As soon as we ditched coins, our revenue jumped..
Doug..

 

[BBE]

My all in with First Data / Cryptopay is about 5.5%. ( 8 SS bays and Tunnel)

I'm still curious whether Earl is doing count up or count down. 5.5% is pretty good. I think something that gets overlooked and not mentioned when we talk about credit card fees is whether you are doing count up or count down. Because your fees WILL be higher with count up as it costs to do the pre authorization necessary to use count up, where as in count down there is no pre authorization required.

 

[mjwalsh]

Transactions fees are 5.4% CPay and WPay.. until WPay adds on a additional charge at end of month.. we are still trying to get a good handle on it.. shame on me.. but the system works very fast and smooth..so even if it's high, it's worth it.. I look at it like on $100K CC per year, it works out to be around $2200 per yr.. so if you look at that way.. it's OK.. it works out to a additional $6 per day.. I'm good at rationalizing.. LOL..
Doug

P.S.. I see some other questions here on this thread that I will gladly answer later on this morning.. I have to run right now and dump some trash..

CarWashBoy,

Hmmm... 5.4% plus 2.2% = 7.6% and your overall rate is calculating to be 8.1%. Based on the less initial cost & maintenance of our coin mechs vs extra usage more maintenance happening to the 1,5,10,20 bill acceptors that we have in our 6 bays & 2 room dog wash ... I would say that specific sustainability long term consideration should be factored in also. Based on handling of almost all coin in our 32 washer laundromat ... I would say that higher denomination coin is a better fit for most of our specific customers. I can't speak for other operators who have a bias against higher denomination coins though. Were the tokens you discontinued higher denomination or were you forcing your coin & token customers to use tokens & quarters at the lower denomination level?

mike walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

 

[CarWashBoy]

CarWashBoy,

Hmmm... 5.4% plus 2.2% = 7.6% and your overall rate is calculating to be 8.1%. Based on the less initial cost & maintenance of our coin mechs vs extra usage more maintenance happening to the 1,5,10,20 bill acceptors that we have in our 6 bays & 2 room dog wash ... I would say that specific sustainability long term consideration should be factored in also. Based on handling of almost all coin in our 32 washer laundromat ... I would say that higher denomination coin is a better fit for most of our specific customers. I can't speak for other operators who have a bias against higher denomination coins though. Were the tokens you discontinued higher denomination or were you forcing your coin & token customers to use tokens & quarters at the lower denomination level?

mike walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

Hi Mike.. excuse me for making error on % rates.. it bounces around.. 7.5 - 8%, I have had tokens since 1990.. Dollar Coins since Susan B.. the tokens have always been valued at more than a 1$.. My simple thought and observation is: people would rather not use coins.. in todays world, it's plastic or bills.. I have to put myself in the customers shoes.. Coins are not popular.. they are a Pain is the Ass to me and to the Customer.. we hardy ever have problems with bill acceptors..so what if one dies.. we replace it and move on.. way less problems than people think.. I have had 13 self service Car Washes in my life, (I don't want to sound like Donald Trump) but I know a little bit about it. .. but getting rid of Coins is a huge Advantage and so much FASTER, time is money... Yes, I know you may think otherwise, which i totally understand.... but.. but.. but.. it's GREAT.. I would never, ever go back to Coins.. just my 3 cents..
Doug

 

[mjwalsh]

CarWashBoy,

Many car wash operators are oblivious to the fact in their state because of potential budget shortfalls ... there has been or is an eagerness among some politicians to have as much as 10+% on all gross for car washes in their locality. That is part of what makes me cautious getting too carried away with the credit & other remotely processed electronic payment methods. Along with knowing how trouble free my serial port interfaced high speed Cummins Coin Counter Sorter has been for over 12 years now & how trouble free my MicroCoin Qls coin acceptors have been for several years now.

mike walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

 

[CarWashBoy]

CarWashBoy,

Many car wash operators are oblivious to the fact in their state because of potential budget shortfalls ... there has been or is an eagerness among some politicians to have as much as 10+% on all gross for car washes in their locality. That is part of what makes me cautious getting too carried away with the credit & other remotely processed electronic payment methods. Along with knowing how trouble free my serial port interfaced high speed Cummins Coin Counter Sorter has been for over 12 years now & how trouble free my MicroCoin Qls coin acceptors have been for several years now.

mike walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

HI Mike... I just think C. Cards are the new trend.. Coins are not user friendly.. Just my opinion.. YMMV..

 

[mjwalsh]

CarWashBoy,

I do see in some areas where it could make sense to not accept cash at all especially in a state where there is not any concern whatsoever about further "additional percentage points" on the by far most vulnerable part of the income ... the gross. To neglect to mention the advantages of higher denomination coins including being waterproof in our wet environments ... based on actual experience ... I believe is a mistake. Yours & others experience could be different. As far as implying that an operator is dishonest just because he or she prefers coins over the smallest denomination of paper money ... is not the ideal ... & not what we should be going for ... if we honestly seek to make this a better forum. I do honestly see where larger operations with many employees could very well possibly come out better with just credit card, SamsungPay, & others for the tightest "on the surface" monetary control possible.

mike walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html