Worth installing credit cards

[Wet Spot]

I’ve searched a few old threads and still not 100% sure either way. I’m getting all new meter boxes and an aux box for a bill excepted in my bays. I’m considering crytopsy but I’m not sureif it’s worth it as I’m in a not so good neighborhood. I’m also not sure exactly how high the fees are. Are there any other type of issues I should be thinking of.

Thx

 

[Damoni88]

I’ve searched a few old threads and still not 100% sure either way. I’m getting all new meter boxes and an aux box for a bill excepted in my bays. I’m considering crytopsy but I’m not sureif it’s worth it as I’m in a not so good neighborhood. I’m also not sure exactly how high the fees are. Are there any other type of issues I should be thinking of.

Thx

If your in a bad area i definitely would not put bill acceptors in. They will try to get in them. I definitely would put cryptopay in. The world we live in today people are using their credit card alot. People will still use cash though. Just put 6 in at my 2nd location and they were paid for in 2 months.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

hardly anyone carrys cash

Utterly false. Wet Spot, you need to make this decision based on YOUR market, not somebody else's.

That said, it is probably unanimous here on the forum that if you are in a bad area, reduce the cash on premises - add credit card acceptance, and do not install bill acceptors.

 

[Earl Weiss]

When I added Bill acceptance I used a separate box from Etowah Valley. Tried half the bays to see if there would be issues, and figured if they attacked the box the regular meter box would still operate and the bay would not be out service. You might want to try such an experiment.

 

[OurTown]

It will probably be worth installing Cryptopay because it should get you more customers and they will spend more money. Before we installed it in ours so many people were pulling into the bays and after a few seconds leaving. Many times we would talk to some of those and they would verify they were looking for credit card readers. You could install a monitored alarm system with cellular communicator and put in door and shock sensors in the bill acceptor boxes.

 

[MEP001]

Utterly false. Wet Spot, you need to make this decision based on YOUR market, not somebody else's.

You're both right. Most people I know personally either don't carry cash at all, or keep a certain amount with them in case they run into that rare need for it. Same for myself, other than stopping at a store for a drink I don't use cash unless wherever I'm paying doesn't accept credit. That said, I also operate a wash in a fairly bad neighborhood, and for most of my customers cash is primary BUT most of them have credit/debit cards.

I agree with both of you on not putting in-bay bill acceptors in a wash in a bad neighborhood, or really in any wash, unless they're as well-built as a bill changer. You will make more income from people overspending and save wear on the changer and time from not filling it, plus less down time from the ones who don't go and get change after they park in the bay (Negligible, but it adds up over time).

 

[Wet Spot]

I’ll be putting these in as they are pretty durable from talking to local owners

 

[Randy]

Why wouldn't you install credit card readers?

 

[Wet Spot]

I was planning too, just asking reasons not too. What is % of fees, I’ve read various amounts over last few years threads

 

[bert79]

We're at about 5.5% in fees with Cryptopay. IMO the best thing about accepting cc is that customers spend WAY more than they would with cash. MORE than compensating for the fees. Customers spend more with credit cards. Make sure you are using the count up feature. Like Randy said "why wouldn't you install credit card readers?".

 

[Earl Weiss]

Last month all in with First Data 5.8% I think I had one chargeback for $10.00

 

[OurTown]

August was 4.7%. Our auto is included in that so it makes our average ticket higher which lowers the fees.

 

[Damoni88]

Was at 3.9% for August

 

[mjwalsh]

Wetspot,

I would find someone knowledgeable about the level of ATM usage in your area. Don't go by someone or group of individuals obsessively biased against ATMs. Give out $5 bills like we do. Make sure the ATM is solidly inside a solid wall basically the same precautions as used with "an in wall bill changer or bill to bill breaker".

Granted this may not be true for all areas but ... it is very unlikely that we lose our specific car wash customers because of our ATM format. Especially in our area ... since so many a no hassle no fee because of our local credit unions & banks competing against the big boys by offering free ATM use.

Like Earl pointed out a separate attached box for the bill acceptor is less of a risk than having it on the whole coin box with all its accompanying more so electronic goodies inside. As far as spending more ... once the customer puts in a larger denomination cash item in the box ... I observe a similar effect as the "lulled feeling" from credit card count up. Actually more so IMHO ... since the customer can stop precisely when done vs with a high denomination cash item. We actually have had some customers put a $20 bill &/or request that ability since the sign on Etowah's box states 1s,5s, & 10s. That does not mean we don't have $20s programmed in ... since it is no problem with Dixmor 7 timers.

 

[Jeff_L]

If you are changing your meter boxes, I would suggest adding credit card acceptance over bill acceptance. I have crypto at one wash and WashGear at another. My cc fees year to date are 5.9% (WorldPay) and 6.4% (TSYS) respectively. Fees are just part of doing business, once they figure out the whole block chain thing perhaps we can eliminate the middle man in all the transactions.