Adding 2nd GoldLine paystation.....???

[soonermajic]

Wen I add my 2nd GoldLine ACW , to my 2nd IBA (SoftGloss), what do I need to do to have Credit Cards in it? Do I have to simply run a 2nd, but separate, phone line? Do I have to add a 2nd & separate merchant provider account?
I inherited dialup, & 85% or more of my business is cash. I know that is shocking. I don't wanna spend $2800 on 2 different DAN Systems + change over ph service for DSL (Crazy expensive here).

 

[MEP001]

You don't need a second merchant processor. Why would you think that? You can use the same account for multiple locations.

You don't need a D.A.N. for multiple units. You can use the same D.A.N. unit for multiple cashiers.

Does your current dial-up process in a reasonable time? In my experience, there's only about a 10-15 second time between the message of "Please wait while your transaction is processed" and the wash activates. That's all you'd save with broadband processing.

Read the thread on $15 a month Cryptopay using mobile hot spot thread if you decide to ditch Hamilton processing for Cryptopay. You don't need DSL.

 

[soonermajic]

My wait time is about 12 secs. Don't you have to totally retrofit the front, including buying a new front cover, if you switch to Cryptopay?
So with what I currently have, just hook up to the phone line, or add a 2nd phone line?

 

[MEP001]

I haven't seen a Goldline with a Cryptopay but I assume it's a simple addon with just some holes drilled.

You could try to get by with one phone line split to two cashiers, but I wouldn't recommend it. If one is processing and a second person purchases a wash via card, both of them will fail.

I wouldn't do Cryptopay if you can do dialup. You'll be paying more in card fees to save 12 seconds on 15% of your purchased washes.

 

[soapy]

I have ran 3 locations with 2 IBAs using Hamilton pay stations for years processing credit cards with 1 phone line at each location. Just set them up so you can quickly unhook the phone line to each one. If Hamilton needs to dial in for updates leave the one being updated on line and unhook the other. This happens maybe once every 5 years.

 

[washnvac]

What Soapy said-- I have two Hamilton acws on 1 phone line. There are rare instances where they each try to dial out at the same time; eventually one wins. Then the other will go. That is only when it is busy, and someone is in the bay anyhow so the little bit of extra time is not an issue.
Also, I have one merchant account with 5 units on it.

 

[soonermajic]

Can the dialup phone line, on 2nd GoldLine, be hooked up w/ Cat6, or does it have to be regular old fashioned phone line.?

 

[MEP001]

Why wouldn't you just use phone line?

If you're going to buy ethernet wire, might as well use CAT5 because it's cheaper. Don't use one twisted pair for communication, use a whole twisted pair color for each lead. If you plan on putting a phone jack plug right on the ethernet cable, use one of the two strands of a twisted pair for each.

 

[soonermajic]

I do not have hi speed here, only dialup. For some reason my electrician pulled Cat6 to paystation. Would take a lot of work to take it out & re do phone line.

 

[bighead]

Its not hard to wire up Cat5 or 6 to be used as regular phone line... you can do some googling, or the electrician/phone guys can do it for you

I would install highspeed on both paystations and one DAN and cut your CC processing down to 1 or 2 seconds. I have a modem at one wash and DAN's at 3 others, and I WAY prefer the DAN setup....

With the right processors its cheaper as a % of sales to use hamilton vs cryptopay too... you also lose the ability to print receipts on the goldlines if you switch to cryptopay if i remember correctly

 

[mjwalsh]

Its not hard to wire up Cat5 or 6 to be used as regular phone line... you can do some googling, or the electrician/phone guys can do it for you

I would install highspeed on both paystations and one DAN and cut your CC processing down to 1 or 2 seconds. I have a modem at one wash and DAN's at 3 others, and I WAY prefer the DAN setup....

With the right processors its cheaper as a % of sales to use hamilton vs cryptopay too... you also lose the ability to print receipts on the goldlines if you switch to cryptopay if i remember correctly

If the Cat5 or Cat6 in not used for ethernet ... any of the twisted pairs will work as good if not better than Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) lesser quality twisted pair.

Not meaning to cast doubts unnecessarily but if we did not have the ability to print out all transactions on our ATM ... I know for a fact that deficiency ... would have a less than favorable reaction from a percentage of customers. Some customers only get one five dollar bill from our ATM since their bank or credit union allows them to use it for free. Just to reinforce bighead's point ... I am not saying I am comparing something 100% equivalent ... to be fair.