Cryptopay forcing switch

[bert79]

So guys, tell me....Is CC acceptance in bays really worth it $$$ wise and the hassle of dealing with the processing companies? I haven't gone there yet...The other two washes in town have CC, they are $.50 higher than me and their bay floors are always dry...CC acceptance isn't free for the owner so they are charging more to pay for it! My place does pretty well in comparison and from customer feedback! Seems as though the processing companies makes a lot of $$$ without lifting a finger! More so with a CW's smaller transactions!

Once you reach a certain price point (maybe above $2.00), it doesn't make sense for the customer to keep shoving quarters in the acceptor since it takes more time...Maybe switching to Dollar Tokens or Dollar coins is a better option than CC or Quarters? Then again it is probably location dependent...I live about 30 miles from a major city....We all still carry cash! Even I wouldn't use my CC at a CW!

Please believe me when I say YES add CC to your self serve wash. The added $ that people will pay with cc will more than make up for the expenses. As for hassles, yes there are issues with worldpay (the cryptopay processor) but the additional $ more than makes up for it. CC users routinely use $20-$30 in the SS bays in our experience. That's a lot of quarters. CC makes up a slightly more than 30% of our gross sales. In my opinion charging more for the cc isnt necessary. The additional money spent by the customer makes up for the cost by a great deal.

 

[mjwalsh]

Admittedly, everyone's experience is somewhat different. I have mentioned it before ... the more support for availability of higher denomination coins (dollar coins & beyond) the more leverage for even the most die hard cc-phone acceptance operators will have when it comes to mitigating potentially rising costs of processing fees. IMHO ... it does not take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. A person shedding light on "deep state with corporate complicity" should not be labeled with improperly used satire & false characterizations!!!

I personally am not ignoring 2Biz's truthful "dry bays" observation of what is clearly happening with his local specific cc-phone competition. The loss of net profit is not always made up by all of us ... especially in my situation where well over 50 cc-phone setups would be required in our laundromat-car wash-dog wash. A well protected 99+% uptime ATM has made far better sense for us for almost 8 years now! The distributor actually partner's with free remote monitoring now for over 6 months now ... that we can turn off anytime if we want to ... so far no abuses from remote alerts & troubleshooting from their end at this point in time!

It is very possible ... since some of the cc-phone INTERFACE RECEPTACLE COMPANIES currently have an all out campaign for laundry washing machines business they might be kind of sort of busy lately to do what is necessary to follow through on their promises to their already sealed in customers etc???

I possibly do need to be set even more straight (Earl's Observation) on potential marketing tactics of free car wash - gasoline sellers trying to increase their specific gas sales by giving out free car washes which is happening more & more it seems in our area. CC-Phone merchant fee people may play a role in that ... I am not sure... like I said I do not want to false accuse anyone of predatory (bullying?) type of practices.

 

[Sequoia]

So guys, tell me....Is CC acceptance in bays really worth it $$$ wise and the hassle of dealing with the processing companies?

Look at a recent list of transactions from my SS. In 14 years of ownership I can't remember anyone washing a regular vehicle inserting more than six $1 tokens. Maybe a couple people a year insert six tokens times two to wash a RV.

Compare that to the attached list of charges.

Supposedly, someone just spent $37 at my wash. That is very high even with CC acceptance. I need to check that out ...

 

[mjwalsh]

Supposedly, someone just spent $37 at my wash. That is very high even with CC acceptance. I need to check that out ...

We have vehicles at our car wash who put $10 & even a few $20s in our bill acceptors. Our $7 paper tokens are also used. I know for a fact that some single larger vehicles have spent over $40 so I am not sure cc-phone is the only key there. I do get the advantage of immediate STOP with countup ... not sure if that advantage is enough to really tip the scale for people who actually responsibly pay attention to their expenses. The $20s are more likely to be seen in our dog wash though! I sometimes think that it is more likely with time remaining a customer will choose our blow dry & possible undercarriage in the future with time left. Sometimes they don't mind leaving the time run down by itself ... ideally the person does not waste & touches our "off button" on our imho more user friendly ginsan customized related menu style coin boxes.

 

[MEP001]

So guys, tell me....Is CC acceptance in bays really worth it $$$ wise and the hassle of dealing with the processing companies? I haven't gone there yet...The other two washes in town have CC, they are $.50 higher than me and their bay floors are always dry...CC acceptance isn't free for the owner so they are charging more to pay for it! My place does pretty well in comparison and from customer feedback! Seems as though the processing companies makes a lot of $$$ without lifting a finger! More so with a CW's smaller transactions!

Once you reach a certain price point (maybe above $2.00), it doesn't make sense for the customer to keep shoving quarters in the acceptor since it takes more time...Maybe switching to Dollar Tokens or Dollar coins is a better option than CC or Quarters? Then again it is probably location dependent...I live about 30 miles from a major city....We all still carry cash! Even I wouldn't use my CC at a CW!

I don't see why there should be a hassle dealing with credit card companies. With the Hamilton D.A.N. system and E-xact processing there were never any issues, except that the fees were even worse than with Cryptopay. FWIW I watched video of an entire busy Saturday, counted cars that were washed and used the timer counters and CC reports to see what people spent per car. I don't recall the numbers, but CC users spent almost 50% more.

We had bill acceptors in the bays, early 24V models that would only take 1's and 5's, and it wasn't unusual to see someone with a dirty pickup put $20 or more in all at once.

I had been considering putting Cryptopay in a couple bays, but after reading all the issues people are having I'm much less inclined to get screwed by them. I like WashGear because you can bring your own merchant processor, and I've found a few merchant processors where your fees would end up being less than 1%.

 

[OurTown]

I like WashGear because you can bring your own merchant processor, and I've found a few merchant processors where your fees would end up being less than 1%.

The main advantage of Cryptopay is the low equipment costs and the quick installation because it is wireless to the coordinator. Plus the swipers can be mounted on most bay doors and they have a vending solution. How does that compare to Washgear?

 

[MEP001]

WashGear's equipment is pretty expensive (I think $1800 per unit) but I've talked to someone there that is willing to work with me and Dralco to mount their equipment in a custom door and bring the cost down to about $1000 per bay. Still pricey, but it's really solid and reliable stuff, and you will save hundreds per month on processing fees so it'll pay off the difference quickly.

Cryptopay hardware is cheap because they're selling it pretty much at cost, and then they get a cut of your sales through Worldpay.

Between WashGear being Cat5 wired communication and the high cost of the hardware, I don't see it as cost-effective for vending or viable for vacuums, but one could always use Cryptopay for those and WashGear for bays where the vast majority of sales are made.

 

[Kramerwv]

Wonder if 5G wireless will bring about competition in this space due to the supposed speed increase?

 

[MEP001]

Wonder if 5G wireless will bring about competition in this space due to the supposed speed increase?

Probably not, since the packet of data sent/received for CC processing is just a few kilobytes. Internet "speed" isn't how fast the data gets somewhere, it's how much data can move in a given time.

 

[Greg Pack]

I see these posts and complaints but I just don't have that much trouble with cryptopay. I have not logged into the IQ portal because I'm not sure it offers me any benefit. What does it provide anyway? I get my statement and any charge back notices via mail. It's costing me less than 5% of sales to offer CC acceptance and we all know the average card customer is spending more than enough money to make up that over a cash customer. It's only going to get better as time passes and fewer and fewer people carry cash. Older people are the only ones that seem intimidated by the system/process.

 

[Sequoia]

It's costing me less than 5% of sales to offer CC acceptance and we all know the average card customer is spending more than enough money to make up that over a cash customer. It's only going to get better as time passes and fewer and fewer people carry cash. Older people are the only ones that seem intimidated by the system/process.

Agree!

 

[Earl Weiss]

So guys, tell me....Is CC acceptance in bays really worth it $$$ wise and the hassle of dealing with the processing companies?

How many businesses in your area do not accept CC?

You can try what I did - put crypto in a couple of bay - busiest ones. Put up signs that says "These Bays accept credit cards. " That is what I did,. See what happens. In a couple of months I did the rest of the bays and a few months later half the Vacuums. Count up is a game changer.

In a decent month crypto generates enough revenue to recoup the cost. Is this new revenue? I don't know, but if I was considering replacing a vacuum that generates revenue at that rate it would be an easy decision . Hassles are no,inal.

 

[Greg Pack]

Anyone that is on the fence about cryptopay I'd say do it. Its a low investment, low time commitment process. Install and configuration is as easy as it gets.

 

[mjwalsh]

Greg & others,

Not trying to be fear mongering or anything personal against Cryptopay & similar payment systems ... but articles like the following could mean ... at minimum ... be prepared for obsolescence? Bigcityville --- maybe fast enough payback ... maybe not so much in a more rural setting?

We had a version of this article in our local Bis Trib paper this morning ... it appears the local trib no longer allows links to the most recent articles to non subscribers or I would have linked that.

Warning: Paying for Gas at the Pump Could Make You a Target for Hackers

Gas pump card readers are less secure, and now criminals are using a new phishing scheme to hack the devices and commit fraud.

www.mentalfloss.com

 

[Car Wash Newbie]

My fees are around 3.6% with Cryptopay. I have 6 SS bays and a vacuum with Cryptopay. Planning on adding another vac swiper and one to my new megavendor vending machine. The only thing I use the my IQ website for is to issue a refund. Sometimes people don't read the credit card instructions and swipe the card, wait for the dollar amount to count up to $2.25 (starting minimum) and then press stop. They then proceed to try to use the wash and obviously it will not work as they just stopped the charges. When that happens and they call me I explain how it works, get them to swipe the card again and refund the initial $2.25.

If you use the cryptopay analytics service ($180/yr) you can compare and see how much more people spend on credit vs. cash. Well worth the 3.6% IMO. Now I wish we had a choice and not just worldpay. I have also a unitec portal that uses a windcave solution for the automatic and decided to use worldpay as well just to keep it simple. So I get two deposits everyday from world pay, one fo the automatic and one for the rest with cryptopay.

Just my two cents...

 

[Zal]

Just got an e-mail that cryptopay is forcing switch of existing accounts from First Data to worldpay. Don't know how this will affect me since both my Tunnel and SS use the same First data account.

You will get shafted if you leave as well. Be prepared for exit fees.

 

[mjwalsh]

Oh no ... tell me it ain't so ... some countries have an exit fee for visitors ... before you can board an airplane back to the USA. This not so worldly naive traveler back in 1998 was surprised with a $20 exit fee (ouch) before I could return to the USA from the Guatemala City Airport back in 1998.

I wonder how drastic of an exit fee the merchant gateway contracts exact on small businesses or just specifically car washes?

I just signed a 3 yr contract with a trash pickup company & at about the 30th month (as long as I don't cancel before then) ... I will be able to show the start of gains on the better deal they gave me by locking us both in.

 

[MEP001]

If you use the cryptopay analytics service ($180/yr) you can compare and see how much more people spend on credit vs. cash.

FWIW I did what I feel is a more accurate test, since in my experience many people let the timer run out when paying cash. Saw the usual thing tonight, guy starts timer with coins, wets car, then goes to foam brush and cleans entire car, meanwhile time has been out by at least five minutes before he restarts timer to rinse. So at the start of a weekend I make note of both CC and cash in, and at the end I make note again and watch surveillance video and count cars washed. I also checked transactions to make sure no one with a card stopped and restarted with CC which would throw it off.

 

[Jerry33]

So I finally got my forced switch from first data to worldpay completed. Wow did I get screwed. I have had their service running for over 2 months now and can't get even get my monthly statements from them to see what I am paying. Their IQ website says I need to contact the system administrator. Well I have at least 5 calls in and am getting no-where, not to mention at least 2 and a half hours on the phone so far. Their verification method to make sure its you is beyond belief. You give them 6 different ways to verify its you and they want your bank account number and routing number on top of all that. Who request your bank account number for verification? I am about to just get rid of cryptopay all together. I didn't have these issues with first data.

Very same problem in my second month with Crypto and Worldpay and I asked for help on another thread about how to get a monthly statement. Getting help from a live person on WP's help line is a nightmare. Half a dozen phone calls and all with "english as second or third language" and I could not get past the verification requirements. They told me address, last several charge amounts, phone number, etc were all wrong and to call back when I had the right info and hung up on me. Blood pressure thru the roof! Finally got RACHAEL, God love her! She did not hang up on me. Kept digging and Worldpay had apparently purchased a company that I dealt with over 10 years ago and that was the "last charged amount" and "phone number" etc that the previous helpers wanted. Rachael helped me get on-board with the Worldpay IQ site. Bless her heart! Still can't get a monthly statement.