4 Questions You Should Be Asking Merchant Services Companies

A video sharing the 4 questions that you should be asking when searching for a merchant services/credit card processing provider. Suggested answers are included as well!

Questions, suggestions or comments can be sent to kevinantosh@gmail.com / 208-340-5632. Please note that I do not provide or represent any merchant services companies. I am able to refer you when possible (US only please).

Restaurant Point of Sale Advice

A quick note that I am focused mainly on the retail side of things but do have personal experience in table serve restaurant management as well as the sales and support of multiple restaurant, bar, and quick serve point of sale systems.

If you are searching for a hospitality point of sale system, please do contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com with a note that my advice will likely not be as in depth as what I can provide on the retail side.

Another Milestone

OK - not really news but pretty cool to let folks know that this rather basic blog site has just surpassed 50,000 page views, my YouTube videos have generated over 10,000 views and my contact database is now over 4,400 contacts!

I'm still committed to offering unbiased information and advice as the Lord allows.

Trip to the Twin Cities?

In the last few months, I have tallied 6 calls and emails from businesses and organizations in the greater Minneapolis - St. Paul, MN area.

While I currently live in Idaho, I always have considered the Twin Cities "home" as I lived in the area from 1968-1998.   I do my best to head back "home" at least once a year.

Given the number of businesses and organizations contacting me from the greater MSP area, I may plan an extended trip back to help in person with your technical needs and to offer general point of sale advice. As extended trips have costs, I would be asking for either travel expense cost offset or am hourly rate for my time.

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Gravity Payments is Making National News

Update: I do have a meeting scheduled with Gravity Payments in Mid May and will pass along more information after the meeting along with any personal recommendations and/or special offers.

As regular readers and watchers of my blog site and YouTube channel know, I focus mainly on cash register and point of sale advice.  However, with the upcoming EMV Liability Shift date as well as many businesses and organizations searching for new or updated point of sale systems,  some of you have mentioned to me that you are actively searching for a better merchant services company to work with.

As the above are all good reasons to shop around for better rates for debit and credit card processing, I wanted to pass along that Gravity Payments has been making the national news lately - in a good way!

The founder and CFO of Gravity Payments (who graduated from a Christian High School that I am very familiar with) has made a commitment to take a lower salary so all the companies employees will eventually make $70,000 or more annually. That is a pretty bold move and speaks well about the company itself. I checked around for reviews and feedback on Gravity Payments from customers and employees and there is actually very little feedback out there. What I found was mostly positive and Gravity Payments does have an "A+" rating with the BBB.

The limited number of reviews and "A+" BBB rating are positive indicators - especially of you search for reviews and complaints for other similar merchant services companies.

As always, perform some due diligence and take some time to watch for the following when working with any merchant services company:

• Will the equipment be compliant to meet the EMV Liability Shift deadline coming up on October 1st, 2015 in the United States
• Early termination fees
• Any sort of long term contract commitment
• Any long term lease requirements
• Ensure that the companies processing will work seamlessly with your point of sale system
• What the real rates/fees are for all types of credit and debit cards (especially check the rates for rewards and airline miles cards)
• Any statement, PCI, chargeback, or similar one-time, monthly or annual fees
• That the average sale/transaction amount in the contract matches what your records show

If you are in the position of wanting to compare rates, you may want to take a look at the Gravity Payments website at http://gravitypayments.com/

Please visit my contact page for information on how to reach me.

PS - as I have a couple of trips planned to Seattle, I may swing by the offices at Gravity Payments and have a cup of coffee to learn more about their company.

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

What type of businesses and organizations have been contacting me so far in 2015

For quarter 1 of 2015, I have been contacted by around 90 businesses and organizations in need of free and unbiased point of sale advice or help. I've also been contacted by a few organizations requesting me to conduct my point of sale workshop at their annual event (conference, expo, etc).

For those searching for point of sale systems, the breakdown is similar to what I saw in 2014:

• 60% have a retail related business
• 30% have a food service related business
• 10% are part of a government entity
• 30% have more than one location
• 50% are only interested in point of sale systems that run on mobile devices like tablets 
• 50% are only interested in point of sale systems that run on computers

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Point of Sale Workshop Reminder

A quick reminder that my next free and unbiased point of sale workshop is being held the afternoon of March 31st, 2015 at the Idaho Small Business Development Center in Boise, ID. I will also be covering information related to the upcoming EMV liability shift date as well as providing an overview of how to select the best point of sale system for your business or organization.

Here is a link to register for the workshop: https://business.idahosbdc.org/workshop.aspx?ekey=40350042

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Next Free & Unbiased Point of Sale Workshop

Wow - so February sure flew by! Here are the details on my next point of sale workshop. As a reminder, these workshops are free and are not sales presentations (I can't sell you anything anyway!).  Given the upcoming liability shift date for EMV, I will be devoting part of the workshop to EMV specifics. The workshop will also cover the following:

• Differences between point of sale systems designed to run on computers versus point of sale systems designed to run on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets
• How to budget for a point of sale system
• What to avoid or common "gotchas' when selecting a point of sale system for your business or organization
• How to select the best vendor to work with
• How to use a weighted point spreadsheet to make your final decision

All of this takes place in a free and unbiased environment! The workshop will be at the Boise, ID location of the Idaho Small Business Development center on Tuesday March 31st 2015 from 2pm to 4pm.

Here is a link to more details and registration information:

https://business.idahosbdc.org/workshop.aspx?ekey=40350042

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Point of Sale Buying Tip: Using a Weighted Point Sheet to Determine which POS is Best for You

By popular request - a video showing how to create and use a simple weighted point spreadsheet to decide which point of sale system is best for your business or organization. This works out great in the decision making process as it uses what is most important to you when selecting a POS system for your business or organization and this decision making method can be utilized by anyone who is searching for a point of sale system.

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Weighted Factor Method of Selecting the Best Point of Sale System

Due to numerous requests - I am working on getting a video and blog post uploaded that explains how to use a basic spreadsheet and factors/points to compare and choose the best POS solution for your business based on what features and functions are most important to you and your business or organization.

I hope to have this up by Sunday, February 8th, 2015.

The whole process is a lot easier that I make it sound and is not general to one type of business or geared towards any one solution.

Blog/YouTube Stats and Thanks!

Since many of you are focused on taxes and making plans for EMV, I wanted to say "thank-you" to the 300+ businesses and organizations that contacted me in 2014 and were kind enough to let me know what you ended up purchasing. Your feedback helps me stay on top of what the popular solutions are as well as gleaning feedback on service and support.

My calculations indicate that you folks have gone on to spend over $2M in various POS solutions.

Please visit my contact page for information on how to reach me.

Which Point of Sale System is Best for You?

Tough question as the answer varies depending on several factors like:

• Type of business
• Type of products and services sold
• Annual sales volume
• Location
• Technical knowledge of the leadership team
• Growth plans
• Existing technology in place and how long the existing technology has been used

Really a short answer isn't possible without learning more about your business or organization. While it would be nice to provide a short answer - the short answer would likely not be very helpful and may send you down the wrong path.

Best bet is to contact me for unbiased point of sale advice, attend one of my point of sale workshops, or even watch my YouTube videos which cover multiple aspects of searching for a new or upgraded point of sale system.

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

$2M Mark Surpassed!

Just a quick note that folks that have contacted me via this blog site have gone on to spend $2 million in point of sale hardware, software, supplies, and related labor.   Not bad considering the basic nature of this blog site!

Full Workshop Is Now Available Online

The video below contains a full version of the point of sale workshop that I conduct for groups of all sizes.  The video is 40 minutes long but covers just about everything related to choosing, selecting and budgeting for a point of sale system designed to be used in retail stores, restaurants, museums, kiosks, concession stands, and food trucks. Note that the video does cover EMV and merchant services as well as information specific to point of sale systems designed to track inventory, customer/guest information, and sales.

All from an unbiased expert!

Be sure to contact me with any questions as well as to request free copies of the materials needed for the workshop (you must be located in the United States in order to request the free workshop materials). You may also want to contact me if you are need of a speaker/presenter at your next event or to assist future business owners seeking assistance via Small Business Development Centers or similar organizations.

Now pop some popcorn, grab your favorite beverage, and enjoy the following:

Workshop Update

Had to cancel todays point of sale workshop but the good news is that a free "on demand" video version of the workshop should be ready soon!

Point of Sale Buying Tip: Avoid "Vapor Features/Functions"

A quick buying tip specific to what I like to call vapor features or vapor functions.  Over the years I have come across companies that advertise functions or features within their point of sale programs that don't yet exist (thus the term "vapor").

The warning here is that your demo of a point of sale system should include real world testing of any specific features or functions that you require of the system. If the vendor tells you that something is "in development" then that means that a particular feature or function could be months away from being released.

A good example would be gift cards. While you can write out paper gift certificates, life is much easier if your point of sale system tracks the gift cards for you.  If the point of sale company tells you that the gift card feature is not yet available for the point of sale program but is "in development" then you may still be writing out paper gift certificates for awhile (and yet have paid for a new point of sale system that was supposed to reduce manual processes and make your life easier).

The point being is that if you need the point of sale program to include a specific feature or perform a specific function, make sure that the program can do this now. Otherwise you may be waiting some time for an update to be released.

As a side note, I question the ethics of any company that advertises a feature or function that is not yet available.

Buying Tip: Best Practices and Top Tips for Choosing a Point of Sale System

By request, a video sharing my top tips and best practices to use when searching for a point of sale system. This applies to anyone and everyone who is searching for a point of sale system to track sales, inventory/food, and customer/guest information.

I cover quite a bit very quickly (tough to compress 15 years of experience in to an 11 minute video) so be sure to contact me for additional unbiased point of sale advice.

Next Free Point of Sale Workshop

Just a quick reminder that my next free Point of Sale workshop is being held on Thursday, October 23rd from 2pm to 4pm at the Idaho Small Business Development Center in Boise, ID.

If you are interested in free and unbiased information on selecting a point of sale system for your business or organization, then visit this webpage for more information: https://business.idahosbdc.org/workshop.aspx?ekey=40340079

Can't make it? Contact me for other options.

Who is the Target Audience for Mobile Point of Sale Systems?

Folks have asked me to better define what type of business would benefit from using a mobile point of sale system (one that runs on a tablet or smartphone) versus businesses that should only be searching for computer-based point of sale systems.  While it is tough to create some hard and fast rules, mobile point of sale systems are generally geared towards the following:

• Businesses or organizations whose annual gross sales are under $500,000/year
• Single location
• Businesses that move from location to location
• Seasonal businesses
• Businesses with low technology needs

The last one is tough to explain - basically if your business has simple inventory, reporting, and customer tracking requirements, then a mobile system should satisfy you. However, if you have more complex needs - especially when it comes to reporting - the the mobile point of sale systems may not be in depth enough for you and your business or organization.

Please visit my contact page for information on how to reach me.

Next Free Point of Sale Workshop

Due to demand, I have been asked to squeeze in one more of my free point of sale workshops before we head in to the holiday season.  These workshops cover a variety of point of sale related topics covering the entire purchasing cycle, offer a great deal of unbiased advice, and are geared towards anyone who is thinking about purchasing a point of sale system for their business or organization.

Even if you are just curious about point of sale systems, there is some solid advice offered that would be beneficial to you.

I may also conduct this workshop in a couple of different locations but this is the only workshop confirmed at this point.  Again, these workshops are free and unbiased - no sales presentations at all!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014 2:00 PM TO 4:00 PM

More info here: https://business.idahosbdc.org/workshop.aspx?ekey=40340079