In setting up EFTPOS services for Yarra Valley Machinery Preservation Society – we identified the following things are important to check and understand which is highest priority for your club.
- Location and method of payment by people
If you have people paying at the gate upon entry (ie moving traffic), you need to have devices that are easy to handle.
The Tyro full size devices are good for this as you can have in in your waist bag most groups have.
The device needs to have plenty of power in reserve to last for the period you are expecting people to pay – say 9:30AM to 2:30PM
If you have people paying at a counter or table then the type of device is not so as important as you will have space to have a full size tyro type device or a tyro go or wedge where you will need phone, go/wedge and potentially spare battery space.
Need to determine the number of payment places and how many of each type you might need.
- Power Supply
If you have devices which will last for the expected payment period then this is not a priority.
If running Tyro go or wedge devices you may need to have backup power for both the device and your iphone
Backup batteries may not be sufficient as the phone will be running hard on both Bluetooth and data connectivity through its internet connection
If you are able have power with USB or equivalent power adaptors - Physical Location
Whilst the phone companies say there is 100% coverage – check the location of where you are going to be doing your transactions and make sure you have good network coverage
Do your testing with the devices you are planning to use. - Costs
Whilst the NHMA costs might be higher than some of the deals Bendigo Bank can organise, there devices may be more reliable in a given situation.
Some of deals have no fees for the first $16,000, but will be the same as what NHMA charge once you have got past that amount.
Postage costs of the machines is reasonably cheap. - Other activities
To get your own EFTPOS devices you need to set up a ABN and then have a extra responsibility of doing a not for profit tax return each year.
YVMPS were told by the local Bendigo Bank they could organise machines through Tyro for them.
Our event has two areas of payments – one at the gate where two people are taking payments and a sausage sizzle area where one person is taking payments.
At the gate there is constant flow of traffic so need a quick method of payment.
With the bank they suggested get a tyro full device (no monthly fess and 1.8% fee after $16,000 and a couple of go devices – one for gate and one for sausage sizzle.
We had also booked the NHMA machines
So what happened
Prior to the event
We got the new tyro machine through the bank and did some basic testing – all seemed to work okay.
The NHMA machines also arrived.
At the event
We started with the new tyro machines at the gate.
The full machine refused to go to card scanning screen – and given network unstable messages..
The tyro go machine worked for a handful of payments – but the Bluetooth connectivity kept dropping.
We then swapped and started using the NHMA machines and they worked for then full weekend with no issues.
At the Sausage Sizzle
The tyro go device worked well as they had a table with space, the phone battery drained fairly quickly and needed constant power to run reliably with no issues.
Learning
Setting up and establishing payment services is not as simple as it looks and it may be appropriate to borrow the NHMA ones. Hopefully this helps any club going down this path understand what they need to be thinking about.