9 Questions to Ask When Buying an EFTPOS Terminal

Looking for ways to save money in your business? Here are five. The primary purpose of any EFTPOS machine is to enable customers to pay for products or services safely and securely. However, operating a business is expensive — and accepting cards and other cashless forms of currency comes at a cost. Zeller was established to help Australian businesses grow, so it makes sense that together, Zeller Terminal , Zeller Transaction Account , and Zeller Debit Card can save you money. Here are five of the ways Zeller helps keep more money in your business. 1. One low, flat fee. Transaction charges are an expense a business incurs each time an electronic payment is processed. Depending on your payment services provider, these fees can vary widely — making it difficult to anticipate what charges you'll be up for at the end of the month. Zeller processes every tapped, dipped and swiped transaction (including AMEX) for one low rate of 1.4%. Quinton Evens, owner of White Lily Couture , recently made the switch to Zeller. “It started with thinking, how we can use our cash smarter? We looked at other banks and terminal options, but they couldn’t beat our current rate," he says. "When we calculated how much we were paying versus how much we could save with Zeller, it was a no-brainer. Saving $10,000 a year on transaction fees is insane." 2. Automatic surcharging for zero-cost EFTPOS. Surcharging is a part of modern-day life, and an easy way to recoup your cost of acceptance from customers who choose to use cashless forms of payment. The number of customers who carry cash is dwindling, meaning most sales these days come at a small cost — which you can pass on to the customer as a surcharge. For every purchase made with a card or device that is tapped, dipped or swiped to Zeller Terminal, the transaction cost is just 1.4%. As a merchant, you are legally able to pass your cost of acceptance on to your customers – giving you fee-free EFTPOS . Some EFTPOS providers charge merchants an additional fee to switch surcharging functionality on, and make the switch irreversible. This effectively forces merchants to make a definitive decision for their business, one way or the other, and financially commit to it. But how do you know if surcharging is right for your business, and your customers? Zeller Terminal’s surcharging functionality can easily be toggled on from Zeller Dashboard. You can even customise your surcharge amount. With surcharging enabled, your Zeller Terminal will automatically apply a surcharge to every transaction total, after your customer's card is presented, but prior to any card verification and transaction authorisation steps (such as PIN entry or signature). If you decide surcharging is not for you, simply toggle the functionality off. Considering implementing a surcharge at your business? Read our article first to determine if it’s right for your business and your customers, or if there’s another way you can recoup the cost of transactions. 2. Fast settlement. For many merchants, the reality is that funds accepted via their EFTPOS machine aren’t cleared for one or two business days. That means that any payments accepted at the end of the week are often not available to be spent until Tuesday or Wednesday, the following week. The faster you can access your funds, the faster you can put them to work — paying staff, ordering supplies, and investing in your business. That’s why, when you accept funds via Zeller Terminal and have them settled in to your free Zeller Transaction Account, you are able to use your Zeller Debit Card to spend the funds the very next day. 3. Easy tipping. Tipping may not be an ingrained part of Australian culture, but by not offering it you’re removing the opportunity for customers to reward your staff for their efforts. You could be costing your business — especially if you have a large tourist clientele. Some EFTPOS terminals will prompt customers to leave a percentage-based tip, or to key in a specific amount. With Zeller, you have the option to do both, one or the other, or neither. Why not enable Zeller’s tipping functionality, and leave it to the customer to decide whether they want to tip or not? Zeller Terminal enables you to prompt your customers to leave a dip during the transaction flow. This is particularly handy for hospitality-based businesses, however, these days many Australians are also tipping for services rendered. So, how much should you prompt customers to tip? Some sources say 10% is typical. Others say $5 per person, or more if dining at a high-end restaurant. With tipping enabled, Zeller Terminal can prompt your customer to either enter a numerical figure or select a percentage-based tip. You can even customise the percentage-based tip amounts – say, 5%, 10% and 20%. 4. Transaction visibility. In order to appropriately manage your cash flow and identify any opportunities to save costs, you need visibility over your transactions. Any time you have the Zeller Terminal in hand, you can scroll through a chronological list of transactions. Instead of manually counting a cash draw or reconciling your paper receipts, simply tap Transactions from the Navigation menu and a list of transactions will appear. Knowing the state of your takings at any point in time is important. If you operate a food truck, for example, you might have a specific target to meet. With an hour to go until closing time, wouldn’t it be handy to know you only have $150 in transactions to go until you hit your goal for the day? Armed with that knowledge, you might decide to combine some of your items into a special — meaning less food wastage, and a strong end to the day. 5. Fee-free business debit card. Spend the funds settled into your Zeller Transaction Account using the Zeller Debit Card, and you won’t pay any fees for domestic purchases. There’s no annual card fee, either. You can use it both in person and online. We offer this to provide you more affordable business spending. Funds accepted through a Zeller Terminal will be swept into a Zeller Transaction Account overnight, and available for you to spend using your Zeller Debit Card the next business day. You are, however, able to settle funds to an external third-party bank account instead. By sharing your details with us, we may contact you from time to time. We promise we won’t bug you — and you can unsubscribe from communications at any time.

Considering a card machine? Here's what to weigh up. Having a reliable card machine and accepting card payments is becoming increasingly important to Australian businesses. Contact payment is now the norm, so when you’re starting up a business, one of the first things you’ll need to consider is whether to get EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of sale). While there has been a rapid decline in cash payments over the past decade, the rise in payment technology means it’s crucial to be informed about the various EFTPOS options that are available to your business so you can make the right choice. Looking for more information about what EFTPOS is and how it works? We’ve written a handy article explaining exactly that. Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of using EFTPOS in your business. What are the advantages of EFTPOS? The advantages of EFTPOS include faster transactions, encryption for security, quicker access to your funds, the ability to offer multiple payment methods for your customers' convenience, and proof of payment with a digital or hard-copy receipt. Faster transactions A card machine has the superior ability to speed up transactions, which means you can create a better service experience for your customers while also lowering your labour costs. For the hospitality industry, increased efficiency is the key to handling rush hour. This is the time your business will be making the most money so it’s important to be able to keep customer satisfaction levels high while finalising transactions quickly. Having EFTPOS machines handy helps your employees keep up the pace during those frantic peak times. More secure EFTPOS machines offer businesses a much higher level of security than when you’re dealing with cash and keeping large quantities of it in your till. Thieves primarily target businesses that make a lot of cash quickly. By having card payments where the funds transfer directly into your bank account, you are more likely to avoid being a victim of this type of petty crime. Quicker access to your funds Instead of making a time-consuming trip to the bank to deposit cash, then waiting for it to hit your account, you can accept funds through Zeller Terminal. The money will conveniently settle in your account by the next business day. If you sweep the funds into a Zeller Transaction Account, they can be available even sooner. This helps increase your business's cash flow. Some card machine providers have setups that take longer, so if fast access to takings is important to you, look for a provider that prioritises this. Accept multiple payment methods EFTPOS terminals can accept a wide variety of payment methods, including contactless technology. Options include AMEX, Apple Pay, Google Pay, eftpos, and more. Letting your customer choose what’s convenient for them will ensure you meet their needs. It's a key part of providing exceptional, memorable customer service as a whole. Proof of payment An EFTPOS terminal will provide your customer with a physical receipt, which proves what, when and how they purchased goods or services from your business. Some providers, such as Zeller, will also allow you to email or text a digital receipt to your customers, so they can keep it for their records. Even if your customer doesn’t take the receipt, you’ve got details of the transaction to ensure there’s proof of payment. There’s no need to count your till when a customer says they think they paid with a $50 note, but your staff gave them change for $20, either. Disadvantages of EFTPOS Merchant services fees Each time a customer makes a card payment, you have to pay a transaction fee. When you’re being charged a different rate for accepting AMEX cards, eftpos, and the rest, it can become very difficult to work out how much you’ll need to pay your merchant services provider at the end of the month. This is one reason why the typical merchant statement can be tricky to understand. However, you have the option to pass that off as a surcharge. Look for an EFTPOS terminal provider that charges one flat rate, so you can anticipate your charges. Every card tapped, dipped or swiped on Zeller Terminal costs just 1.4%. You can easily toggle surcharging functionality one or off anytime, from Zeller Dashboard . Risk of downtime EFTPOS terminals rely on a working internet connection to make the transaction happen. Some internet downtime is unavoidable, whether due to service interruption or upgrades — it’s out of your control. When this happens, you won’t be able to accept payment. This is extremely frustrating for a customer and potentially harmful to your business reputation. Decoy Cafe , in Melbourne CBD, was experiencing multiple internet dropouts at peak periods. This rendered their card machines, provided by one of Australia's big four banks, useless — and forced staff to ask customers to return the next day to pay for their purchases. However, since making the switch to Zeller Terminal, Decoy has resolved its downtime issues. Zeller SIM Card (powered by Optus) provides backup internet connectivity, in the event your WiFi cuts out, so you can continue taking payment. Should you get an EFTPOS machine for your business? Without a doubt, you should be operating your business with a quality EFTPOS machine that’s available to your customers however they pay. Every EFTPOS machine is different, from the speed of settlement to the merchant services fees. Make sure you consider all the pros and cons before you make a purchase so you select the card machine that’s right for your business.

Discover how this everyday technology functions and why it’s important to choose the right hardware. You’ve tapped. You’ve swiped. You’ve been approved and declined. Your interactions with EFTPOS have been countless, and yet you may not know what’s behind this ubiquitous technology. While most people can remain happily, cashlessly oblivious, for business owners, it’s very important to know what EFTPOS transactions are, how they work, and how to select the right hardware. Read on for a breakdown of everything you need to know about EFTPOS and some handy advice for choosing a terminal. What is EFTPOS? The name EFTPOS is an acronym for Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale. Put technically, it is an electronic payment system that allows customers to make transactions by electronically transferring funds from their bank account to a merchant's business bank account . Put simply, it is any machine that accepts debit and credit card payments. In today’s age, having an EFTPOS terminal is a boon for business . It is a convenient and efficient way to accept digital transfers, with the added benefit of quick payment processing, automatic record-keeping, and reduced cash handling. The Rise of EFTPOS Introduced to the Australian market in 1984, the EFTPOS transaction system took a while to grow in popularity as business owners and consumers got used to the idea of digital payments. For context, Australians were still using cash for 90% of all transactions in 1985. It wasn’t until 2002 that the EFTPOS industry saw significant growth. At the time, EFTPOS terminals were all produced by the big 4 Australian banks and had cumbersome designs, made for function, not form. These days, the landscape has changed on both sides of the counter. For customers, the shift towards electronic payments has seen a massive adoption of debit and credit cards, as well as more recently, mobile wallets. For merchants, there has been a dramatic improvement in EFTPOS hardware which now not only comes in a plethora of sleek styles to match the aesthetic of your business, but also offers up new functionality to help businesses manage their bottom line and enhance the customer experience, such as surcharging , tipping, and Pay at Table technology. And if embracing the cashless society wasn’t already tracking steadily, the COVID-19 pandemic massively accelerated the trend. Business owners and customers all over Australia have precipitously sought to reduce cash handling since early 2020 due to health concerns around the physical exchange of money. In 2021, the Reserve Bank of Australia reported that just 27% of in-person payments were made using cash. EFTPOS VS. eftpos To confuse matters, eftpos (lowercase) also refers to a privately-run Australian debit card platform. So, while EFTPOS is the globally accepted term referring to the conduit between a customer’s bank account and your business bank account (or Zeller Transaction Account ), eftpos is also the brand name of such a payment system. The important difference with eftpos is that it only serves debit cards — not credit cards — and works in Australia only. It’s unlikely that you’ve ever noticed this subtle difference because 90% of all debit cards in Australia are co-branded with Visa or Mastercard. This means they can process transactions through Australia’s local debit card network (eftpos) as well as international schemes. When a customer taps, dips or swipes their eftpos card and selects either Cheque or Savings, the transaction goes through the eftpos network. If a customer decides to pay via Credit, the transaction is processed via Visa or Mastercard because a credit payment cannot be processed through eftpos. Without getting into the weeds, it’s just important to be aware of the difference between EFTPOS and eftpos so that you understand what you are looking for when shopping for a card-processing terminal. How do EFTPOS transactions work? EFTPOS transactions start with an EFTPOS machine . These machines are the conduits that allow the relevant networks to connect and exchange information in order to complete a payment. The networks involved include the bank where the buyer has an account, your own business bank account , the company providing the EFTPOS machine, and more recently, your point-of-sale technology. The back-and-forth talk between the terminal sitting on your counter and the larger networks ensures the card being used has the necessary funds in its associated account and confirms the identity of the cardholder as well as the bank tied to the card. If the machine is integrated with your POS software, the machine will also communicate with the system to bring up the relevant transaction amount on the terminal. The image below outlines how this system works, and in what order. The Acquirer refers to the financial institution that processes the payment on behalf of the merchant. Zeller for example. The Card Scheme, also known as a payment network or payment scheme, is the organisation that establishes and maintains the rules and infrastructure for the use of credit and debit cards. Visa, Mastercard, American Express are all examples of card schemes. The Card Issuing Bank is the financial institution that provides a credit or debit card to the customer. How long do EFTPOS transactions take? While the transaction is instantaneous, the multi-step process of authentication, verification, and funds transfer detailed above can require some time to fully process. How quickly your money will “settle” (that is, show up in your bank account) will also vary from one EFTPOS terminal provider to another. This is a very important consideration when choosing your payments platform, because the time it takes to access your funds will greatly affect your business cash flow. For example, Zeller customers who settle to their Zeller Transaction Account will receive their funds nightly. Many other platforms can take up to 72 hours. What to look for in an EFTPOS machine When choosing an EFTPOS terminal for your business there are nine questions you need to be asking . Your selection process will involve a consideration of initial output costs, such as terminal fees and setup fees, functionality, and mobility but to make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck, your terminal also needs to tick the following boxes: It needs to accept all card types As a business owner in Australia, your best bet is to ensure your terminal can accept eftpos debit cards as well as common international standards, like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. It needs to accept contactless payments Thanks to the expansion of NFC technology , the “tap-and-go” payment method has gained enormous traction in Australia both with cards and mobile wallets in recent years (four in five customers now pay contactlessly at least once a week). It’s an extremely quick and convenient way for your customers to pay, and will no doubt become the norm over the next few years. Merchant fees need to be low and flat Typically, the EFTPOS transaction fee (charged by the machine provider) will depend on the customer’s choice of payment method — making it very hard for businesses to estimate what their transaction fees will amount to for any given period. Having one low, flat fee for all card types means that you can forecast how much you are likely to pay in processing fees. At Zeller, you will only ever pay 1.4% per transaction. It needs to offer the option of surcharging Also more commonly referred to as zero-cost EFTPOS , surcharging gives you the ability to pass on the aforementioned fee to the customer. Surcharging is becoming more and more common in Australia, and is an important cost-cutting measure for businesses. Read our article on whether surcharging is right for your business. It needs to offer multiple options for connectivity If your WiFi connectivity dips out, it’s integral that you can keep processing payments until it is back up and running. Having a SIM card in your EFTPOS machine means you’ll never have to worry the next time your main connection fails, you’ll simply need to switch to SIM usage and business can continue as usual. For more detail on how terminals work, read our step-by-step guide on how to use an EFTPOS machine. Introducing Zeller At Zeller, we’ve built a smarter EFTPOS payments solution . Zeller Terminal is a dependable, secure EFTPOS terminal boasting mobility, customer convenience, a sleek design and low, transparent fees. With Zeller Terminal, you pay just 1.4% per transaction — no matter whether the customer has tapped, dipped or swiped their payment method of choice. With one low rate for all in-person payments, as well as faster settlements, forecasting your cash flow is simple. With Zeller, you can accept payments, access the money you’ve earned, oversee and manage your cash flow, and much more. And as more payment methods emerge, we are committed to supporting your business to keep pace with change.