Merchant Services Solutions • Nova Epos | EPOS Solutions & SaaS Workflow Management https://novaepos.com Custom software solutions Fri, 13 May 2022 11:11:47 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Are you still paying or going to pay too much? https://novaepos.com/paying-too-much-for-epos-systems/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=paying-too-much-for-epos-systems https://novaepos.com/paying-too-much-for-epos-systems/#respond Thu, 13 Jan 2022 09:50:58 +0000 https://novaepos.com/?p=6091 Pre-Covid, businesses were quite happy to take advantage of tax breaks, low cost of borrowing and enter long-term, typically, 4-year lease-finance purchase for new Epos systems or rental agreements for Merchant terminals. Post-Covid, not so, whilst there are still alternatives to cash, some businesses have been lured to the prospect of free or very low-cost […]

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Pre-Covid, businesses were quite happy to take advantage of tax breaks, low cost of borrowing and enter long-term, typically, 4-year lease-finance purchase for new Epos systems or rental agreements for Merchant terminals.

Post-Covid, not so, whilst there are still alternatives to cash, some businesses have been lured to the prospect of free or very low-cost Epos systems and or Merchant terminals, with very low-monthly costs and almost no fixed contract period either, BUT and it is a biggie, much higher card rates and transactions fees, which add up quickly, whilst on the face of it still appearing low, until you check your statement.

Merchant terminal

With more contactless transactions taking place now, and with a greater spend, these costs will rise very quickly!

Pre-pandemic contactless in the UK, accounted for 40% of all card transactions, according to Barclaycard, last year these rocketed to almost 90%, with the single transaction limit at £100 now up from £30.

A quick example, take a good debit card rate of 0.35% per transaction and one of the higher charge zero contract options at 1.75%, still quite low compared to other business charges … you would think?

Now apply £70,000 of monthly card purchases in a business, one cost is £245 in charges, and you can add a tenth in per terminal fees, the other is £1,225 not such a good deal, is it?!

So, what are the other alternatives?

Especially, as life post lockdowns is not going to be a mad rush, may be a little hit and miss for a while and will take time to re-establish itself to 2018 levels.

  1. For Epos, don’t use a free one tied to a card provider , unless you can use a mini-pos with one of the new Android 4G Wi-Fi combined tablet / card terminal devices like the PAX A920, also check on any additional data costs as with some providers it is free, others £5 per month and other purely bandwidth at ridiculous prices, as well as all card rates and extra charges.

  2. Alternatively, take advantage of a lease purchase package, with the additional tax relief that is available including the 130% tax relief for a Capital investment into your business, however, reduce the interest if you can and choose a shorter repayment period.

  3. Choose the equivalent of a Saas (Software as a service) solution, effectively a long-term owned part-rental option, a monthly fixed-cost, typically used by Cloud-based epos providers, many will charge an initial upfront cost for hardware, set-up, configuration and even installation, but it is far lower than if purchasing in full at the outset, followed by a fixed-monthly payment for the balance of the initial costs, support, cloud-hosting etc.

Or find an Epos dealer and Merchant Services provider who have the right balanced solution for you, that is affordable now and, in the future, when things are back to normal, or as normal as it will ever get.

Unless, your business is very small or mostly cash transactions, always opt for a Merchant Provider contract as likely to pay less in fees, typically less than £2,500 to £3,000 per month or double or treble that, if taking into account a free Epos too, if it is up to the task and has all the features and functionality you need as well as the benefit of not being tied into a long-term agreement and potential cancellation fees.

EPoS

Call 01243 855700 to speak to our EPoS specialists.

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]]> https://novaepos.com/paying-too-much-for-epos-systems/feed/ 0 VAT RATES TO CHANGE AGAIN AND AGAIN https://novaepos.com/vat-rates-to-change/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vat-rates-to-change https://novaepos.com/vat-rates-to-change/#respond Mon, 19 Jul 2021 10:35:00 +0000 https://novaepos.com/?p=5835 EIGHT MORE MONTHS BEFORE RETURN TO NORMAL – TIME TO PAY IT FORWARD July 2020 saw the almost unprecedented situation of VAT rates being slashed to 5% within the hospitality and leisure sectors. This move by the Chancellor, was initially set to run until mid-January, however, was extended to the end of March, mainly due […]

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EIGHT MORE MONTHS BEFORE RETURN TO NORMAL – TIME TO PAY IT FORWARD

July 2020 saw the almost unprecedented situation of VAT rates being slashed to 5% within the hospitality and leisure sectors. This move by the Chancellor, was initially set to run until mid-January, however, was extended to the end of March, mainly due to continued lockdowns, and once again until the end of September 2021.

With an interim bump in rates returning to 12.5% in October until the end of March 2022 and then back to the pre-Covid rates of 20%.

VAT Rates

VAT is the third-largest generator of revenue for the Government, so on the face of it a huge deduction, the only comparable one, almost fifty years ago in the financial crises of the mid 1970s, but in actuality, with the number of businesses closed or partially operating the effective loss to HMRC is not that big, (if an estimated £3bn) is not that big, compared to the other Covid related expenditure and support measures?

For many hospitality businesses, they decided not to pass on the reduction to their customers and instead retain the additional bonus revenue, however, we are aware of some Council operated concessions, chose to pass on the reduction as a saving to their customers and it was widely reported that leading hospitality chains and Quick Service Restaurants did the same.

Due to demand, many holiday accommodation operators have also decided to hold on to this windfall, through their pitch fees for caravans and tents, even though they have not been as badly affected as hotels and attractions, let alone the majority of late-night businesses that have been closed since last March.

So, as we move into the autumn and winter months, will more businesses retain the additional margin or choose to reward their customer base?

The Chancellor’s original stated aim was to protect jobs and stimulate the beleaguered hospitality and leisure sectors, by allowing businesses to offer discounts to customers, but further Covid restrictions and lockdowns, prevented that happening, hence the extensions.

Is it time to pay this forward as intended, especially, as there will many no longer receiving furlough payments?

What was on the face of it a very good intention and stimulus, really hasn’t proven to be effective at all.

For the businesses receiving this benefit there are two rate changes between now and April 2022, is this something that takes you hours to do or does your EPOS system supplier do this for you automatically or a chargeable event?

Have the discounted rates been of benefit to your business and have you passed on any savings to your customers?

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