Blog

4 Contactless Payment Options for Your Business

During 2020, shopping experiences have been unlike anything we have ever experienced. COVID-19 forced many small businesses to quickly adapt to a new normal in order to survive, implementing new payment processes, moving brick-and-mortar inventory to e-commerce, rolling out curbside pickup and more. As businesses begin reopening for in-person sales, customers will be looking to keep their distance from one another and avoid touching surfaces, making touch-free and remote payment methods more important than ever.

There are many options for accepting contactless payments, so take some time to explore your choices and find the best fit for your business.

1) Contactless Card and Mobile Payments
All credit card terminals offered at CaniPayCapital have the ability to accept contactless or mobile payments through Apple Pay®, Android Pay®, Samsung Pay®, and Google Pay®, which are quick and secure. If you need a device with more sophisticated capabilities like inventory, payroll, or restaurant management, explore a fully loaded POS system that is better equipped to accept this style of payment.

For those of you offering delivery, curbside pickup, or any other option that doesn’t allow you to operate from within your brick-and-mortar, SwipeSimple is perfect. This Bluetooth device connects right to your cell phone so you can accept credit cards no matter where you are!

2) Online Payments
Moving your brick-and-mortar business online might be necessary to ensure operations continue running smoothly. Platforms like Shopify let you easily build an online website so your customers can have access to your products without needing to worry about face-to-face interactions.

3) Recurring Payments
Automatic recurring payments are an easy way to accept payment from your repeat customers without any contact at all. Any businesses that offer services on a monthly basis would be a perfect fit for this option. Gyms, tanning salons, and lawn services are all examples of industries we see utilizing this option quite a bit.

Additionally, services like SwipeSimple allow you to set up recurring payments with your customers, invoice them, and also accept in person payments all for just $10/month. (We partner with SwipeSimple, so we know their service is great!)

4) Electronic Invoicing
Invoices are most commonly used in industries that offer a service of some kind, but during COVID this is a great option to consider. With electronic invoicing, your customers can securely pay you through the invoice they receive via e-mail, and you can keep track of their payments in real time. If you are taking phone orders, sending an invoice is a great option to make sure you get payment before picking up or shipping out.

Finding the best payment processing option for your business can be hugely impactful in ensuring a continuous revenue stream during COVID-19 and into the future. For more tips on making the right choices for your business, browse our blog!

What is Dual Pricing?

As a business owner, it can be overwhelming to learn about all your credit card processing options, and you may need clarification on which one is best for you. We’ll go over Dual Pricing in-depth to determine if this credit card processing program may be the one you’re looking for. In short, Dual Pricing is to offer two forms of purchasing methods for your consumers, one being credit/debit card and the other being paying with cold hard cash. An example of a company that uses this would be gas stations. You have the option to pay at the pump with your card or to pay inside with cash. This is a great industry to utilize this method, and there are a few more we’ll go over to see if this is the proper fit for your company.

This is a relatively newer program in this industry, so even if you are experienced with credit card processing and the programs offered, this may still be new. The payment processing industry has advanced in technology in the past few years to make this a quality alternative for your payment processing needs.

Dual Pricing- Is It Right For You?

To be straight to the point, the best business to utilize this would be a Brick-and-Mortar one. A physical location business that sees most of their transactions face-to-face but also sees a lot of cash AND credit card transactions.

Examples are retailers, boutiques, salons, restaurants, and gas stations.

What Are The Benefits of Using Dual Processing?

When using this program, you can accept cash and credit card payments as an option. If you are familiar with credit card processing, you know that for every payment that occurs, you are roughly charged 2.5% + .10cents. As a business owner, you would profit more if the customer purchased your goods or services with cash. Not only do you benefit, but the customer saves too because the cash option is priced lower than the credit card price. As a business owner, you can set the cash price yourself.

Another notable benefit is that you will be compliant in all 50 states. As a merchant, you MUST distinctively distinguish the different prices. Think of it as the matrix offering the red and blue pill. You must present both alternatives and give them the option to make a choice themselves.

Dual Processing, Credit Card Processing, & Your POS System

Your point-of-sale system, which you use to checkout and accept payments at your business, can safely and swiftly integrate Dual-Pricing. Essentially all it will take is a quick update to your system, and now, when the merchant is checking out a customer, they will receive two options on the approach to hit- one being the card pricing and the other being the cash. When a customer chooses one or the other, you push the corresponding option, print the receipt, and bam- that’s it.
A standard pricing option to balance the two options is to add 4% to your cash price, which is your credit card pricing. The good thing is that your POS will take care of all this math for you to make it even more effortless to integrate this program.
For example: if the merchant price is $10 for a burger, the cash price would be $10, and the credit card price is $10.40.

Furthermore, for every transaction that takes place, whether it’s cash or credit card, your POS will keep track so you will still have accurate reporting on all revenue and profits.

2 Things To Consider If Dual Pricing Is Right For You

Dual Pricing may not be the best option for every business model and this is a quick checklist that you can use to validate if it is right for you or not.

1) Cash Transactions

The most important thing to consider when debating about switching to a new program, is how will that benefit help me? In this case, the benefit of dual pricing is having a cash and card option for your customers. So most importantly, you should be seeing a decent amount of cash transactions in order for this to benefit you the most.

2) Are Your Needs Being Met With Current Payment Processing Program?

A great question to ask yourself is are your current needs being met? A great example I love to use is your phone program. Not every program is best for every customer, some use international data while others need it to just send a few texts a month.

If you’re interested in Dual-Pricing for your payment processing program then check this out! We’d love to hop on the phone and have a conversation if it’s the perfect fit for your business.

After all this, hopefully you have learned more about Dual-Pricing and whether or not it could potentially be the right program for you. If dual-pricing is sounding like the next program for you then we may be able to assist you, if not then check out our resource page and feel free to view our other blogs, guides, and much more for free!

Offset Payment Processing Fees with CaniPayCapital’s Cash Discount Program

Let’s face it: as a business owner you are BUSY. Whether it’s keeping up with inventory, managing payroll, or billing clients, you have a long list of things to accomplish throughout the month while trying to remain as profitable as possible. So, when that dreaded credit card processing bill arrives every month you try not to dwell on it. It’s just another part of owning a business, right?

Your processing salesperson assures you they’ve hooked you up with the best rate, and they haven’t royally messed anything up yet, so you have no reason to shop around. Plus, you don’t have the time to spend attempting to compare the various rates and types of fees of each company. So as a busy business owner, you’ll settle for your current company, despite that dreaded monthly bill. You’ve heard of this new trend “Cash Discounting” but your customers are different, and you know they wouldn’t be happy to see a 4% service charge on their bill. As much as you would LOVE to reduce your bill to $25 per month, you just can’t charge your customers a 4% fee.

What if there was a brand-new way to implement a cash discount program that would leave both you and your customers happy?

Cash Discount Program
How could that possibly work? The answer is simple. RAISE your prices by 4%. CaniPayCapital’s unique technology isolates the 4% increase and immediately applies that to your processing bill, reducing it to a flat, low fee for unlimited processing (as low as $25!). Using this program, you no longer have to worry about an unpredictable processing bill and all of the rate and fee confusion.

Our new cash discount program, Cash Discount 2.0, allows you to have customers cover their own fees while making them blissfully unaware that it’s happening- because it’s included in the price they see. If you have regulars who would make a fuss about a 4% price increase, we have good news: they can still pay yesterday’s prices simply by paying with cash. This new program replaces the need for service fees, cash discount signage, and any other evidence that would indicate to a customer that they are covering their own fees. In place of that, when you raise your prices by 4%, the price they see on the menu or item in your store is the amount they are charged at the register.

When you partner with CaniPayCapital, 4% is isolated from the credit card sale immediately so that additional money doesn’t hit your books and your bill each month is one flat, low fee. (Which is why simply raising your prices on your own does not accomplish the same thing as the cash discount program with CaniPayCapital would.)

Getting Customers on Board
The key to this program is how you present it. Take off your business owner hat for a minute and put on your buyer hat. With our old program that added a service fee, if you buy a $5 coffee, you might be confused when you look at the receipt and see an additional 4% service fee was charged just because you paid with your credit card. Our Cash Discount program allows business owners to avoid having a complicated discussion with their customers about what that service fee is because Cash Discount 2.0 has no service fee!

So let’s say you decide to grab a coffee one morning but see the price is marked with an additional 4% (or $0.20 higher) from the beginning. You’re probably still buying that coffee and most likely don’t even pay attention to the $0.20. When you pay, the cashier even offers to give you a discount if you pay with cash, bringing your total down to $5. Cool! The overall experience will then be a positive one as a consumer, everybody loves the opportunity for a discount but nobody likes to be charged more.

Why Our Program Works
The reason this program works so well is because it uses the psychology of a consumer to it’s advantage, and therefore works great for all price ranges! «Mrs. Customer the bill for your landscaping project is $6,240 but if you pay cash or check we will drop that down to $6,000.» Sold! That person feels like they are getting an awesome deal, she has no idea that yesterday’s prices were $6,000. Plus, you have the option to offer a cash discount or not. You can choose to raise your prices 4% across the board with no cash discount, knowing that you’re saving money on the processing fees as well as pocketing a little more on cash sales.

Benefits of Cash Discount 2.0
You no longer have to worry about a processing bill that is perpetually more expensive because of bi-annual rate increases. That is now OUR problem.
NO signage stating customers who pay with cards will pay more. A simple sign showing the cards that you accept will replace that. Or if you choose to offer a cash discount, your signage will look like this.
NO “service charge” or any line item on the receipt to indicate card paying customers pay more
NO fluctuating, unpredictable monthly bill. You will now pay as low as $25/month for unlimited processing
CaniPayCapital’s technology isolates your 4% price increase at the time of the sale so you won’t pay more in fees, or pay money on money
At your discretion, a discount up to 4% can be offered to cash paying customers. If no discount is given, you can profit more on cash sales
Automated terminal will apply discounts for you on cash transactions if you choose to offer them
100% compliant and legal in all 50 states (We are constantly monitoring potential and current laws & regulations to make sure that you are compliant and protected. Rest assured, you are in good hands!)
Encourages your customers to pay with cash
No long-term contracts!
We understand that new things are scary, which is why we don’t make you sign a long-term contract. We know there will be a transition period with updating your pricing, and there may be costs involved with that. We will try to help you with that as much as we can, knowing that you will save a tremendous amount on this program.

You can try Cash Discount 2.0 to see how it works in your business without worry, and switch back to traditional processing at any time if it truly does not work for your business. (We will even match or beat the rate you had previously!) We have piloted Cash Discount 2.0 and it is proven successful. Which means we already know your main concerns, and we’ve addressed them right here!

Goodbye confusing processing fees, dreadful processing bill that seems to constantly go up, and long-term contracts, hello simplicity!

Looking for more information about our cash discount program or other tips to boost your business? Visit our blog!