GenCon 2005 Booth and Credit Cards

[Andrew Morris]

Clinton, is that time considering that it'll be in sleep mode a good chunk of the time? You can also force it into sleep mode directly after each transaction, or (less convenient, but very power-saving) shut it down each time.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Clinton, is that time considering that it'll be in sleep mode a good chunk of the time? You can also force it into sleep mode directly after each transaction, or (less convenient, but very power-saving) shut it down each time.

Andrew,

It's not considering that, and, man, better safe than sorry. We could probably get by with two, although I'd rather not put it in sleep mode each time - we're talking 5-10 seconds to type a password, re-establish wireless, etc. You might think that's not a lot of time, but, well, I go to trade shows for a living. It's way too much time.

[Eric Provost]

Lisa and I used to do little shows, and Lisa sold cellphones out of a kiosk for a tiny cellphone company.  We were talking about Ron's suggestion of a last-ditch effort to use the slidey-dealy.  Here's what came to mind.

1.  If you go with the slidey-dealy, you don't necessarily have to deal with the possibility of fraud.  Each credit card company has a toll-free number you can call (as a business) to confirm the validity of the card.  Downside being that this takes a while.  Those toll-free numbers are usually poorly maned.  From Lisa's experience anyway.

2.  Has anyone yet contacted their bank to determine if they would provide the necessary materials for this endeavour?  I know my bank's pretty cool about stuff like that and if I took the time to walk into any one of the branches and explained the situation, I'd have someone there who knew what they were talking about sitting right next to me, explaining all my options and what I needed to do to get the ball rolling.  Good banks are worth every penny of fees.

3.  On the same note as above;  Has anyone contacted the major credit card companies' information lines?  Certainly there are people from Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Discover that are just eagerly waiting to help you help people use their cards.  After all, they don't make a dime on cash sales and want their consumers to swipe that card.  It's third-hand info, but when I was bartending for a little (yet insanely expensive) italian place last year the owner of the place haggled with AmEx 'till they provided us with boxes and boxes of useful items.  From running a new telephone line for us, to providing all new swipe machines, to providing us with a case of those little books you get your bill in at the end of the meal.  

Hope some of that helps.  I probably would have spent twice as much at Origins if the right people had taken plastic.  

-Eric (with help from Lisa)

[Luke]

Hi Clinton,

As far as I know, power's not an issue. Greg Porter brings his laptop and drycell arrangement every year. Last year he powered the register and his own computer. I'll bet we could get by with our batteries and his.

And, there is no wireless option at the convention center. There is only a wired ethernet option at 56kps rate for $450 for the weekend. As I said, that's $25 each. If we can get a functioning wireless modem, we can get the cost down to $2 each.

-L

[Andrew Morris]

Here's a thought -- most cell phone companies will let you add on services like data connection outside of your contract. So, depending on your provider, you might be able to sign up for a month of data access, then cancel after the convention. This wouldn't be too expensive, especially when divided up between participants. Heck, in my experience, if you call customer service and say that you're considering adding on a data plan, most providers will give you a free month to try and convince you. If you do decide to go this route, Verizon (or any other company with something faster than standard GPRS would be a good candidate). On the down side, the person has to give up their cell phone for a good chunk of the convention, a thought which gives me shakes.

[Andy Kitkowski]

One thing to consider with using a cell phone as a modem is whether or not you can get a solid signal from inside the building. It won't help if you have to run outside the dealer's hall each transaction to get a clear signal.  

Didn't want to gum up the works, but there is that concern.  I'll gladly learn whatever method we pick and help out with CC transactions at the booth.

-Andy

[Luke]

well, considering that last year I used my sprint/sanyo to argue with Express Media for a good 30 minutes while pacing the exhibit hall floor, I'm not too worried. But it is a possibility.

-L

[jrs]

I've done a small amount of research on Ron's suggested fallback plan.  

First, the "slidey-thing" is called a credit card imprinter.  It usually includes a personalized plate that identifies the seller.  It is a low-tech way to capture credit card numbers for confirmed sales.  More high tech point of sale equipment are card swipers with wireless capability for card number verification.  

In addition to a credit card imprinter or other POS equipment, the retailer needs a merchant account from a bank or other third party entity (there are lots of them).  The merchant account is required to handle the financial transactions with the credit card companies.  There are different flavors of merchant accounts based on types of expected sales-- face-to-face, telephone, or internet.  A merchant account usually has fees associated with it or some percentage cut of sales.  If I understand all this correctly, paypal basically acts as a merchant account provider for internet sales.  

The upshot is that using a credit card imprinter may be a fallback plan, but I don't think it will work as a last minute deal-- not unless someone at the booth already has an established merchant account set up for in-person retail sales.   I was not able to get a good sense of fee structures so I do not know if it would be any less costly than what Luke is proposing.

Julie

[Matt Wilson]

From a technical standpoint - I have no idea what you're talking about with CDMA and whatnot.

FYI CDMA is a cellular network technology used by Verizon and Sprint (almost everyone else uses an open standard called GSM). Basically means you're using a cellular network to hit the internet, and my god it's so unbearably slow, slower than dialup IIRC.

[Andrew Morris]

Right, GSM is more flexible and common, but CDMA is faster and superior in other ways. As to the speeds, GPRS service (which is the kind of data connection you'd get with a GSM provider) runs at about 9-40 kbps, while a dial-up connection is around 33 kbps. On average, though, yes, GPRS will run slower than a phone line connection.

The CDMA services can get faster data transfer rates, but I don't know them off the top of my head.

[Adam]

Another suggestion: take a look at the exhibit hall map, and contact the companies nearby to see if they have a proper credit card/wireless setup. You record the inventory sold at your booth, give the credit card and a total to a runner, and he hops over to the other booth and runs the transaction.

When I've done this with other companies, the company with the credit card system pays the borrower with cash at the end of the day, minus a small service fee -- 5-10%.

Cheers,
Adam

[daMoose_Neo]

A) I'm in! I know I missed out on sales last year because of that and considered hauling in a laptop if I was doing it myself.

B) GSM isn't neccesarily more common. TDMA/CDMA is moreso, especially in rural areas and "the pickers" (Michigan is actually fairly aweful yet for GSM - I know, I sell the damn things :( Get calls every week from about a half-a-dozen unsatisfied GSM customers). GSM and PCS (the majority of Sprint's network) is still, mostly, in the more populated areas. Which means Indy is cool, I just had to babble ^_^

[timfire]

When I've done this with other companies, the company with the credit card system pays the borrower with cash at the end of the day, minus a small service fee -- 5-10%.

If we're going to pay someone 5-10%, we might as well just pay the $450 for an ethernet connection.

You know, I'm starting to think it might be better to just pay the money & know that connection is going to work. I know it might have worked last year, but are you sure we can get reception this year? Probably, but I would hate to show up Thursday morning and find that it isn't.

Also, I think the speed factor should be taken seriously. Entering all that info into PayPal is going to take enought time as it is, we probably don't want to take any more time than is neccessary. Can anyone test how long it takes to load up PayPal and go thru the all the neccessary steps with a cellphone connection?

But that's just my opinion.

[btrc]

I think $450 for an ethernet connection is exorbitant, like all the other rental fees (regardless of how many ways the $450 is split). If there is a wireless network in the convention center, my laptop has a wireless card in it.

Another option which I think I mentioned a few months back is that I think Nextel has a cell phone with an add-on credit card swiper. I bet it costs less than $450! The question is whether anyone at the booth attends enough conventions that they would want such a beastie.

http://www.nextel.com/en/solutions/special_devices/creditel.shtml

I think the "ka-chunk" credit card imprinter is fine for all our purposes, if we have someone who already has a credit card account for same.

Greg
BTRC

[timfire]

Another option which I think I mentioned a few months back is that I think Nextel has a cell phone with an add-on credit card swiper.

Hmm, that's kinda nifty. With a small bit of internet research I also found some other similar products. But just like an imprinter, the owner needs a merchant account to use one. So who ever would have have to not just buy the unit, but would also have to set up a mechant account (if they don't already have one).