A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

phone recharge

Announcement to newsagents

What follows is the text of an fax sent to all newsagents this morning:

With more than 300 electronic voucher / recharge products available today, eziPass a great offer for newsagents.  Commission on many products is higher.  There is no long contract to sign and no extra equipment to install.  All you need is broadband in your shop and a current model thermal receipt printer.

SIGN UP NOW! Go to www.ezipass.com.au and click on retailer sign up button.  Complete your details and follow the advice on the form.  This is the fastest way to get eziPass running in your newsagency.

HOW YOU USE EZIPASS. For the 1,500 Tower Newsagents, eziPass is available from within the point of sale software. For non Tower newsagents you will be given free stand alone software to run on as many machines as you want.  The commissions and other financial arrangements are the same for Tower and non Tower newsagents.

EXCLUSIVE ST. GEORGE BANKING DEAL AVAILABLE NOW.  We have negotiated very competitive terms with St. George Bank / Bank SA for newsagents.  These terms are available for the integrated point of sale solutions as well as the stand alone terminal.  To establish St. George as your Eftpos banking provider please call them on 1300 137 524.  Tell them you are a Tower newsagent  – this will ensure you get the negotiated rates.Â

OPTUS AND VODAFONE. We are being inundated with calls from newsagents asking when we will have Optus and Vodafone recharge on eziPass.  Today, we cannot answer that question.  We are working on getting Optus and Vodafone to eziPass on several fronts.  The larger the eziPass network the stronger our negotiating position.  The best help you can provide is to sign up today for eziPass.Â

TELSTRA. Telstra recharge products are available now through eziPass.  The newsagent commission is 8%.

FREE WEBINAR – FIND OUT MORE ABOUT EZIPASS. Book now for one of our free webinars – Friday May 2 at 11am and 2pm.  Each webinar will run for about  45 minutes.  You will need access to a phone (for a toll free call) and broadband for your computer to see us and what we present.  Book your free place by emailing bookings@towersystems.com.au.Â

EZIPASS CONTACTS: General support: 03 9524 8000 or email support@towersystems.com.au;  Director: Mark Fletcher 0418 321 338 or mark@towersystems.com.au

SIGN UP NOW! Go to www.ezipass.com.au and click on retailer sign up button.  Complete your details and fax the form.

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Bill Payment

eziPass update

Even though I am in Hong Kong I have been in close contact with the Tower office about the fall out of the increasing difficulties Bill Express finds itself in.  We have been swamped with calls today about eziPass, how to sign up, whether Optus and Vodafone will come on board.  I have prepared a fax tonight which will go out tomorrow sharing as much as we are able at the moment.  This fax includes the 1300 number newsagents can call to access the amazing St.George / Bank SA rates we have negotiated for newsagents.

Newsagents wanting to get live with eziPass need to go to the website and click on retailer signup.  Complete the form and follow instructions for returning that for processing.

There is no doubt that our growing network of 450 – 500 newsagents has got suppliers interested.  I am fielding calls from businesses keen to offer their products through eziPass – some are saying they did not deal with Bill Express because of the cost of loading new products.

By signing up for eziPass you are showing to suppliers that you want a recharge / electronic platform in newsagencies.  Remember, it’s free and there is no long contract.

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Bill Payment

eziPass and Optus and Vodafone recharge

Following the growing challenges facing Bill Express / Dialtime and their apparent loss of Optus recharge product from their platform, we have been inundated with calls about when / if we will get Optus and Vodafone recharge on eziPass.

There is no doubt that the more newsagents registered for eziPass the stronger our pitch to these two vendors.  With 300 products live already on eziPass we have a strong offer.  We will add to that prepaid Visa product soon which will be competitive with BOPO.  We will announce more on that in the next few days.  The contracts are signed.  We are going through technical testing of the link.

But back to Optus and Vodafone.  We are working on this and have been for weeks.   We are not sure if the difficulties for Bill Express make it easier or harder.  While it sounds cliche, watch this space.

I am flying to Hong Kong late tonight but will continue to work on this from there.

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Newsagency challenges

Newsagents acting on Bill Express

The following was posted as a comment to one of my posts. I re publish it here to bring greater focus to the comments. The writer is discussing follow up to a meeting of newsagents in Sydney about Bill Express:

News Letter (follow up Newsagency Auburn meeting)

Re: Bill Express

We will take this opportunity to express our thanks to everyone who to took part in Auburn Meeting to show their support for the action against Bill Express.

1. We will go to ACCC next week

Until now, we have more than 50 newsagents who has signed up to complain Bill Express through ACCC and 30 of them want to take legal actions.

We consulted a lawyer about procedure of ACCC and court action. It is far complicated than our imaging. At ACCC, after they received complain, they will collect information first, talk with other party and negotiation with them. If fail, ACCC can take court action if they think we have a good case.

We collected a lot of evidence in the meeting. We will organize them and sent to ACCC with new newsagents list at next week.

2. NANA invited us join the legal actions.

NANA board invited us for a meeting last Tuesday and discussed the join together for a legal action against Bill Express.

Different with ANF, most board member of NANA are also newsagents. They have same problem as us.

NANA is an association who have expertise and more experience. They consulted with good layer and were advised that newsagents have a good case. They will set up special fund for this legal case. According to the chairman of NANA, legal cost for each newsagency will be around $250-500. But more newsagents sign up, the cost for each newsagency will be lower.

NANA told us there are no ‘FREE RIDE’ which means if you do not sign up, NANA won’t represent you in the court.

3.What you need to do now

1. We encourage you to give us your e-mail address. It is hard for us to send fax to each one of you. You can leave your e-mail address to camperdown@gmail.com

2. The court action is the base on evidence. We need to provide to NANA with more evidence. In the Auburn meeting, you already showed a lot of evidence but we need more. Open our mind to find more. For example, yesterday board member of NANA sent us an email attaching a newsletter clearly showed that Bill Express had misled us in market subsidy. If you have good evidence you could send a copy to us at following address.

Camperdown Newsagency
150 Parramatta Road, Camperdown. NSW 2050.

3. More newsagents needed. Please send this letter to your friend newsagent and ask them to join us!!!

Please register and sign up!

Name of the N/A_________________________________

Address _______________________________________

Bill Express Merchant ID ________________________

Tele _______________________Fax__________________________

e-mail address _______________________________________

I want to join with other newsagencies to talk legal action against Bill Express.

Please fax or email to follow address;

Jim Zheng. Camperdown N/A 02 95162151 camperdown@gmail.com
Clement Deng. Asquith N/A 02 94762968 asquith@live.com.au

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Bill Express

More calling cards for newsagents on eziPass

eziPass provides access to a bunch of phone cards newsagents cannot access through the Dialtime terminal. These include: Aussie Phonecard, Bubble, ChatMore, ChitChat, DoDo, Double Happiness, Go Bananas, GPS, Hello, Hello China, joy, Minute Max, Pay Peanuts, Phone Me, Savvytel, Stealth and Time.

With over 400 newsagents now on the eziPass platform, we’re helping the companies behind these calling cards re-energise their marketing which should further drive sales for newsagents.

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phone recharge

Bill Express king hits newsagents

I write to advise of a variation to the merchant agreement between your business and Bill Express. All income and sales margins are now provided on a performance based business model that provides greater incentives for our retail partners. Performance opportunities will be supported by a significant marketing and industry management fund allocation of a minimum of $500,000 per month.

This is the opening paragraph of a five page letter sent to newsagents today in which Bill Express announces that the remaining subsidies paid to newsagents are being removed.

The spin in the letter is breathtaking, it has to be since Bill Express is reneging on commitments made to newsagents years ago.

In my case Bill Express promised a bunch of direct and indirect benefits. This commitment got me to sign a contract. Today, the benefits have been unilaterally removed by Bill Express.

To be fair, I’d note that Bill Express will say I am better off with an incentive program. I am not better off.

This latest move by Bill Express against newsagents leaves me feeling that they are in trouble and have struck out against newsagents in order to preserve cash. I will be interested to see whether they make an announcement to the ASX – I would have thought that such a whack against your prime retail network is reportable.

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Bill Express

Bill Express behaving badly

It seems that every day I receive a call or email from a newsagent with another story about frustration at the behaviour of Bill Express. The latest is from a newsagent who advised Bill Express / Dialtime that they had sold their business and that the incoming newsagent did not want the Bill Express service. Here’s the rest of the story the newsagent in his own words:

The very next day our system was turned of by Dialtime and was not able to be used for the next 3 weeks of trading. I called about the system being turned off and Dialtime stated that we requested the removal of the equipment and we owed $12,000 on our rental agreement and this put our account into overdue so Dialtime shutdown your system till your dept is paid. All the equipment was removed and new owners took over and installed a new system. Now Bill Express is saying I need to payout there rental agreement of approx 12,000 for equipment I don’t have anymore and the fact that I lost approx 25,000 worth of sales over the 3 weeks I was without Dialtime and eftpos.

The newsagent did not request that the equipment be removed. Based on what I have been told, Dailtime’s action was unwarranted and denied the newsagent the opportunity to earn an income. A smarter move by Dialtime would have been to discuss the situation of the change of ownership with the newsagent.

Now, the equipment has been taken and the newsagent is being chase for $12,000.

On the back of everything else newsagents are experiencing at the hands of Bill Express, this reinforces the view of a company stumbling badly.

Sure, I am involved in a product which competes with part of the Bill Express offering. Since it’s free, it’s not competing in the true sense of the word. Also, no one is making Bill Express behave badly – they are mucking this up on their own.

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Bill Express

Loving eziPass

We sent an email asking newsagents using eziPass to sell phone recharge and other electronic voucher products to tell us what they think. The response was overwhelming. So, we created the iloveezipass blog. Here is a bit of the fax we sent Friday to newsagents including some of the quotes:

ep_fax.JPG

The reaction to the fax has been excellent. Newsagents want a simple platform from which to sell phone recharge and other electronic product.

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Bill Payment

Newsagents walking from Bill Express

The Australian Newsagents’ Federation has announced today that it will not renew its relationship with Bill Express. While they announced this some weeks ago, Bill Express had another crack at a relationship. This was rejected. Newsagents will applaud them for this.

Here’s part of what the ANF said to member newsagents today:

Bill Express has recently approached the ANF with fresh proposals for our two organisations to continue working together past the termination date of the present channel agreement which ends on 31 May 2008. Over the last several weeks the ANF has been in discussions with Bill Express and has been evaluating those proposals. The ANF has concluded that those proposals do not merit a continuing relationship beyond the present arrangements.

Hundreds of newsagents are trying to quit their contracts with Bill Express – all because Bill Express removed a long standing financial subsidy paid to newsagents which, for most, was the difference between loss and break even.

Bill Express is so swamped by newsagents wanting to quit that they are not responding to newsagent request to terminate their agreements.

Today’s announcement by the ANF is a material change to Bill Express’ circumstances and I’d expect an ASX announcement to follow.

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Bill Express

eziPass now available for all newsagents

Applications for the eziPass electronic voucher platform are now being processed from newsagents who to not have the Tower Systems software. Tower users can access mobile and other electronic vouchers from within point of sale. Others can load some free software and access the eziPass products from any computer. The new sign up form can be accessed here.

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phone recharge

Removing middlemen from a bank deal

There is a bit of noise around about alternative bank deals for newsagents. This has sprung up after I announced the deal with St.George and Bank SA.

Key to supplier relationships like this is the understanding who makes what. Banks offer sign up fees as well as a commission on transaction fees. I have rejected these to ensure the best deal for newsagents. There is no middleman.  For too long there have been too many middlemen taking a piece of what newsagents ought to make.

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Bill Payment

Lower banking fees for newsagents

We sent out the following announcement to newsagents today.

Newsagents are set to save hundreds of dollars a year thanks to new, lower banking fees negotiated with St.George Bank and BankSA.

A 0.63% Merchant Service Fee (MSF) for credit cards and a $0.07 (or 0.227%) fee for debit cards set a new low benchmark for these transactions in newsagencies. 

A $10 per month terminal fee is 60% less than what many newsagents pay today.

Exclusive to newsagents using the eziPass electronic product platform, the new St.George and BankSA banking fees are expected to save an average newsagency around $500 a year.

 “We are thrilled to announce this relationship with St.George and BankSA”  Commented Mark Fletcher, Managing Director of Tower Systems, the developers of eziPass.  “Cutting EFTPOS fees for newsagents is an important part of the eziPass mission.  Without a middleman, newsagents are better placed to be more competitive.”

eziPass offers over 300 electronic products including phone recharge, tollway payments, movie downloads, a full range of international calling cards and many other products. 

Access to eziPass is free and there will never be any fees.  There is no long term locked-in contract.   Payment for stock is made weekly and margins on some items are considerably better than alternative electronic vouchers.

Newsagents can start saving with eziPass today.  Those not using Tower Systems’ software will have access to a stand alone version of the product from the second week of April.

BACKGROUND.  eziPass has been developed by Tower Systems for use by all newsagents.  Tower Systems does not take any commission or payment from its eziPass work or transactions put through eziPass, thus enabling better returns for newsagents.  Tower Systems already serves over 1,450 newsagents nationally. 

Newsagents who have signed up for eziPass will be sent the paperwork from St.George and BankSA.

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Bill Payment

Bill Express spin and the ASX

Bill Express took its dispute with newsagents and their representative body, the Australian Newsagents’ Federation, public yesterday in a communication designed to paint the ANF as the bad guy. This comes on the back of the removal of a marketing subsidy of $250.00 a month from each of its 3,500 newsagents – an action which has incensed newsagents.

Yesterday’s communication takes the Bill Express / newsagent relationship to its lowest point ever. While in the past the ANF has run defence for Bill Express, that appears unlikely now. This is what, in my view, has caused Bill Express to come out fighting against the ANF and to engage in what reads like breathtaking spin.

Bill Express says it has paid the ANF $600,000 over five years. So what? The ANF endorsed Bill Express in 2003 and over the next two years, through this endorsement, facilitated Bill Express bringing on 3,500 locations. That’s $171 a location over five years. Not much.

The 3,500 newsagents took on lease liabilities to the tune of $87 million – money which flowed to Bill Express. Nice work if you can get it.

Each year, I’d estimate that newsagents process, on average, $40,000 a year through their Bill Express provided eftpos machines. Even though the merchant fees for newsagents are low, I’m confident that Bill Express makes a clip of around .3 of a cent per transaction. If I am right (and I think the .3 of a cent estimate is low), this has been worth in excess of $2.1 million over five years.

Newsagents sell massive amounts of phone recharge a year through the Bill Express / Dialtime equipment. For many products, newsagents commissions are lower than through other platforms. This suggests to me that Bill Express is making an above average clip from recharge – maybe tens of millions. What a great tollway newsagents have provided.

So, is the $600,000 demonstrative of respect for the efforts of the ANF and suypport for newsagents? No! It’s crumbs, far less than the effort and access deserved.

At some point soon, Bill Express is going to need to disclose to the ASX that it has upset its network of newsagents to the point where the network will shrink and revenues will be impacted. It is only convoluted multiple contracts which stop this happening more rapidly. Thankfully, the contracts cannot force newsagents to process bill payment or sell phone recharge through the Bill Express terminals.

Is the sharemarket informed? I’d say not. You can’t have what you claim to be your most important retail network offside and seeking legal advice on how to terminate contracts and not let the market know.

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Bill Express

eziPass voucher solution uptake grows

ezipass_jan08.JPG

We are seeing a good uptake of eziPass by newsagents this year. While it is still currently only available to Tower Newsagents, that situation will change soon with the benefits of eziPass being available to all newsagents including those without any point of sale software.

People using eziPass tell us they like how easy and fast it is and the easier statements they receive weekly – there is no overnight sweep of your bank account.

Neither I nor my software company, Tower Systems, takes a clip of commission for phone recharge or other products sold through eziPass.

With rechrge business important to newsagents, I knew we had to deliver a product which reduced the opportunity for error at the counter, made reconciliation easier, respected newsagent cash-flow and, wherever possible, delivered better commission.

As commissions for phone recharge have fallen for newsagents, I suspect the amount others make from the efforts of newsagents has not. hence the importance of developing a fairer alternative for newsagents.

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Newsagency challenges

eziPass easier than Dialtime

ep_logos.JPG

The most common feedback we are hearing from newsagents who start using eziPass to sell phone recharge product is that it is easier to use than Dialtime. That and the additional commission they are making on key product.

The eziPass roll out to newsagents is going well. How could it not – it’s free, easy to use, reduces paperwork and comes with an excellent reconciliation statement. Oh, and you;re likely to make more money.

The real benefit is the bringing of the sale of phone vouchers to the point of sale software – this considerably cuts mistakes and helps with in-store traffic management.

we launch the stand alone version next week – it is in QA right now. This is for newsagents not using Tower Systems software.

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phone recharge
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