Replacement Gift Card service for Aloha

[Lifesabuzz]

I'm looking for a replacement solution for Aloha eCard. Primarily, I'm trying to get away from the $60/mo. that I'm being charged for one site with minimal sales of eCards. Any direction is greatly appreciated.

 

[TobeThor]

I wish there was some consistency in this area. I am told by many Aloha users that they pay no fees for the ecard, plus the local Aloha Dealer claims no fees albeit the sites that hear that from the Dealer are selective. I wish someone could offer an absolute answer re:how some sites escape fees while others pay. Why aren't you entitled to a no fee ecard program?

 

[MZ117]

Have you looked at going through your Credit Card (Merchant Services account) company? (There are also tons of third party Gift Card solutions but they cost money...)

Also, this could be a GREAT chance to shop credit card rates and save yourself a lot of money!

I know off the top of my head (as long as you meet minimum sales):

- Mercury Gift Cards are Free
- FirstData Gift Cards are cheap (like .10 a swipe no annual fee)
- Heartland Gift Cards $20 a month unless you do "x" amount
- Chase Gift Cards are .05 a swipe plus a balance lookup fee of like .10 if they call to check the balance
- Elevon Gift Cards are $1 per swipe (Bank Companies --- high rates so I wouldn't use them for Merchant, but...)
- etc., etc.

(With these options you will have to pay for the gift cards [usually like 500 cards for like $250] but that's about it...) Also, make sure they can transfer your Aloha outstanding balances to the new system (they should be able to via your database).

Plus, if you market them right you may be able to drop some CC Swipe Fees for locals that come in all the time (Think Coffee Shop Idea: You come in here daily and spend $5 every day... Instead of swiping your debit card each afternoon and keeping up with it, buy a $100 gift card and reload it!) Obviously, that's harder to sell when tabs are like $20-$50 but we have several bar regulars that have started doing this so they don't have to keep up with debit charges...

Also as a FYI, the older Aloha systems may not let you use a Merchant Gift Account... If that's the case, most Merchant Services will be more than happy to give you a back up Ethernet credit card terminal (read: Free Gift Card Terminal) you could put next to your Aloha terminals.

Good Luck!

 

[MZ117]

P.S. --- I know Aloha and Heartland have some type of "offer" for this because I (and several other restaurants with Aloha/NCR) get calls and visits from Heartland people all the time talking about the "Great Aloha Rates Available" --- although I still think FirstData is a little cheaper, myself.

You should give them all a call and see what rates you can get! (And don't forget about local merchants, too!)

 

[TobeThor]

MZ117 very good ideas and comments. Be careful with 3rd party GC's in regards to dormancy fees (GC expirations). If a merchant expires the GC (after 1 yr) and begins charging say $1 per month dormancy fee (to escape State laws re: abandoned property) the 3rd party may share (take 50%) of that fee so you don't get $1 the merchant gets .50.

I'm curious about the Aloha/Heartland relationship you speak of; since Radiant now has their own CC processing isn't Heartland a competitor now. Heartland also sells gift card services so why do Heartland walk in the door and say that Aloha is great. I'm confused about that aspect can you clear my head.

 

[MZ117]

Not sure. We've had Aloha for about 3-4 years and always have used FirstData (for Micros too at the one site with Micros). The reason I (think) its an agreement is that the local Aloha sales guy asks us about Heartland too when he visits 1-2 a year. I was never too excited about Aloha's credit or gift card processing due to their fees. We have a much more competitive rate (lots of transactions) and get a multi-site discount too, all of which Aloha said was their "Standard Rate" for all customers.

The Heartland rep (I've talked to 2-3 over the years) (Not loyal to any CC, whatever rate is best is my choice!) and she said they have proprietary drivers for both Aloha and Micros and they offer select rates for Aloha POS customers. Again, never really looked into it much because our present rate has been better.

The only other two companies we seriously looked at were Mercury and Chase, but FirstData still has a better rate for us. That said, I know several local restaurants who use Aloha and all have Heartland. It may be something they worked out in our region, but there's definitely a combined effort to market them together.

===

To the issue at hand about dormancy fees, I personally don't have an expiration date on our cards (technically they have a 15 year life......) but gift cards are great marketing opportunities and like I said, we sell a large amount between our sites --- I personally think its cool when a customer says they bought the card two years ago last time they were here! But, I also understand the accounting aspect of that, too...

 

[MZ117]

I'll add too (personal comment) while we sell a large majority of gift cards, I personally think a $60 monthly fee is a rip off. Especially when we do a small per swipe fee (load and use only, no balance or refill fees) and there are several companies that can do it for free with no fees depending on sales volume.

I would defiantly shop around and get yourself some savings!

Good Luck!