dangerously420 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 A topic I wanted to start to get the forum view on the subject. In the ever changing world of modern technology and how we do so much business online it made me think how the independent wrestling scene will do business at the merchandise tables. Wrestling on an independent level has always been a pretty much a cash business. With society changing how we buy things we have an ever more reliance on plastic and credit and use paper money much less. Â In a fairly recent modern development there are companies who are willing to give free card readers to attach to iPad or iPhones and can be hooked up to a special created merchant page online where people can pay by card for products using a secure server. The cost is the business owner pays 2.5% on every sale for having the company give them the machine and process the payment and pay into the business owners bank account. The main advantage is these machines work anywhere you can get Internet be it WIFI or 3G without having to rely on dial up connections and be hard wired to a phoneline so the operation is fully mobile and portable. Â Would giving people the option to pay via card by this means gain more sales by people who might not have enough money on them but could put the sale of merch on a bank card? Â With people being security conscious would people have the confidence to go to a merchandise table in the UK and pay using this method or would they look at it as some sort of dodgy card copying scam? Â What are your thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Sounds like having to send your phone to someone so they can put ringtones that you paid for on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freaky Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 What's wrong with actual money?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerously420 Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 What's wrong with actual money?! Â Nothing. I was just interested to hear if one of these machines was at the merch table with an iPad would you use it and if giving people more options to pay with it would make a promoter more money at the merchandise tables. There was also the added question of people's willingness to use the machine at a local UK promotion event? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJS269 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Why? Seriously, why complicate the purchase by using cards? I don't think it would make a noticeable difference in sales, and to be honest, who really cares? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted January 9, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted January 9, 2013 ...to be honest, who really cares? This. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted January 9, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted January 9, 2013 I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daily Buzzard Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I can't think of any similar venders (market stalls etc) that use cards. I think most people would be wary of it tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 On the assumption you are right when you say the only cost to the merchant is 2.5% of sales I find it difficult to imagine the finance company would be willing to dish out their machinery and provide training to customers that won't make them much money on the big scheme of things. Â Perhaps All Star is busy enough, but I'm sure they're happy with the cash business side of things for various reasons. Â Tommy, would you spend more at the merch tables if you could pay electronically? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Mike Castle Posted January 10, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted January 10, 2013 I'll play devil's advocate here. Not that I think Tommy has a good idea, but it's something companies should be putting at least some thought into if they would like it in the future or not. But only those that are making a decent amount on the merchandise in the first place. Slowly the country is turning towards more electronic means to pay, and while it's true that most will take some spending money with them if they plan to buy anything from the merchandise table, anyone who may have only brought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsClobberingTime Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Tommy's like the Scottish equivalent of the Million Dollar Man I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonworden Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I have to agree with Tommy to some extent as well, if it can be done in a way to ensure trust then it could increase sales. Â I currently work in a well known chain of family pub restaurants part time and it astonishes me the amount of people mainly young people who come to the bar order 1 drink and then pay by card (we have no lower limit) I dont know if its that they dont like carrying cash, ignorance or laziness as we even have a free cash point but it seems they are all reluctant to go to a cash point en route to the pub (there is one a mile in each direction to). When I was 18-19 the thought of not having cash to go drinking didnt exist but now it seems people are more assumptive that card is available. Â If those people only bring a tenner in cash into a show then it may stop them buying that extra DVD they wanted or T-shirt, especially if they are too lazy or the cash point is too far for the interval. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Coconut Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Merch tables are never going to be the innovators here though, are they. The technology will have to become commonplace for other reasons before such small turnover businesses start investing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PBWFan Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I can see the point to this... Â For example if you took 20 quid to a show but you or your kids wanted an item which cost more, or items which totalled more, you would just whack it on your credit or debit card instead. But if you simply didnt have enough cash, you wouldnt make the purchase at all. In this instance the promoter would lose a sale. Â Most venues I have watched wrestling ie. town halls, sports centres etc, don't have cash machines in them. Or even nearby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerously420 Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 My aunt in the USA uses this at a flea market where she has a stall its not got an ATM for a ten minute drive so quite a few of the stall owners have these gadgets on their iPads. She says it helps retain business as people come out with so much paper money but if they see something at her stall and run out of paper money in account of spending all their money at other stalls she can retain the customer by letting them pay with card with the iPad gadget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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