88 / 116
8 8
E L E C T R I C A L CO N N E C T I O N
W I N T E R 2 0 16
TIPS
A
ccording to a survey conducted
by Galaxy research, half of
all Australians believe the
land down under will be one of the
first countries in the world to go
cashless. The survey, commissioned
by Mastercard, also revealed that 64%
of Aussies are already reducing the
amount of cash they carry and 36%
believe society would be safer
without cash.
Obviously, it will still be many years
before we dispense with cash
altogether but without a doubt it is the
direction we are heading in. With this
changing consumer mindset, the
benefits to small businesses for
accepting card payments are growing
more pronounced all the time.
“Australians have long considered
credit and debit cards a fast and
convenient way to pay, but what we are
starting to see is a real understanding
of, and appreciation for, the safety
benefits of cards over cash. Australians
know that if their wallet is stolen or
lost, any cash is as good as gone.
However, knowing they’re protected
against any unauthorised purchases on
their cards provides the peace of mind
they need in an already unfortunate
scenario,” says senior vice president
and county manager at Mastercard,
Andrew Cartright.
For contractors in particular, the
ability to accept card payments can
improve cash flow and reduce the
time spent chasing up unpaid invoices.
There are now many portable options
that enable small businesses to accept
card payments from customers on site.
Square Reader is one option that has
recently been made available in
Australia and is reportedly the lowest
cost card reader available. The reader
itself costs $19 upfront and then the
company takes a small percentage of
each transaction made.
“Sellers using Square Reader pay
1.9% per card transaction. This is the
first time Australians have had access
to one low, single rate for a powerful
ecosystem of tools—from integrated
card payments to a powerful point of
sale, analytics and reporting tools,
inventory management, online invoices
GETTING CARDED
As every contractor knows,
chasing invoice payments can
be a real chore. But there is
an ever increasing number
of portable card readers that
enable payment to be
collected on site, as soon as
the job is done.
For contractors in particular, mobile payments can improve cash flow and reduce the time spent chasing invoices.