 |
 |
 |
|
Beware of the Atm "Business Opportunity" Don't be fooled by "Bizop" companies that claim they will find locations for you . . . the investor always ends up with the short end of the deal . . . We've received hundreds of calls over the years from investors who have lost thousands and thousands of dollars buying into the sales pitches of Cashless Atm "business opportunity" (bizop) companies who claim they will do everything for them, and claim the investor is going to make so much money they will be quitting their day jobs soon. The fact of the matter is that nobody can watch over an investment better than the investor. Bizop companies seek to make the investor totally dependant upon them, leaving the investor with very little control (if any) over their own investment. One of the FTC definitions of a business opportunity company is one who sells equipment and locations together as a package deal. If you have to pay one entity for both, then they are selling a bizop according to the FTC (regardless of the bizop company's claims that they aren't). Many bizops claim that a third party locating service is getting the locations, but if they are taking the money for everything it's a business opportunity. One of the most common things heard from these fast talking, high pressure sales people is "We've got great locations in your area, so you'd better buy right now so you don't miss out on the exciting ground floor opportunity" Ever hear that? The truth is...they don't have any locations at all! When you buy into their minimum deal (probably $3,000, or more PER machine...3 to 5 machine minimum!), all they are going to do is hire a locating company who hires people to find locations that know less than you do about the business. If they've already obtained all these "great" locations, why would they want to sell them? Why aren't they putting their own machines in and make all the profits for themselves? The vast majority of locators and locating companies could care less about getting you good locations because they have no incentive to do so, plus most wouldn't know a good location if they crashed into one with their car! Not all retail locations that have high foot traffic will bring in large numbers of transactions each month. Some locating companies will "Guarantee" a certain amount of transactions each month, or they will find you another location for free! If you run into this, ask them how they are going to give you locations that they could be selling to other investors. Beware of this type of promise from locating companies, because it's very doubtful that they are going to work for free if your location doesn't produce a certain level of monthly transactions. The bizop companies specialize in getting large amounts of cash from investors by appealing to their desire to make lots of money and be successful (which is what we all want, right?). They promise to take care of everything for you, but that's never the case because once they have your money they've accomplished their primary goal...big upfront commissions! Another reason to be leary of doing business with a bizop company is the majority of them never get legally set-up to sell business opportunities. This means they are wide open to being shut down by the FTC, or the Attorney General in their own state. To operate a business opportunity, the first thing that has to be done is get registered with 26 out of the 50 states that require bizops to be registered, plus there are FTC guidelines that have to be followed in all business dealing with potential investors. Getting setup to sell business opportunities is very expensive because most states require large security bonds and charge expensive administration fees. Spending money to do this doesn't fit into the plans of most bizop companies because they are all about making as much money as quickly as possible instead of building a stable, long term business. Many companies are making earnings representations and must provide you with the written basis for their claims under FTC guidelines. Business opportunity sellers also must tell you in writing the number and percentage of owners who have done as well as they claim you will according to the FTC, and provide references of people that you can verify earnings from. (if a bizop company provides names and numbers, most will be paid to give favorable reports which is a deceptive trade practice) How do they know how much money you're going to make anyway . . . are they clairvoyant, or are they trying to get you excited to help separate you from your money? Our program takes a much simpler, straight forward approach . . . we sell top-quality reasonably priced equipment, provide processing services, tech support, direct deposits, and online reporting. We leave finding locations up to investors, so they can be in complete control. As an investor, you're free to find your own locations or hire a locating service to assist you. This puts the investor in a position of controlling the locations they get. Good locations are what make investing in Cashless Atms work. It is very possible to get a "bad" location that produces very few transactions each month. When this happens, the equipment can be recovered from the location and put into a new location after being re-programmed. With most locating companies, you'll probably be doing this frequently. This is why we highly recommend that investors consider being directly involved with obtaining their own locations. It's very important that your merchants understand that your machine will help them make money by increased sales and savings of credit card processing fees (for those merchants that have a credit card machine). It's also very important that your merchant is excited about having your machine in their location. If they don't understand what the service you're providing them is about and there is very little enthusiasm on the merchant's part, then there is a strong possibility that the location is going to be a dud and won't produce enough transactions to be profitable. Investing in Cashless Atms can be a very profitable business to be in, but it takes work. Anything worthwhile is going to take effort on your part. It's foolish to believe that someone else (bizop company) is going to work hard to make you profitable after they've already filled their pockets with your money! We have Cashless Atm marketing materials available to help you understand how to present this service to potential merchants, and we are available to answer any questions you may have about the business. Contact us TODAY for more information! |
Copyright © Atm Merchant Services.net - All Rights Reserved