FasCard Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Steve Marcionetti
Chris Kite
Eugene Mitchell
Questions
FasCard is an electronic payment and management system designed to grant businesses an easy way to improve profitability by allowing their customer's multiple payment options. FasCard accomplishes this through the use of the FasCard wireless card reader and FasCard server network. FasCard readers can be installed on almost any kind of self-service equipment that natively accepts coins or cash including various brands and types of laundry and vending equipment. FasCard allows the business operator to supplement coin payments with credit/debit cards. FasCard can also be configured to accept Loyalty Cards which can greatly improve customer retention and increase sales and profitability. FasCard not only provides additional payment options but can monitor the existing coin/cash payments on a host machine. Vend pricing is all controlled remotely with FasCard and allows business operators to change pricing and run sales reports from any internet-enabled device, including PCs and smartphones.
FasCard equipment comprises two components, the FasCard reader and the Satellite Access Point (SAP). The FasCard reader is a custom-designed WiFi-enabled device that, once installed, wirelessly communicates with the SAP. The current generation of FasCard readers have a fully functional multi-colored 320x240dpi touchscreen. It also offers customers the ability to pay via a Magnetic Strip Reader (MSR) or EMV chip reader. The SAP is a communication link between the FasCard readers and the FasCard servers; the SAP can be connected to the business's local Internet connection or via a Cellular Modem Router (CMR), provided by CCI. This enables the FasCard system to provide real-time updates to the Administration Site. The SAP can be wall or ceiling mounted anywhere within 90 feet of the FasCard readers and uses a Power-over-Ethernet (POE) adapter, which means it doesn't require a separate power outlet at the install site. The SAP works with almost any wired or wireless internet service and does not require a static IP address.
Hardware information
For more information about the Satellite Access Point, please visit the FasCard Satellite Access Point (SAP) page.
For more information about the FasCard readers currently available, please visit one of the following pages:
FasCard is perfect for any business that currently accepts cash or coin payments on laundry or vending equipment that wants to either eliminate coins or supplement coins with credit card acceptance. Laundromats and apartment buildings are the two most popular environments for FasCard. FasCard does require a full-time internet connection from either a wired or wireless connection source and must be provided and maintained by the business operator.
No, FasCard uses an Authorization Hold for handling credit card transactions allowing you to configure your system to only generate one transaction fee per credit card per day. When configured appropriately, system owners will only have to pay one transaction fee per credit card per day. The process starts with a user swiping their credit card on any machine, the system pre-authorizes the user's credit card a pre-determined amount and holds that amount for a preset amount of Idle Time. Once the user has stopped using their card for the designated Idle Time, the FasCard system then settles the credit card for the actual amount the user spent. If the user spends more than the pre-designated amount the FasCard system will settle what was actually spent and then pre-authorize again for the same pre-determined amount, and Idle Time.
Setting the pre-determined amount to $0.00
Note that if you opt to eliminate having a pre-determined amount applied to customer cards, you will incur a large sum of transaction fees. For more details about why you shouldn't assign a $0.00 Authorization Hold, please read Setting Authorization Hold to $0.00.
All credit card transactions that do not prompt the user for a PIN (offline debit), require a Gateway Processor to be configured. FasCard currently is able to host the following Gateway Processors:
WorldNet Payments
Pineapple Payments
A Gateway Processor passes credit/debit card transaction information via a secure connection to the Merchant Processor, from which your Merchant Processor submits the transaction to the credit card network (i.e. Visa, MasterCard, etc..). The credit card network then routes the transaction to the bank that issued the customer's credit/debit card. The issuing bank will either approve or decline the transaction based on the customer's available funds and card status. The transaction results are then passed back to the credit card network. They relay the results to the Merchant Processor which is then relayed to the Gateway Processor. The Gateway will then store the transaction results and send them to the FasCard system.
Gateway information
For information about the compatible Gateway Processors, please visit our Credit Card Informational Article.
The benefit of using these Gateway Providers is that they can be configured to work with almost any Merchant Processor, therefore, giving the business owner the ability to choose which bank they wish to do business with.
A Batch is referred to as a settlement of credit/debit card transactions for a period of time, generally once a day. Each night the individual FasCard account needs to close the transactions for the day and submit a Batch to the Gateway Processor for processing, in turn, the Gateway Processor also settles the transactions and charges a small fee based on the total charges.