There have been many discussions on car wash forums by operators regarding the hold charges car wash customers see from CryptoPay on their bank accounts. We reached out to CryptoPay to get you the inside scoop and put all your questions to rest.
What is the $10 CryptoPay Charge?
Wesley Taylor, Lead Support Technician at CryptoPay, was kind enough to answer our questions. Our conversation began with a quick explanation of the $10 charge your customers initially see in their bank accounts. He said, “The pre-authorization charge or hold charge is a temporary hold placed on a customer’s account. The hold charge is completely separate from the actual final amount charged.”
Can the hold amount be changed?
Another question we saw asked on the forum member debating was if the hold amount could be changed. Taylor explained, “By default, the hold charge is set to 10.00, but can be set to a different amount.” Yes, you change the hold, but you need to contact CryptoPay to do so.
Can a different hold charge be set for each CryptoPay device?
Members of the forums also have been asking, if a separate hold charge can be assigned to each device. Taylor told us, “The hold charge is a site wide setting and is configured by CryptoPay Support in the CryptoPay Coordinator. Meaning, every card reader that is connected to a CryptoPay Coordinator has the same hold charge. That being said, there are some card readers that we can omit from the hold charge all together. Card readers on an automatic paystation, vending machine card readers, and card readers that have the same minimum and maximum charge.”
In other words, this $10 CryptoPay hold charge only typically applies to self-serve bays and vacuums where the final charge is unknown until the customer is done using the equipment. For example, a tunnel wash package line might cost $20. In this example the price is fixed and $20 is charged to every customer who selects that wash package and the hold would not apply. The hold applies in a self-serve bay where a customer could pay $10 for 8 minutes, $20 for 16 minutes, or various other increments. Since the final price is unknown or variable, this is an example of where the hold is used.
What happens if my car wash costs more than the $10 hold?
We have seen people asking about losing money if the wash costs more than the hold placed on a customer’s account. For example, if the customer only has $10 in their account and they spend $20 in a self-serve bay, will the car wash operator lose $10? “A customer can spend more than the amount of the hold charge. In some rare cases, a customer’s account may not have the available funds, this results in a partial chargeback. CryptoPay support has tools available to help reduce or eliminate partial chargebacks altogether.” responded Taylor. If you lose money on a chargeback, CryptoPay is happy to help you. All you need to do is give them a call.
How are prepaid and burner cards handled?
We asked Taylor how CryptoPay handles prepaid and burner cards to get some clarification for you.
Taylor answered, “CryptoPay handles all credit cards the same way. CryptoPay runs all cards as a credit card transaction. Debit cards, prepaid cards, and credit cards are all run as a credit card transaction through Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.” In other words, virtually every card is handled the same way. There may be special exceptions to this, in which case you should contact CryptoPay to sort out any questions.
How do I explain the hold to my customers?
When explaining the $10 CryptoPay hold charge to your customers, Taylor recommends, “Keep it simple. The hold charge is not the actual amount charged. The hold charge is a temporary hold that will settle out to the actual amount charged. The entire process should take around 24 hours, but in some cases it can take longer. The amount of time is entirely dependent on the customer’s banks.” In short, customers will see the correct price appear in their account for their wash within a few days.
We hope our conversation with Taylor answered all your questions about the CryptoPay hold charge. If you have more questions, let us know and we will see if we can find you an answer!
If you want to add a CryptoPay Swiper or CryptoTap Plus unit to your vending machines or paystations click here. Learn more about the newer tap unit here.
