ATM DEPOT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – START AN ATM BUSINESS

The initial cost if starting an ATM business can be as little as nothing if you use a credit card to purchase your first ATM. However, you still need a couple grand to put in the ATM unless you have a 3rd party vaulter.

Realistically, a good brand new ATM with a full warranty is under $2500 and you can start with as little as $1000 – $2000 to load cash.  If you start with a nail salon, tattoo shop or barbershop, the average use is 5 or 6 people per day. The average withdrawal is $80 so on average the ATM will dispense about $500 per day.  So if you only have $1000 it might run out of money in just 2 days if it’s gets busy.

It’s best to use a credit card for the ATM and pay it off from the surcharge income and use your cash to recycle. Your money is put back in your bank account the next banking day. So you need enough funds in the ATM for Friday – Sunday so it doesn’t run out. Most people put the cost of the ATM on a credit card (about $2500), and then load $2500 in it to start.

There are several ways to do this but the first way would be to use a credit card. If you have a decent credit score (over 580) you can see if you qualify for Equipment Financing.

You can borrow funds to put in the machine from friends or family. Offer them a small fee (maybe $0.50 per transaction) if you need too until your surcharge income generates enough to load the ATM with (you can show them the money is either in the ATM or in their bank account and will recycle every business day). You could also pay a 3rd party vaulter depending on how busy it is (especially if the location isn’t convenient for you to load cash).

When a customer uses an ATM other than at their bank, their bank has to pay a fee to the ATM networks for “finding” the account and “routing” the transaction. Banks contract with different networks; Regional networks like STAR, NYCE, etc., or National networks like Visa/Plus or MasterCard/Cirrus) to locate customer bank accounts via digital networks. The banks pay a network “Interchange” rate based on which networks they belong to or contract with (also see card Issuer and card acquirer in Wikipedia if you want to learn even more).

We make money when the network processor or network switch (these terms are interchangeable, pun intended) shares a portion of the interchange they receive with ATMDepot. They deduct the transaction fee (a portion of the “Interchange”) for driving (processing) the ATM transaction for you and sending the funds back to your bank. ATMDepot.com doesn’t charge for onboarding your ATM, providing customer support, online reporting, monthly statements, ACH, or year-end 1099 reporting for you and anyone you ask us to pay (up to 3 different payees). 

So, we don’t charge you anything, and that’s how we pay you 100% of your ATM surcharge and how we make money. You want your vendor to make some money so you’re properly supported and can become successful. This has been our business model for over a decade. If our IADs are not successful, we won’t be either. It’s a symbiotic relationship.

We provide all our services based on you and your ATMs becoming successful and profitable. Again, we don’t charge any administrative or onboarding fees. It costs us an average of $150 in admin fees from the time we get your order until your ATM does its first transaction. That means we must do everything we can to ensure you succeed because we lose money if you don’t make money. So, it’s our job to help educate you and help you wherever and whenever we can. 

We’ve been in business and online for over 20 years, and we’ve helped over a thousand people succeed in the ATM business. 

If you’re a retail store owner, IAD, investor, or an ATM Entrepreneur and already operating ATMs, we make it simple and free to switch your ATM Processing to us. 

You can access our order forms here regardless if you have one or several ATMs and just want a reliable ATM provider that won’t nickel and dime you to death and will return your emails and phone calls promptly.

You can also scan this QR Code to install our digital forms mobile app and complete and sign them right from your phone. If you have any questions before, during or after you complete the application, please call or email our office.

Once we receive your signed digital paperwork (and required photos), someone will follow up with you to confirm receipt of your information and review everything with you before issuing a Terminal ID. We will provide all the programming instructions. Should you need assistance with programming, we do offer in-person and phone support at a nominal fee.

If you wish to upgrade your ATM and already know what model you want, you may order one using the same mobile forms app. If you want to learn about the additional capabilities of newer ATM Equipment, we welcome you to call or email us anytime.  If you order new equipment, we can arrange to ship your ATM preprogrammed and ready to use when it arrives if you select that option.

We believe in proving ourselves and backing up our service with an initial minimum contract term of just one “1” year. We think of it as a trial period. We know new IADs are often concerned about long-term agreements when starting an ATM business. 

We require a contract due to the financial industry KYC requirements. Any ATM provider not requiring a legal agreement is probably doing something they shouldn’t be doing, which can threaten your business. An agreement or contract protects you as much as it is required for any financial service business. 

While our initial term is 1-year, should you want to ensure your processing deal (earning 100% and having no fees) remains for a longer term, our agreement allows you to select your own term. Should you want to be sure your deal is locked in, simply select the initial term length that is comfortable for you. 

Some ATM providers require five (5) or even 7-year term contracts. They do that for several reasons:

  1. The value of a long-term contract is better for them. It helps them borrow or raise money as they use the future value of the contract performance as an asset. 
  2. Companies with long-term agreements tend to fall back on “we have a contract” instead of relying on top-notch customer service to prove they are a good partner.
  3. Big corporations with in-house lawyers also use long-term agreements to ensure you can’t get out of it until the term ends.

Interchange does not affect your ATM surcharge. Interchange is how sponsor banks, networks, switches, processors, and ISOs make money. Since our IADs receive 100% of the surcharge and don’t pay any fees for ATM processing, we share some of the interchange fees that the cardholder’s bank has to pay the networks so that their customer can use an ATM other than the ones the banks own, run, or sponsor. 

There have been many changes to the Interchange over the years. For example, on April 1, 2005, MasterCard lowered the Interchange rate by $0.05 for Cirrus ATM transactions. These account for approximately 5% of all ATM transactions on our network. On October 1, 2005, Visa lowered the Interchange rate by $0.10 for Plus ATM Transactions. These account for approx 10% of all ATM transactions on our network.

Other Examples:

If your ATM processes 500 transactions per month, the number of MasterCard/Cirrus-based transactions is approx. 25 (5%) transactions. This only affects our commissions on those 25 transactions (approx. $1.25).

If your ATM processes 500 transactions per month, the number of Visa/Plus-based transactions is approx. 50 (10%) transactions. This would reduce our commission on those 50 transactions (approx. $5.00).

When completing your online agreement or using our Mobile Forms App, you can select any initial term between 2 – 7 years if you wish.

We get a lot of calls and emails from many folks that know where an ATM would do great and want to be paid to tell us. If you’re not interested in owning or operating the ATM or filling the ATM with money, you don’t have a vested interest in the ATMs performance. 

However, if you’re a great salesperson but prefer not to operate ATMs, we can work with you if you get signed Site Locatoin Agreements “SLA.” 

If you’re reading this, you’re probably considering a side hustle as an official ATM Location Finder. This requires you to obtain an “SLA or what some people in the ATM business call a Placement Agreement with the actual location. Suppose you work in an area (town, city, or county) where we have an active IAD. We can facilitate and help you sell those Agreements and create a working relationship with someone actively operating an ATM business near you.

Our digital security certificate is issued by COMODO, one of the Premier Encryption Certificates available. Our certificate also includes up to $10,000 in Identity Insurance. Our SSL Certificate holds the same high standards that any financial institution and banking website does.

To view our security certificate, make sure you’re visiting https://atmdepot.com and mouse over the little lock icon in your browser to the left of our domain name. From there, click on the little arrow pointing to the right after the words “connection is secure.” From there, click the “certificate is valid” icon and you can click the details tab to see the COMODO RSA Certification registered to atmdepot.com

The first part of this question is the same as the referral fee question above. However, sometimes location finders want to be vaulters, or independent ATM vaulters want to work with a location finder and/or partner with someone that owns and maintains the ATM. There are many ways to get a side hustle in the ATM business. 

Typically a vaulter would only be responsible for keeping the ATM loaded with cash and charge a flat fee per transaction based on the total number of monthly transactions and the overall cash requirements. While a heavily used ATM that goes through a lot of cash can be great, it can require a lot of cash to keep loaded. 

If you have access to cash and would like to be an ATM vaulter, making your money work for you, please contact our office, and we will add you to our independent vaulter list.

We partner with independent ATM vaulters and have access to armored services. You would need a very busy location to justify the expense of an armored service as a special lock is required, and there are monthly minimums. Usually, if an ATM produces over 200 surcharged withdrawals monthly at a minimum of $3, you would have enough room to pay for armored service (it can average $300 or more per month if your ATM is dispensing $40,000 or more per month). 

We go into detail about this in our member area. But due to many federal banking requirements around money laundering, some banks find it too time-consuming due to audits to work with any business that handles a lot of cash. 

Find an ATM-friendly bank by first meeting the manager at the branch. Dress and act professionally.. Try smaller regional commercial banks and private banks first. 

USBank works with ATM companies, but they have requirements and an annual audit, so be prepared. You’ll most likely need a completed ATM agreement to show you have a legitimate relationship with an ATM provider like us. 

You’ll also need all your business documentation (business license, fictitious name filing, any required permits or licenses from your local city, etc.). We also recommend you open more than just an account for ATM business as the bank needs to make money. You want to maintain a minimum balance in at least one of the accounts. Tell them you want to move other banking there as well, like a personal or investment account, credit cards, maybe a money market account, CD, or Loan. You want to use as many banking services as possible to make you a good customer. 

Less than 85% humidity for 24 hours. So if your ATM is in a business place that has temperature controls, that’s fine. Just don’t stick it out in the rain or snow. If you’re doing events, and it’s going to be humid, a small utility trailer can help.

The ATM must maintain records and the currency’s security (this is standard). The ATM keeps a journal with the last 2,000 transactions. So, we always recommend running a journal report monthly or quarterly to ensure you have physical records. Keep the ATM transaction records (journals) for at least 6 – 12 months. We teach a system in the member area should you need a record-keeping system. It’s not difficult. 

Transient testing- simulates a brownout. Must pass 500 simulated brownouts without lessening the currency’s security or the records’ accuracy. 

Rain Test for Outdoor ATMs- will have a simulated rainstorm on the exposed control panel for 1 hour. No failures are allowed. Endurance test- must accurately maintain records and maintain the currency’s security for 6000 successful dispensing transactions. Variable Temperature Test for Business Hours is +13°C to +35°C. For 24-hour Level –1 indoor unit 0°C to +35°C. For Outdoor units, the outside portion will be tested from -35°C to +66°C. The ATM may fail to dispense but must maintain records and maintain the currency’s security.

Few of the ATMs sold today come with built-in surge protection. We highly recommend using a surge protector in-line with any electronic equipment. We recommend this all-in-one Uninterruptible power supply and surge protector on every ATM we install. It has a 650VA/390W capacity which is the minimum if you want your ATM and wireless modem to stay on for 5 – 10 minutes during a blackout. This ensures the ATM stays operational long enough to let customers in the middle of a transaction to finish. If the area you are installing an ATM in has longer or more frequent blackouts, especially in the summer, we suggest using a 1000VA (20 – 30 min of uptime) or even a 1500VA (which could give you up to an hour of uptime).

This would also require your wireless device to be plugged into the UPS. Your communications are down if you’re using the merchant’s internet and they do not have a UPS on their modem. That’s another reason we recommend you own your communications and get a wireless device.

A GFI, Ground Fault Interrupt, outlet is used to decrease the chance of shock due to water. Most measure the flow of current between the line and neutral. If there is a significant difference, the product assumes the current flows through the ground-shock condition. It then opens the line. They do have to be checked periodically. Be sure the GFI you use is approved for your area.  We keep a few of these GFI outlets handy in case the outlet provided looks sketchy or burnt; it’s best just to replace it. It’s only a couple of wires, and if you’re handy, it’s easy. 

Although ATM manufacturers don’t require a GFI outlet for an ATM, they require that the outlet supplying power to the ATM be properly grounded (also referred to as an “Orange plug”). To ensure a properly grounded outlet protects your ATM, use an outlet tester and plug it into the outlet before you plugin in your ATM. Klient tools make some of the best ones. This is the tester we like. 

You may see this or a similar statement on the Through-The-Wall (TTW) ATMs. Your local building codes may specify that a wall is to have a certain fire rating. Because a hole must be cut into the wall for the TTW to be installed, the fire rating of the wall may be affected. Check your local building codes to see how you are affected. The same advice is given for installing any equipment through a wall.

Standard 110V / 15 or 20A breaker. It uses about the same or less energy than a standard personal computer.

All our forms are now digital and can be accessed from our Mobile Forms App.

Forms are now electronically sent through our Mobile forms app or completed directly online. You can complete and sign your forms right from your cell phone. If you need to send us photos or other documents, you can text them to 760-512-4124 or email them to our general inbox atmdepot@gmail.com.

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