Collective Point of Sale Solutions competes with Canadian banks to offer businesses Visa, Mastercard & Interac services. For years, these services were the exclusive domain of the banks. They had the network. And they had the law behind them that made it impossible for anyone - except themselves - to offer point-of-sale transactions.
Now, thanks to deregulation in the banking industry as well as cheaper, more widely available technology, a number of upstart companies have begun taking on what was once the exclusive domain of the Big Six. Collective Point of Sale Solutions (or CollectivePOS as it's more commonly called) is far and away the largest and most successful of these companies.
"We saw that consumers wanted a choice and weren't getting one," says Michael Back, the 30-year-old founder and president of Toronto-based CollectivePOS. "Our company philosophy is simple - we deliver quality, leading edge products and first class merchant services at reasonable prices. This was common sense to us. It's not common sense to the banks."
CollectivePOS processes all of the same transactions that bank systems do, only "better, faster, smarter and cheaper" says Back. "It's night and day compared to the banks. We offer our systems for sale or lease (at the same, if not cheaper, prices than the banks charge for never-ending rental). We'll save merchants money on their debit [Interac] transactions. We'll save merchants money on their credit [Visa and MasterCard] transactions. We'll make merchants money with prepaid phone cards or cash-back. We have the fastest transaction time in the business and we'll turn around an order in 2 to 3 days as opposed to 2 to 3 weeks."
One of the company's secrets to success is its guarantee of industry leading service and support. CollectivePOS offers 24-hour bilingual technical support, daily automatic deposits, a lifetime warranty on all systems and a 4-hour on-site repair or replacement guarantee.
"It's the difference between being treated like a number and being treated like a human being." Said Joshua Goldstein, a CollectivePOS customer for more than 2 years. "We never knew there was an alternative. A Collective representative walked into my store one day and showed us how we could save $2,500 per year. I had never heard of Collective but decided to take the plunge. Today I only have good things to say - their service is reliable, the help-desk is fantastic and the cost-savings are amazing!"
While CollectivePOS does have competitors, the quality and pricing of their services vary widely - so buyers beware. We highly recommend that you either stick with a well-known and well-respected company like CollectivePOS or do your homework very carefully - any money you may save today is not worth it if the company is not here to service you tomorrow.
With a winning formula like this, its no wonder CollectivePOS has experienced the kind of rapid growth it has. The company has customers from coast to coast and is actively hiring. "We are a rapidly expanding company." says Back. "We are always looking for talented, entrepreneurial individuals across Canada to join our team to market our comprehensive suite of payment solutions and merchant services. No experience is required - we supply all of the materials and do all of the training."
Canada's big banks aren't letting upstarts like CollectivePOS bowl them over but the door to competition has swung wide open and the battle for merchant dollars is heating up. The race is far from over but CollectivePOS is already a winner.
