erchants are always looking for auxiliary products and services not only to generate more revenues and drive traffic to their stores, but also to bring that traffic back again. E-Time System Inc. has a solution that will help them do this. The company offers a network that enables retailers to sell hot items such as prepaid products and accept consumer bill payments.

Retailers may choose from a portfolio of prepaid products, such as wireless airtime, phone cards and debit cards. And E-Time processes for more than 2,400 billers nationwide. Bill payment categories include utilities, wireless providers, department stores, and credit card, cable, auto, and mortgage companies.

Any type of merchant can benefit from using the system, especially convenience and discount stores, wireless retailers, check cashing operations and international money remittances places.

An Idea Improved

Gil Barzeski and Harvey Mindel founded E-Time in 1999. This was only six years ago, but the way in which prepaid products are distributed to retailers has changed significantly since then.

"The idea for the company grew out of a need to find a better way to inventory, deliver and provide reporting for PIN-based [prepaid] products," said Bruce Burke, E-Time's Director of Sales and Marketing.

The two partners had been distributing mobile phone handsets for OmniPoint (now T-Mobile). They made a deal with the company to distribute PINs for "recharge" minutes to retailers. At that time, these products were distributed on plastic cards. Consumers selected cards from a rack in the store and paid for them at the cash register.

"[Barzeski and Mindel] were essentially running around to all these different retailers ... taking 20 cards here, 50 cards there, etc., and it just didn't make sense from a logistics or financial standpoint ... It wasn't an effective solution," Burke said.

It didn't make much sense for merchants, either. Keeping activated plastic prepaid cards in stock requires paying for inventory up front. (E-Time estimates that stocking all denominations of all the available wireless providers costs more than $10,000.) Plus, product lines change frequently, and merchants are always at risk from employee theft, or "shrinkage."

With the help of Jonathan Clark, now E-Time's Chief Technology Officer, Barzeski began building a client/server application based on retailers' input and requirements. "Years later we're still building on it," Burke said. "It worked after four weeks; it's just developed more and more." E-Time now employs 22 people and boasts $25 million in annual sales.

Sweet Suite Options

The company's solution, ETS, is a full suite of six software applications that all connect to E-Time's servers (E-Time Back Office). The applications are deployed in a number of different ways, including on Windows-based computers (ETS Pro), Lipman NURIT POS terminals (ETS Terminal) or self-service kiosks (ETS Kiosk). Retailers also access the system over the Web (ETS Lite).

Merchants using ETS Pro, a client/server application, can accept bill payments, sell prepaid wireless airtime and prepaid phone and debit cards, and activate wireless handsets.

When retailers sell prepaid products, the ETS application connects to E-Time's servers (using a dial-up or high-speed Internet connection). They receive PINs on-demand, which eliminates the need to keep plastic inventory in the store. A thermal receipt or thermal card printer prints the PIN and other important information at the POS.

ETS offers retailers an unlimited inventory of prepaid products. These are essentially PINs required to activate the service and a serial number with instructions. The company buys directly from suppliers and "stocks" the information on its own servers.

ETS Pro includes robust reporting and administrative capabilities. Retailers sort data to view either canned or custom reports. They also may create different levels of security to restrict employee access at different levels.

Like ETS Pro, ETS Terminal and ETS Lite enable merchants to accept bill payments, sell prepaid products and activate new wireless handsets. However, with ETS Terminal, a software application is loaded on a NURIT POS terminal instead of on a personal computer; it connects to E-Time's server through a dial-up telephone line.

Why Lipman terminals? "We found that their operating system for the majority of their units was the same on almost every model number ... It offered more flexibility," Burke said. "They are also an Israel-based company. The owner of our company is from Israel. We got a lot of support from Israel in terms of price and flexibility."

With ETS Lite, E-Time's Web-based application, all merchants need is a high-speed Internet connection and a Web browser to connect to E-Time's server. Nearly any computer configuration, touch screen, laptop, desktop or thin client, will work.

Making Bill Payment Profitable

To pay bills at a participating E-Time retailer, consumers provide the biller's account number, telephone number and the amount to be paid.

To process transactions, clerks enter the information into the ETS application, either on the computer or POS terminal or through the Web.Consumers receive a printed receipt with account name, transaction number and amount paid.

E-Time works with a number of bill aggregators. "We've integrated with MasterCard RPPS, which is their Remote Payment and Presentment Service," Burke said.

"Retailers can essentially collect bill payments for any bill the consumer walks in with that is on the MasterCard list."

The company will also accept bill payments for billers not on its list. "We will take the payment, but we have to charge them more because it's out of network," Burke said.

"We'll manually fulfill the bill ourselves. If we see enough of that type of bill coming through, it may justify programming an interface with that biller."

Merchants earn revenue by charging transaction fees for the service. "We're finding the average bill payment runs around $103," Burke said. "If they're processing five bill payments a day over the course of a 350-day year, they are looking at a [significant amount of] additional cash flow coming through their door."

He said a lot of merchants using the system are small to medium-sized chains. "I'm finding that the individual retailer is more receptive to it than the big chains.

"A lot of people are coming to our systems because they are unsatisfied with others," he said.

E-Time's Reseller Program

ISOs and merchant level salespeople (MLSs) selling E-Time's system benefit through opportunities to earn recurring revenue. They also can collect money up front for installations and account applications.

"MLSs may sell whatever equipment and services they need in order to get retailers connected to the ETS Network," Burke said.

E-Time's MLS compensation model is based on a combination of buy rates, commission, equipment sales and recurring residual income. "Our payment history is prompt, informative and straightforward," Burke said.

MLSs will also have access to their own Web portal where they can log in for real-time information on their accounts.

The company offers a 24/7/365 help desk for distributors, retailers and MLSs who encounter any problems. "Our approach is straightforward; we provide solutions not doubletalk," Burke said.

"Our technical staff has extensive training on all the common problems that retailers face.

"Our MLS sales staff is provided with comprehensive information and unparalleled sales and customer service," he said. "We are here to provide answers and support to the MLS channel."

The company is currently expanding its ISO/MLS program and invites all interested individuals to call to secure their area. "We are offering great incentives for agents who want to catch and ride the ETS wave," Burke said.

"Selling merchant accounts is a viable business if there are a lot of new retailers springing up in the market where the ISO is working. I think that market has kind of gotten saturated. There's obviously a lot of competition in that space.

"Bill pay and the variety of products we offer add a lot of adhesion to the retailer. There are only a handful of companies in the U.S that accept bill payments.

"This is something different than what everybody else has. You're not competing against 'What's your rate on your merchant processing?'

"We give them the ability to set their own rates and their own profit," he said.