Australian Newsagency Blog

The small display supporting prepaid Visa at the edge of our lottery counter is generating good sales of prepaid Visa cards and attracting good top-up business.  For a bit of passive marketing it is doing very well.  The growth over the last few months has been excellent. We are finding former BOPO customers happy with […]

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The matter of ACCC v Bill Express & Ors has been set down for a trial before Justice Finkelstein commencing on 10 August 2009. A pre-trial conference has been listed for 11.30 a.m. on 22 July 2009.

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Australian Pure Fruits is pursuing a newsagent who took on a drinks fridge as part of their Bill Express arrangements.  I would be interested to hear from other newsagents being similarly pursued about the fridge.
Australian Pure Fruits is the company which originally floated Bill Express on the ASX.  They claim to have purchased the fridges […]

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We received a call from St George bank at one of my newsagencies last week encouraging us to take up a new terminal deal.  They pitched the deal saying that they were endorsed by the ANF.
On March 20, 2008 I blogged that I had negotiated lower eftpos and related rates for newsagents.  This deal was […]

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The second Scheduling Conference in the matter of ACCC v Bill Express & others was held yesterday before Justice Finkelstein.
The ACCC successfully sought a preliminary trial to determine the issue of liability for the third line forcing and misleading and deceptive conduct elements of the case, with the issue of BNY’s involvement to be determined […]

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Lack of compliance and consistency across the retail newsagency channel is our biggest challenge.  In Sydney yesterday, I saw another newsagency with the Bill Express light box still up and working.  It is situations like this which invite suppliers to look outside our channel for a more consistent and disciplined network of retailers.
UPDATE (23/02):  I […]

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Hank Spier, legal counsel for the NANA initiated Class Action on Bill Express, has provided the following update on the action brought against the company by the ACCC.
There is a scheduling meeting in the Federal Court in Melbourne on 12 March. That will set the date for the trial.
Mobius and Bank of New York Trust […]

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Check out this photo from a newsagency in New South Wales.  The Bill Express screen is still up and turned on and running an ad for the dead BOPO prepaid Visa card.  No wonder we are considered a has-been retail channel by some suppliers.
If you have a Bill Express screen take it down or play […]

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I missed that The Australian published an update on the On Q / Bill Express mess January 16.  The report catalogues what we knew - bad business practices, dodgey loans and lame excuses.
It surprises me that in the collapse and subsequent winding up of Bill Express and OnQ that newsagents have received no communication regarding […]

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OnQ was placed into voluntary liquidation on December 23, 2008 by resolution of the company’s creditors.  It remains unclear what impact, if any, this will have on the Bill Express equipment which sits in the back rooms of thousands of newsagencies around the coountry. 
On Q is the company which committed to paying rebates to newsagents for […]

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Worrells, the Administrator for OnQ, has recommended that the company be wound up.  This was to be put to a vote of creditors today.  OnQ is interesting to newsagents because of its shareholding in Bill Express and its connection with hardware supplied to newsagents as part of Bill Express through Technology Business International, another OnQ company.  […]

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Losing Optus mobile phone recharge hurt newsagents when Bill Express and associated entities collapsed.  Even though Optus has been back online through our registers for three months we are still winning back some customer we lost.  The slow process of winning these formerly loyal customers is a reminder of the cost of losing customers if […]

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It seems that some newsagents do not know that Bill Express is dead.  I have seen several newsagencies this week with stickers and posters displaying Bill Express brands.  Newsagents should check:

Remove Bill Express light boxes or use them to promote current services.
Remove BOPO stickers - usually placed near the entrance to the shop, on the […]

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I continue to hear stories of suffering relating to Bill Express.  The latest is from a supplier who has found charges levied to their business which relate to a business closely associated with Bill Express.  The six figure sum charges have been back dated by a supplier without any contract being in place.  They are […]

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I have been reliably informed of the following and publish it here for the benefit of Victorian newsagents in advance of the VANA meeting today.
The information put by VANA to its members about the ANF and related matters recently is incomplete. By not being open with members, Victorian newsagents remain ill-informed. Even the […]

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It has put to me that should the ACCC win its case against Bill Express and for breaches of the Trade Practices Act in relation to Bill Express equipment agreements, newsagents could have an opportunity for action against the ANF.
This current ANF Board has made serious errors in their handling of the Bill Express issue. […]

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A lawyer has suggested to me that newsagents who have continued to make lease payments for the now useless Bill Express equipment on the basis of advice from the ANF ought to approach them for a refund - on the basis of the action commenced in the Federal Court on yesterday by the ACCC about […]

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Click here for a copy of the ACCC press release regarding the application lodged with the Federal Court yesterday.

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The ACCC yesterday applied to the Federal Court of Australia for orders under section 87 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA) and injunctions under section 80 of the TPA in respect of contraventions of sections 47(1), 52 and 53(g) of the TPA. The respondents to the action are: Bill Express Limited, Technology Business […]

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The administrators for the On Q Group, parent of Bill Express, issues an update late last week. There is not much news, the main announcement was that the Supreme Court granted an extension of the convening period by two months. This extension was sought to enable the Administrator to finalise their investigations into […]

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We have road tested the Visa prepaid products we are selling to check out ease of use and operating costs. We bought a couple for use within our business. From a consumer perspective, the Canvas Visa Prepaid card with BOPO, it is cheaper to use for purchases and cheaper to load than the […]

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This is a smart move by McDonalds - free WiFi access in their stores.  We did this in our newsagency three and a half years ago.  I pitched it to Bill Express and the ANF at the same time.  The opportunity was for newsagents to offer this network of free access and thereby drive more […]

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The ANF has sent a newsflash to members saying that they are in discussion with Pepper Homeloans and the Bank of New York about the Bill Express equipment rental agreements.  I am suspicious of the timing of the newsflash given that the ANF opened these discussions three months ago.
Time will tell whether the announcement has […]

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The overprint on vehicle registration bills in Victoria tells only part of the story.  The Bill Express not available message doesn’t reflect the on-going stress and frustration experienced by many newsagents about Bill Express and all associated with what now looks to have been an elaborate financial scam wreaked on newsagents.  Every day or so […]

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Some newsagents are still unsure how to deal with letters they have received from Pepper Homeloans chasing payments they claim are related to the Bill Express equipment.  The advice from the legal team behind the Bill Express class action is to write to Pepper and request details of the debt and to ask how they […]

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