Australian Newsagency Blog

For transparency, I post below a copy of an announcement today about our new shareholding in Access International, the company behind the Aussie Phonecard.  I have been impressed with Aussie for some time - the 30% commission it pays newsagents, the quality of call on the cards and the real value to consumers.  It’s not […]

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A newsagent-only meeting about Bill Express has been organised for Thursday of this week. The purpose of the meeting is to provide newsagents with information and a forum through which a course of action can be considered. The meeting details are:
Thursday June 19 at 11am
Crest on Barkly Hotel, Barkly Street St Kilda
The planned agenda […]

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The eziPass stand alone product, a platform competitive to Dialtime from Bill Express, was shipped a week ago to 50 newsagencies in advance of wider release. This is in addition to the 500+ Tower newsagents using eziPass integrated with their point of sale software. The free eziPass platform can be installed on just […]

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When we realised that the best options for selling Optus prepaid was to revert to physical stock we groaned. Today, eight weeks on, it is working a treat. Selling is much faster than through the Dialtime terminal. Scanning the cards gives us good stock control and the supply chain is more cerain. […]

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Not much has changed in marketing collateral around mobile phone recharge in newsagencies for years. I see this as a barrier to newsagents achieving better growth from the category.
As with any offer pitched in a retail environment, change is essential. This is even more true in the visually noisy environment of a newsasgency.
To support […]

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Given the mess of Bill Express and the removal of subsidies paid to newsagents by the company, some newsagents are taking steps to cancel direct debit arrangements for payment of the old Bill Express equipment. Without commenting on the appropriateness of such a step, I am grateful to a colleague who pointed me to […]

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While the ANZ and other Bill Express creditors and stakeholders are, I suspect, working through the weekend on a restructure for the business, Newsagents are looking at how they can get out of their Bill Express contract and the associated lease for the equipment Bill Express installed in newsagencies.
When newsagents signed on for Bill Express, […]

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Thanks to further discussions with the folks at St.George Bank, we have navigated a way for newsagents to more easily access Optus and Vodafone recharge product. eziPass newsagents who sign for the St.George Bank deal can install a terminal to process Eftpos and credit card transactions as well as dispense Optus and Vodafone recharge. […]

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A customer loaded their BOPO card here in Australia with cash. Their friend overseas tried to withdraw cash from the BOPO account, as they have done previously, without success. Several calls later, the customer has been told by BOPO representatives that the platform is down. This is just another challenge for Bill […]

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Newsagents angry at their treatment by Bill Express are closing bank accounts in order to stop the company sweeping their account for the lease payment on the Bill Express equipment. Newsagents I have spoken with tell me they are taking this drastic step because of the lack of a response from the company […]

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Bill Express requested the ASX suspend their shares for a further two weeks this morning. What is not clear from the announcement is the status of Optus mobile phone recharge on the Bill Express / Dialtime network. The status is complicated by some newsagents reporting that they cannot access Bill Express / Dialtime […]

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The media interest in the difficulties of Bill Express is growing. I did three interviews yesterday with journalists writing pieces about the history of the network and the impact of the current situation on newsagents. This follows the Herald Sun and News Ltd interviews earlier in the week. I am finding journalists […]

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I am surprised at some of the reporting on the Bill Express situation. Take today’s Australian Financial Review - nothing other than a rehash of the ASX announcement re the suspension of shares. Given that 3,500 retail outlets have had Optus recharge turned off and others are reporting issues with Telstra recharge I would […]

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What follows is the text of an fax sent to all newsagents this morning:
With more than 300 electronic voucher / recharge products available today, eziPass a great offer for newsagents.  Commission on many products is higher.  There is no long contract to sign and no extra equipment to install.  All you need is broadband in […]

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Even though I am in Hong Kong I have been in close contact with the Tower office about the fall out of the increasing difficulties Bill Express finds itself in.  We have been swamped with calls today about eziPass, how to sign up, whether Optus and Vodafone will come on board.  I have prepared a […]

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Following the growing challenges facing Bill Express / Dialtime and their apparent loss of Optus recharge product from their platform, we have been inundated with calls about when / if we will get Optus and Vodafone recharge on eziPass.
There is no doubt that the more newsagents registered for eziPass the stronger our pitch to these […]

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The following was posted as a comment to one of my posts. I re publish it here to bring greater focus to the comments. The writer is discussing follow up to a meeting of newsagents in Sydney about Bill Express:
News Letter (follow up Newsagency Auburn meeting)
Re: Bill Express
We will take this opportunity to […]

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eziPass provides access to a bunch of phone cards newsagents cannot access through the Dialtime terminal. These include: Aussie Phonecard, Bubble, ChatMore, ChitChat, DoDo, Double Happiness, Go Bananas, GPS, Hello, Hello China, joy, Minute Max, Pay Peanuts, Phone Me, Savvytel, Stealth and Time.
With over 400 newsagents now on the eziPass platform, we’re […]

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I write to advise of a variation to the merchant agreement between your business and Bill Express. All income and sales margins are now provided on a performance based business model that provides greater incentives for our retail partners. Performance opportunities will be supported by a significant marketing and industry management fund allocation […]

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It seems that every day I receive a call or email from a newsagent with another story about frustration at the behaviour of Bill Express. The latest is from a newsagent who advised Bill Express / Dialtime that they had sold their business and that the incoming newsagent did not want the Bill Express […]

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We sent an email asking newsagents using eziPass to sell phone recharge and other electronic voucher products to tell us what they think. The response was overwhelming. So, we created the iloveezipass blog. Here is a bit of the fax we sent Friday to newsagents including some of the quotes:

The reaction to […]

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The Australian Newsagents’ Federation has announced today that it will not renew its relationship with Bill Express. While they announced this some weeks ago, Bill Express had another crack at a relationship. This was rejected. Newsagents will applaud them for this.
Here’s part of what the ANF said to member newsagents today:
Bill Express […]

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Applications for the eziPass electronic voucher platform are now being processed from newsagents who to not have the Tower Systems software. Tower users can access mobile and other electronic vouchers from within point of sale. Others can load some free software and access the eziPass products from any computer. The […]

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There is a bit of noise around about alternative bank deals for newsagents. This has sprung up after I announced the deal with St.George and Bank SA.
Key to supplier relationships like this is the understanding who makes what. Banks offer sign up fees as well as a commission on transaction fees. I […]

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We have launched the next version of the eziPass website. It’s now easier for newsagents to have questions answered and compare eziPass to other electronic platform offerings.

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