Frequently asked questions
General Questions
Mint is a portable payment and invoicing system that allows businesses of all sizes to securely process payments (credit card, cash, cheque, or on-account) and produce an itemised tax invoice on the spot – improving cash flow and increasing the productivity of your business.
Mint can also be integrated with ERP systems and ISV applications such as field sales automation solutions, logistics management and performance tracking software.
Mint Pro includes a palm-sized thermal printer with built-in credit card reader and Mint Portable Payment System software downloadable via the internet to any compatible Blackberry or Microsoft Windows Mobile device.
If you take all payments this way, you’ll halve the time you spend on administration/bookkeeping and chasing invoices - and best of all, you’ll dramatically increase your cash flow.
What you get for your subscription:
- A single-user license for the Mint software for your PDA phone. This can be loaded on a wide range of Microsoft Windows Mobile device (version 5 onwards) and BlackBerrys (Pearl, Curve and 8800 onwards).
- Mint pocket-sized thermal printer with high speed credit card reader
- Access to your online Mint Administration System so that you can set up your product/service list, pricing, track the transactions taken with your PDA phone and synchronise everything with your accounting software.
Mint’s portable payment system gives you the freedom to process transactions (cash, cheque, credit card, or on-account) on the spot, no matter where your work takes you. On the spot payment means no more chasing of invoices, long bank queues and waiting for funds to clear.
Once you’ve set up your product and service list on your online Mint Administration System, you’ll be able to see it on your PDA. That means you can prepare detailed invoices by selecting all the items used on a job. This will automatically provide a total and print out on the invoice once payment is received.
When payments approach $50 and above, customers prefer the convenience of paying by credit card as they get loyalty points and up to 55 days interest
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| Real Time funds clearance |
| Y |
Y |
Y |
| Completely mobile and portable |
| Y |
Y |
N |
| Flexibility of payment options (credit card, cash, cheque or on-account) and quotation option* |
| Y |
N |
N |
| Integration with ERP systems, field sales automation solutions, logistics applications, performance tracking software... etc* |
| Y |
N |
N |
| Individual customised price lists for products and services* |
| Y |
N |
N |
| Online Mint Administration System (MAS) to manage product inventory, price lists and business reporting |
| Y |
N |
N |
| Option for automatic credit card uplift for increased revenue |
| Y |
N |
N |
| pocket sized and lightweight |
| Y |
N |
N |
In short, the banks’ payment devices:
- are much bulkier
- don’t issue a full tax invoice
- don’t allow you to electronically record and process other payment types such as cash, cheque or account payments enabling you to reduce admin time
- don’t keep an online record for you to simplify your bookkeeping by downloading into your accounting software
Best of all, once you have a PDA phone you can do so much more (e.g. look up your booking calendar, receive emails, browse the Internet, install GPS software) to help your business and your social life.
* Available only on Mint Pro, however MiniMint capture credit card, cash and cheque payments, provides receipts, and transaction reports from MAS can be importing into most accounting software.
Yes, Mint pays for itself through the significant time savings (in administration and bookkeeping) that you’ll make and the faster payments which speed your cash flow.
Additionally, you can directly recover the cost by using the Merchant Service Fee uplift function that’s available to you each time you process a payment.
In 2003, the Reserve Bank of Australia allowed merchants to pass on bank service fees to their customers, which many industries now (such as taxis) consider standard practice.
As a basic guide, by applying a simple 2% increase on top of your fee will generally cover the cost of your Mint system.
In addition to Mint’s pocket sized thermal printer with built-in high speed credit card reader you also need:
- A compatible Windows Mobile device (version 5 onwards). a compatible Nokia phone or a Blackberry (Pearl, Curve, 8800 onwards) with GPRS/3G capability.
- An active mobile phone account.
- An internet merchant account with a bank – Mint assists with setting this up. This only applies to credit card transactions on Mint. You can still use other payments options, such as cash, cheque, or on-account while getting the internet merchant facility set up.
Mint is available to all businesses large and small who have a need to take payment outside of an office and reduce the burden of administration and bookkeeping.
The Mint printer/card reader prints an itemised tax invoice/receipt – so you don’t need to go back to the office, type it up, put it in the post and wait for payment. Additionally, if you run out of paper, you can also SMS or email the receipt.
Mint supports all major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diner’s – depending on the internet merchant account) and the increasingly popular scheme based debit cards from VISA and MasterCard. Mint does not support PIN-based debit cards (e.g. EFTPOS cards).
Not a problem. Mint is designed for all sizes of business. You can set up multiple users with different levels of access to the system. You can also adjust the pricing of your products/services for different regions and users. Your administrator can then track the performance of each user from their online Mint Administration System.
If you’re a bigger business, then Mint can be integrated into your existing applications – providing a more seamless business process – using our software development kit.
- If you already have an internet merchant account, it will take three working days to get you set-up and running with Mint. Once you’ve completed our paperwork and faxed it back to us, we will then send you a Mint printer/card reader (or your reseller may have supplied the printer/card reader to you). We’ll send you an email with instructions and user guides and this will also include your Login ID. We’ll then
arrange a training session.
If you’re comfortable with the technology, you can opt to set-up Mint yourself, using the guides and then you’ll be up and running in a few days. Otherwise, see below for details of our training sessions.
- If you don’t have an internet merchant account (this is different from a fixed line merchant account) then we can assist in setting this up for you. We use our financial partner to help with this, and they’ll be in contact with you within two working days of your application form being received by us.
So, depending on how quickly you return the paperwork, it can then take about 7-10 business days to set you up with Mint. We’ll then arrange the training session as below.
Yes, we do.
When we receive your Mint form, we’ll send you an email with instructions and user guides and this will also include your Login ID. We’ll also arrange a 30 minute training session over the phone with you. The training session will help you:
- Download the software to your PDA phone
- Give you your PIN number
- Pair your Mint printer/card reader via Bluetooth to your PDA phone
- Understand the essentials of using Mint on your PDA phone and using your online Mint Administration System
Any further questions you have, you can always ring our customer support team between 8am and 6pm (Sydney time) on 1300 761 811.
Yes you can prepare quotes for customers and print them out there and then. You’re also able to add terms and conditions to the bottom of a quote (e.g. this quote is valid for 30 days).
Mint’s website has an overview video and an interactive demonstration on the key features of Mint. If you’d like to see a demonstration then contact Mint on 1300 761 811 and we’ll point you to your nearest Mint stockist or, in some cases, arrange to have a representative visit you.
Typically, it can take 3-10 seconds from swiping the credit card to getting a response from the bank. Funds usually take approximately 24 hours to clear but this is dependent on the bank.
Another dependency is the data speed and network coverage. A general rule is that the stronger your GPRS signal, the better the network coverage.
Yes, Mint is network independent so you can source your mobile plan and PDA phone from any network provider (e.g. Telstra, Vodafone, 3, Virgin, Crazy Johns etc). However, Mint has partnered with Optus to provide special deals and pricing so you can talk to Optus and get everything from one provider if you prefer.
We also advise to have a GPRS/3G PDA phone with a data plan as these work out much more cost-effective – Optus has plans starting at only $5 a month.
Yes, when you subscribe to Mint your business will have its own online Mint Administration System available wherever you can get an internet connection.
From here you can set up multiple users, produce transaction reports, take online payments, and download your transactions history.
Our monthly prices starting at $29per month (for a 12 month subscription) are generally cheaper than most banks’ fees, but it’s where you save on other business costs with Mint that it really delivers value for your business.
If you consider that you won’t need to pay for: stamps/paper/ink/envelopes/phone calls to post or chase invoices, plus you’ll save several hours a month on administration time and costs, the monthly subscription easily pays for itself. And you’ll get paid faster which will help your business’ cash flow.
