Do you prefer to pay for Model Railway Exhibition admission using a card or cash?

[Dungrange]

9 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

Different question - not a choice of the 3 payment options

 

Fair enough, although the other poll I set up seems to suggest that two thirds of attendees would pay in advance, with just one third of attendees paying at the door.

 

Of those paying at the door, it would appear that three quarters would like to pay by card, with only a quarter preferring to pay in cash.

 

Combining these would seem to suggest 2/3 would like to buy in advance, 1/4 would like to pay by card on the day and 1/12 would like to pay by cash at the door. 

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, AY Mod said:

 

Every blooming month. 🙂

Ah yes, the late Harold Wilson

"From now the pound abroad is worth 14% or so less in terms of other currencies. It does not mean, of course, that the pound here in Britain, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued.

[Chris M]

Could I suggest Eventbrite (or similar) for advance ticket sales? 
I would rather buy in advance and not have to bother with card or cash at the door.

[eastwestdivide]

Bit late now, but the other missing option is “Either - I don’t mind”

[Gilbert]

6 minutes ago, eastwestdivide said:

Bit late now, but the other missing option is “Either - I don’t mind”

Fair point..so we have 4 options...

[eastwestdivide]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inqui… oh hang on…

[AndrueC]

I stopped using cash several years prior to Covid and nothing that's happened since has changed my mine. I'm honestly not even sure that I'd recognise currency now.

[Colin_McLeod]

Your poll does not include the "don't mind either way" option.

[john new]

4 hours ago, Dungrange said:

As part of the committee organising a new Model Railway Exhibition (ie we have no previous year's data available), I'm wondering what proportion of show attendees are likely to want to pay by card.  Pre-COVID it seems like most local shows were cash only, but a growing proportion of shows are taking card payments at the door.

 

https://elmrc.org.uk/elmrc-exhibition/

 

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/elmrc

It is variable for me personally. You asked about the door - I ticked card assuming it was £5 plus. Under that I would probably pay cash though and anything local like an open day with donations, again probably cash.

 

Example at the recent SWAG event I did take cash, the big value items I paid for with card but small items and the refreshments I used cash for as it seemed harsh on the trader/event to take the loss of the % (however minor) taken by the card processor off a small amount to start with. When I was out with the SLS stand as a vendor card was much easier for the book sales as none were under £5 and most transactions well over that. Lots of money also creates problems post-event as you have to get to a bank (Not always that close to your base) to pay it in.

 

So probably something like 75-80% card for me with the residual as cash for low value purchases..

[Bernard Lamb]

Nothing to do with Covid as I see it. A change to a cashless society was well under way without that episode.

I run a couple of groups with a £2 attendance fee and these are always cash. Anything over that I would make card only. I have a box of coins and I only use these to buy my once a week newspaper on a Saturday.It seems to gradually increase as I pay for the hall by bank transfer and do not actually use the coins to pay for what the money is given to me for.

Several local charity or society cafes where I call in on my cycling trips are now card only.

I would suggest that any event with takings of over about £100 should be card only.

Bernard

[Suddaby]

Hi,

 

I just wondered if you have considered how you are going to pay your exhibitors their expenses. Quite often they have to pay for the van when they return and may not want to put petrol etc on their credit card. Also will traders be able to pay cash for their stand rent, if they have been accepting card payments all day?

 

Just another side of the debate to consider.

 

Kevin

[MarkSG]

2 hours ago, melmerby said:

A lot of extra laws were brought in.

e.g. I paid for a new car in 2007 with a card. (approx £17000)

Fast Forward to 2017 and cards weren't accepted due to money laundering.

 

I bought a car just over three years ago from a well-known online second hand car sales outfit that you will hear incessently advertised on TV and radio. I'd originally lined up to buy a near-identical car from their rival online second hand car sales outfit that you will hear incessently advertised on TV and radio. But that one only accepted payment by bank transfer. And, since it exceeded the transaction value limit (and they didn't offer the option to split it), my bank refused to make the payment as the recipient wasn't in their list of trusted beneficiaries. Which, as an anti-fraud measure, may be useful, but it made it impossible for me to buy the car from that seller. So I went to the other online car sales outfit, and discovered that they, rather more helpfully, offered both the ability to pay in multiple goes but also by using multiple cards. So I paid £20,000 by Amex (their transaction limit, at least on my account) and the balance by Tesco clubcard credit card.

 

Financial rules can be both inconsistent and maddening, at times.

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Dungrange said:

We've incurred an up front cost on the purchase of two card readers

When we had a guest house the card readers came as part of a package from Barclays, we didn't buy them.

IIRC at the time the debit cards and credit cards were charged differently, one was a percentage, the other was a fixed amount.

All the transactions were paid into my personal Lloyds account.

 

Lloyds were quite relaxed about using a personal account for business use, they even gave me a business paying in books.

I think they have stopped that now.

 

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Ah yes, the late Harold Wilson

"From now the pound abroad is worth 14% or so less in terms of other currencies. It does not mean, of course, that the pound here in Britain, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued.

Except the resulting inflation quickly made sure it was !

[newbryford]

16 minutes ago, Suddaby said:

Hi,

 

I just wondered if you have considered how you are going to pay your exhibitors their expenses. Quite often they have to pay for the van when they return and may not want to put petrol etc on their credit card. Also will traders be able to pay cash for their stand rent, if they have been accepting card payments all day?

 

Just another side of the debate to consider.

 

Kevin

 

I've done a few shows now where BACS was done within a day or two of the show finishing. This has been communicated beforehand so wasn't a problem.

[ikcdab]

I generally pay by card for everything if I can. I only rarely have much cash on me these days.

As an organiser of a (non-railway) local show, we far prefer cards for security purposes. Back in the days of cash, having £10K+ cash floating around in the treasurers tent on Saturday, at home on Sunday and not being paid in until Monday used to worry me.

Using cards eliminates that risk entirely and also has the benefit that we can see instantly how much we have taken.

Edited May 10 by ikcdab

[john new]

1 hour ago, Suddaby said:

Hi,

 

I just wondered if you have considered how you are going to pay your exhibitors their expenses. Quite often they have to pay for the van when they return and may not want to put petrol etc on their credit card. Also will traders be able to pay cash for their stand rent, if they have been accepting card payments all day?

 

Just another side of the debate to consider.

 

Kevin

Just use BACS. Straight into X's account before they have to pay Y for fuel and Z for the van. Just needs some thought as to which account has the money going in before you pay it out.

[john new]

43 minutes ago, ikcdab said:

I generally pay by card for everything if I can. I only rarely have much cash on me these days.

As an organiser of a (non-railway) local show, we far prefer cash for security purposes. Back in the days of cash, having £10K+ cash floating around in the treasurers tent on Saturday, at home on Sunday and not being paid in until Monday used to worry me.

Using cars eliminates that risk entirely and also has he benefit that we can see instantly how much we have taken.

Didn't you mean ".... local show, we far prefer cash cards for security purposes......."  as you then talk about the worry of £10K in cash.

[ikcdab]

3 minutes ago, john new said:

Didn't you mean ".... local show, we far prefer cash cards for security purposes......."  as you then talk about the worry of £10K in cash.

yes of course! i have editted.

[Willie Whizz]

My knowledge is dated, but I used to understand that many small traders and exhibitions etc. used to prefer cash as the fees for card usage ate disproportionately into their profits in transactions below (say) £15-20. Is that no longer the case?

 

Round my way it seems to be takeaway food shops that insist in “cash only” these days; I  regret to say my suspicion is this has something to do with dodging tax in some form but I don’t know. 

[Andy Hayter]

I have ebbed and flowed on cash versus plastic - not yet ventured beyond that.

 

In the 90s if I had a tenner in my pocket and the bank/credit card in the wallet, I was set up for the weekend.

Then my work took me to Germany for 17 years.   When I arrived, cash was absolute.  Hotels, Railway stations and airlines would take card payment but that was it.  Everything else needed cash - supermarket, taxi, etc.  If I had less than 250Dm ( around £120) in, my pocket I would start getting very twitchy and look for a bank/cash machine.    Things have changed since but I am still in the habit of carrying what some might seem as enormous amounts of cash.   Now in France, the use of plastic is greatly increased, but for example our local tobacconist/ bar/ restaurant does not take plastic as is the case for many smaller shops and artisans in the nearby town - cash or cheque (remember those?)

 

So in answering the question I voted for card.  If I were going to the UK, then card would mean I did not need to draw out as much foreign (to me) currency - more expensive than transaction fees - almost hard to believe but true.  Here in France, that card opportunity is rare but gives me flexibility with the cash for those traders than cannot accept plastic.  

[Dungrange]

4 hours ago, Chris M said:

Could I suggest Eventbrite (or similar) for advance ticket sales? 
I would rather buy in advance and not have to bother with card or cash at the door.

 

Yes - we've done that, although went with Ticketsource (https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/elmrc)

 

4 hours ago, eastwestdivide said:

Bit late now, but the other missing option is “Either - I don’t mind”

3 hours ago, Colin_McLeod said:

Your poll does not include the "don't mind either way" option.

 

I had thought that preference meant ranking one option above the other, but perhaps I should have included that as an option.

 

4 hours ago, Gilbert said:

Fair point..so we have 4 options...

 

Maybe I should rerun with an amended question.  Is there just four options:

 

Book on-line in Advance

Pay at the door by card

Pay at the door with cash

Pay at the door with cash or card

 

3 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

I would suggest that any event with takings of over about £100 should be card only.

 

But that denies those who want to pay in cash from doing so.  Do we really want a cashless society?

 

3 hours ago, Suddaby said:

Also will traders be able to pay cash for their stand rent, if they have been accepting card payments all day?

 

For that one, I'll be sending out invoices in advance with bank account details so that they can pay by bank transfer.

 

3 hours ago, Suddaby said:

have considered how you are going to pay your exhibitors their expenses. Quite often they have to pay for the van when they return and may not want to put petrol etc on their credit card.

 

Indeed, which is partly why I asked the question.  If traders pay us by bank transfer and everyone who comes through the door wants to pay by card, our problem might be not enough cash to pay exhibitor expenses rather than cash security issues.  Thankfully, three of the layouts that are attending are on a quid pro quo basis.  We've attended a few shows and been sent a cheque after the event, but I understand that not everyone can afford to wait, so paying out on the day from cash taken in at the door would be the ideal scenario.

[Chris M]

For trade stands our club policy has always been payment in advance. If the trade stand is not paid before the exhibition then the trader isn’t allowed into the hall. This is a simple rule that avoids possible complications. We have had traders bring the cash with them on set up which is not desirable but it is acceptable. 

 

We used to pay layout expenses in cash on the Sunday using cash taken on the door. Along with many other shows we have now moved to payment by BACS in the week after the exhibition. This works well. It’s a bit of work after the show for the finance guy but nobody has complained. As an exhibitor it was always nice to be given some cash on Sunday afternoon which allowed a few purchases that didn’t get noticed by the other half but those days are gone. 

 

When I hire a van from my local van hire I have to pay the full amount when I book it so getting paid during the show or a few days later makes no difference.

[Chris M]

If someone can’t afford to wait for layout expenses  then how on earth did they afford to build a layout and buy stock in the first place?  Hiring a van for the weekend costs about the same as buying a loco.

[CloggyDog]

On 10/05/2024 at 16:53, newbryford said:

 

Sumup readers certainly have a limit.

Once you get to that number that's it until they are unlocked by filling in paperwork/jumping through hoops by providing more details about the account.

You can pre-empt it by sorting out the details beforehand.

 

ISTR it's to limit money-laundering.

 

 

 

Certainly with SumUp the limit is £5k (as a one-off thing). My club used card readers post-Covid: one on the door, one for the second-hand and we've recently got a third for the public catering. Each was c£29 from Rymans or Amazon. 

 

After that first show using them (where we took about £3k over the day by card), as club secretary I had an email from SumUp requesting various details and documents to prove the club's bona fides, with a warning that should we fail to provide such, our readers would cease to work once we'd hit £5k in total lifetime takings.

 

I'm aware of one largish show that 'lost' their card readers soon after opening on the first day of their show, having tripped the £5k limit. 

Edited May 12 by CloggyDog