Show HN: We made a web-based cash register(facecash.com)
facecash.com
Show HN: We made a web-based cash register
https://www.facecash.com/register.html
54 comments
This is a great idea in part because of the incredible stagnation in the upgrade path for a restaurant's POS technology. In my experience the entire hardware+software system gets upgraded only once every 5-10 years at a typical restaurant. Probably because the two (hardware and software) are sold together, making upgrades a big investment.
Welcome to the club, my company Cashier Live (http://www.cashierlive.com) has been at this for about a year now. We're focused on retail, and from what I can see here you're focused on restaurant/quick serve. This is a great idea to help get your payments product adopted.
One thing you'll run in to when you have merchants actually using this is a crushing load of feature requests and support. Since you're using Authorize.net for card payments, right away you'll have store owners complaining that their fees are higher than they used to be. (Maybe that's good for you, just tell them to use FaceCash) We've integrated directly with a few of the processing networks now to get around that. This will be a great tool for getting people on board with FaceCash, but you'll have to keep support/dev in mind or you'll be dragged away from it.
When I did a Show HN a year back, connectivity was one of the big question marks from everyone. I can report back that you'd be surprised how much of a non-issue it really is. MiFi cards and wireless hotspots are an almost bulletproof backup, it might be a bit slower but the store is open for business. With traditional POS, card processing is down when their connection is down so they're just as bad off as a web-based pos.
Point-of-sale software is well suited for SaaS, despite what many think, so I'm not surprised to see another join the club. Aaron: If you plan on sticking to restaurants/QSR shoot me an e-mail, have an idea I'd like to run past you.
One thing you'll run in to when you have merchants actually using this is a crushing load of feature requests and support. Since you're using Authorize.net for card payments, right away you'll have store owners complaining that their fees are higher than they used to be. (Maybe that's good for you, just tell them to use FaceCash) We've integrated directly with a few of the processing networks now to get around that. This will be a great tool for getting people on board with FaceCash, but you'll have to keep support/dev in mind or you'll be dragged away from it.
When I did a Show HN a year back, connectivity was one of the big question marks from everyone. I can report back that you'd be surprised how much of a non-issue it really is. MiFi cards and wireless hotspots are an almost bulletproof backup, it might be a bit slower but the store is open for business. With traditional POS, card processing is down when their connection is down so they're just as bad off as a web-based pos.
Point-of-sale software is well suited for SaaS, despite what many think, so I'm not surprised to see another join the club. Aaron: If you plan on sticking to restaurants/QSR shoot me an e-mail, have an idea I'd like to run past you.
I spent 2 years in the POS industry (about 3-4 years ago since I left). I've thought about this a couple times, but it keeps coming down to the same thing; if your internet goes out, you're hooped.
Maybe use HTML 5 local storage if an internet connection isn't available, then sync up with the server when it is?
yeah. But I imagine there might be some stickiness with multiple terminals...I guess if each terminal has it's own queue of order to be sent it wouldn't be a problem. There def would be issues with credit card processing though.
Credit card processing isn't the only problem. That goes down with the internet right now too. The problem is communication between the terminals, kitchen, bar, ect.
The way POS systems work is if you ring food and drinks in a terminal, the drinks get sent to the bar, and the food gets sent to the kitchen. If your using a web based point of sale system and your internet connection dies, none of this can happen. All the sudden you're running the orders around the restaurant by hand (which would _never_ fly).
The way POS systems work is if you ring food and drinks in a terminal, the drinks get sent to the bar, and the food gets sent to the kitchen. If your using a web based point of sale system and your internet connection dies, none of this can happen. All the sudden you're running the orders around the restaurant by hand (which would _never_ fly).
cool app. From a conversion perspective, might want to try and show the product a bit more on the landing. Too much text for my taste. $0.02
Very interesting. Do you have a demo?
This is kiosk mode, so it's designed to let merchants place a kiosk in-store in order to decrease lines. It's a restricted version of the full application. You'll have to sign up your business to use the real thing.
https://www.facecash.com/kiosk.html?id=3587
https://www.facecash.com/kiosk.html?id=3587
I believe I found a few bugs with the kiosk mode:
1. Items are not grouped together when the same item is added at a later time (or is this a feature?)
2. Updating an order changes the price but not the quantity.
3. When selecting the quantity of an item, there is no visual feedback to let you know what number you have clicked on. It's also not obvious that +10 means 11.
4. Orders that have more than 1 item do not contain bullet points.
See http://i.imgur.com/Onpkb.png for some examples. This was within 10-20 seconds of playing with it, there are probably many more.
1. Items are not grouped together when the same item is added at a later time (or is this a feature?)
2. Updating an order changes the price but not the quantity.
3. When selecting the quantity of an item, there is no visual feedback to let you know what number you have clicked on. It's also not obvious that +10 means 11.
4. Orders that have more than 1 item do not contain bullet points.
See http://i.imgur.com/Onpkb.png for some examples. This was within 10-20 seconds of playing with it, there are probably many more.
Item 1 is a feature; you might want one taco with rice and one without.
We'll look at the others. Thanks!
We'll look at the others. Thanks!
Intelligent display grouping - if the second one added has the same instructions or modifications, group them (but keep them separate in whatever storage area you're using) would be a happy medium, although obviously more work.
I'd suggest allowing grouping of items, allowing groups like 'Drinks', 'Sandwiches', etc. It's somewhat confusing in that example because there doesn't appear to be any sort of order to how the items are laid out. That may make some sense for the actual registers (muscle memory is wonderful thing), but if the customer is expected to use that interface themselves, I'd expect it to be a bit more friendly.
Bug: The "Back" button isn't removed after adding a nested item (e.g., Capuccino -> Large).
Also, you've got a typo on "Cappuccino" :)
Also, you've got a typo on "Cappuccino" :)
Web hosted POS? What about a fallback when the WAN goes down?
In all honesty, this is probably fairly rare. I'd imagine about as rare as a cooking oven burning out, running out of a specific ingredient, or having your head cook call in sick. Making the system more reliable never hurts, though. A "rocket stick" or tethered phone could tag in when ever there may be issue.
Many things can occur in a restaurant that can cause hiccups, but overall I think the benefits outweigh the cons. A great idea.
Many things can occur in a restaurant that can cause hiccups, but overall I think the benefits outweigh the cons. A great idea.
My only reservation after looking at this. You could imagine the "POS" acronym changing meaning very quickly in the event of connection failure.
That said, maybe they could eventually integrate gears or some other type of offline storage.
That said, maybe they could eventually integrate gears or some other type of offline storage.
see also: http://www.vendhq.com/
Yup, really impressed by this local (to me) kiwi company. They have solved the connectivity issue with complete offline functionality via HTML 5 storage and syncing; they also do integration with cash tills, barcode scanners, payment systems, accounting systems etc. Disclaimer: I know the founder; he's a pretty smart guy.
Nice to see more competition in this space as it certainly validates that the area as a whole is ripe for revolution. I suspect that the incumbent POS folks will be going the way of the dinosaur in a few years.
Nice to see more competition in this space as it certainly validates that the area as a whole is ripe for revolution. I suspect that the incumbent POS folks will be going the way of the dinosaur in a few years.
How do you accept credit cards?
Either through the merchant's Authorize.Net account or through manual entry of what was processed on an external swipe machine.
The point is to get everyone to take FaceCash, of course!
The point is to get everyone to take FaceCash, of course!
what do you mean manual entry? does someone have to manaually type in numbers?
Also do you have to already have an existing merchant account or can you provide merchant gateways too?
Also do you have to already have an existing merchant account or can you provide merchant gateways too?
Cool idea and wonder those who use the web based system would their personal URL be something like facecash.com/mcdonalds ?
Overall its web based and my online bank account has been hacked into, thus I never do online banking through the web anymore only through bank's official iPhone app. If the banks can not keep us secure how do you plan on securing payment information entered into your system?
Overall its web based and my online bank account has been hacked into, thus I never do online banking through the web anymore only through bank's official iPhone app. If the banks can not keep us secure how do you plan on securing payment information entered into your system?
All the usual ways. We encrypt bank and credit card data, hash passwords, etc. Nothing is 100% secure but you can try your best.
The fact that we use your facial image to effectively authenticate you at the point of sale, which is the whole reason for building this POS system in the first place, makes the system a good deal more secure than anything else out there for retail transactions.
The fact that we use your facial image to effectively authenticate you at the point of sale, which is the whole reason for building this POS system in the first place, makes the system a good deal more secure than anything else out there for retail transactions.
Are you PCI compliant? If not I can help.
I loved looking at the demo you linked to below (https://www.facecash.com/kiosk.html?id=3587). Any way we can get that front and center on the page? I would assume any POS target customers want to get their hands on it. Is your target more skewed towards big box or independent retailers?
How do you interface with a barcode scanner or credit card terminal?
AFAIK barcode scanners use the keyboard interface, meaning scanning a code just sends some keystrokes to the PC.
Sometimes referred to as a "wedge" for a PS/2 keyboard port. USB models can "emulate" a keyboard.
I'm not seeing a cash register - I'm seeing a personal payments system. For an online cash register check out http://vendhq.com/
Whoops - now I'm seeing it - it the landing page. Is there anything actually behind there?
https://www.facecash.com/register.html
https://www.facecash.com/register.html
Yes, quite a bit, actually!
Can you give the definition of a cash register and a personal payments system?
Personal payments = the overall Facecash product - think PayPal, though I'm sure they would rather you didn't.
Cash register = something to use to run a check-out, including a list of products you sell, an easy way to add them to a list, an easy way to total the bill and present an invoice. Taking the payment is generally regarded as a separate part of the system.
POS = Point of Sale - from your basic cash register all the way up to networked specialty cash registers for supermarkets. They also require a back office, including an inventory system, a purchasing system and a proper accounting system.
EFTPOS = Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale. It's the term used in Australia and NZ for the system used to accept credit and debit card payments at pretty much everywhere you shop. Usually the EFT system is a separate product attached to the POS system.
The entire ecosystem is begging for SAAS. The interfaces (e.g. to bar code scanners, credit card terminals) are pretty standard, the current products are old, expensive and have terrible UIs, and the ability of SAAS to adapt to customers is killer.
The best part is that SAAS POS systems can link into payment providers, accounting providers (Vendhq links to http://Xero.com/, ordering and inventory systems and so forth.
Cash register = something to use to run a check-out, including a list of products you sell, an easy way to add them to a list, an easy way to total the bill and present an invoice. Taking the payment is generally regarded as a separate part of the system.
POS = Point of Sale - from your basic cash register all the way up to networked specialty cash registers for supermarkets. They also require a back office, including an inventory system, a purchasing system and a proper accounting system.
EFTPOS = Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale. It's the term used in Australia and NZ for the system used to accept credit and debit card payments at pretty much everywhere you shop. Usually the EFT system is a separate product attached to the POS system.
The entire ecosystem is begging for SAAS. The interfaces (e.g. to bar code scanners, credit card terminals) are pretty standard, the current products are old, expensive and have terrible UIs, and the ability of SAAS to adapt to customers is killer.
The best part is that SAAS POS systems can link into payment providers, accounting providers (Vendhq links to http://Xero.com/, ordering and inventory systems and so forth.
FaceCash does everything listed above, not just peer-to-peer payments.
From what I see, everything is free. How do you make money?
FaceCash is a mobile payment system that more or less just happens to have a cash register. We take 1.5% of each FaceCash transaction on the merchant side, plus fees (also on the merchant side) for coupons that are delivered to the FaceCash app and then result in a sale. We'll also start charging for some parts of ThinkLink (the built-in accounting suite) like payroll, eventually.
(tiny critique: "Advanced features" was a bit too long to glance over for me. Might I suggest limiting it to 7+-2 bullets?)
That sounds wonderful, actually - a nice way to combat the "fire and forget" mentality there that I've encountered.
Hope you allow regular receipts too. Email receipts might be harder to convince?
If this grows in popularity I imagine they would have to change the name due to Facebook's pending trademark on "Face*".
Not gonna happen. FaceCash is ours.
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=7...
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=7...
Doesn't mean Facebook wouldn't try.
They won't.
Does this have anything to do with your certainty?
http://www.allfacebook.com/aaron-greenspan-facebook-2009-05
These are the same guys (Aaron Greenspan) who were involved in an early lawsuit w facebook already.
That could be a nice marketing strategy.
Interesting . But why you guys don't have a demo upfront ?
Definitely an interesting concept, have you talked with any merchants? Curious to see how easy/hard it is to convince to use a new tool...
Yes. There's always a chicken-and-egg problem when building a new payment network, but we've got a few on board and we're talking with many others.
http://www.facecash.com/where.html
http://www.facecash.com/where.html