RemitPro Launches All-in-One Pricing for Remote Deposit Capture

Seeking to expand its market for software and services that allow merchants to submit checks for electronic processing, Omaha, Neb.-based RemitPro Inc. is introducing what is says is the only offering that bundles a check scanner, remote deposit capture software, transaction service, and maintenance in one package for a single price. The new offering also includes a help desk that will send overnight scanner replacements to merchants when the machines fail, Tom Schildhauer, vice president of sales at RemitPro, tells Digital Transactions News. “It comes with a spare in the air,” he says. The move comes at a time when banks and third-party resellers are looking for ways to penetrate the highly price-sensitive small-business segment for remote capture, a service that lets merchants scan checks and send the resulting images to their banks for deposit. While scanner prices have been coming down, they range from $500 to $1,000 each, leading many small-business owners to balk at installing the devices. Some 14.5 million small businesses are candidates for remote capture, but just 1% have adopted the service, according to research by Celent LLC, Boston. Bob Meara, a senior analyst at Celent, says in an e-mail message to Digital Transactions News that RemitPro's gambit follows in the footsteps of programs by scanner makers to offer so-called pay-as-you-go pricing. But RemitPro is the first to offer all-in-one pricing, he says. “This bundling takes the idea one step further,” he notes. He sees the move as a way to ease capital requirements for institutions deploying remote capture. “Deploying [financial institutions] are struggling with funding [remote deposit capture] expansion plans,” he says. Banks, he says, still account for 90% of remote-capture installations. With RemitPro's new bundled pricing, Schildhauer says, merchants can also more easily justify the decision to adopt remote capture. “It's a decision that's about as tough as [buying] a cell phone right now,” he notes. Under the new structure, RemitPro charges a setup fee of $150, which includes installation and training, and then collects a fixed monthly fee for a two- or three-year term. Schildhauer says by way of example that this fee could come to $59 monthly for up to 100 checks per month on certain scanner models. RemitPro, whose remote-capture software processes approximately 500,000 transactions a month through 17 major banks, will continue to offer its service with traditional pricing, which usually includes a scanner purchase or lease accompanied by transaction fees determined by volume. Schildhauer hopes the new service desk will also help sell remote capture to merchants. Since RemitPro sees images as they pass through its platform, the company can spot problems at specific devices and determine whether the device needs to be replaced. If a replacement is warranted, the company can send a replacement device overnight, relying on fulfillment by a third-party company. “Our object was to really step up our customer service,” Schildhauer says. The red-hot popularity of remote deposit capture is attracting more resellers into the business. There are now more than 387,000 remote-capture workstations in the marketplace, up 75% from last year, according to Celent. For its part, RemitPro already works with two independent sales organizations, Automated Merchant Systems Inc., Altamonte Springs, Fla., and Vanco Services LLC, Minnetonka, Minn. (Digital Transactions News, Aug. 30, 2007). The company is also in talks with two others, Schildhauer says. The new bundled pricing offer is available through both reseller and direct channels, he adds. ISOs, he says, “will be a good model for us.”