Take a counter doing 120 transactions a day at an average ticket of 2 000 taka, with a quoted rate of 0.4 per cent. That looks like 960 taka a day. It is not, and the difference is not small.
| Line | Per day |
|---|---|
| Gross commission, 120 × 2 000 × 0.4% | 960 |
| Trips to rebalance the float | −120 |
| Failed and reversed transactions | −60 |
| Mobile data and electricity | −45 |
| Share to the helper on busy hours | −180 |
| Left | 555 |
That is a 42 per cent haircut, and every line of it is ordinary. None of it is fraud or bad luck. It is the cost of running the counter at all.
The two lines people forget
Rebalancing is the one that surprises everyone. If your float runs dry at two in the afternoon, someone has to leave the counter. That trip costs the fare and it costs the transactions you did not take while the chair was empty.
Reversals are the other. A reversed transaction usually keeps its cost and loses its commission, so it is worse than a transaction that never happened.
Before accepting a rate, write out the table above with your own numbers. If the bottom line does not clear your rent, the rate is not workable no matter how good the percentage looks.