It's in the cards

[ThePoetSuede]

I am close to signing a proposal and opening my mat in NYC. The vendor has quoted me a complete Mag card system from ESD. VTM's, security cabinets, card dispensor, computers, monitors, etc. BUT NO CARDS INCLUDED

QUESTION: In his quote he is offering me 5000 Mag cards with customized printing @ .85/per. If I am purchasing this complete system should it come with a certain amount of cards already? Since I am buying this system new do I in fact need to purchase the cards separately or should something be included?

[petefritz]

I am not sure you always get cards, but my ESD quote included 5000 cards to start, touch VTM, 2 computors, readers, install, and some chip cards for back up, and administrative use. You might want to call ESD and ask for retail price and what systems would include.

[SuperMatMan]

Anytime I've priced or purchased a card system, the cards were a seperate price. I'm buying a CCI system now and card price is a seperate line item. The same when I had a Quote with ESD systems.

[tguillou]

I'm thinking about obtaining such a card system, I'm trying to budget for it. Would you mind giving me a ballpark on the cost of the system your looking into? Thanks!

[trek]

I have an Easy Card System and they included 10,000 cards with my initial purchase. I'm getting ready to purchase another round of cards, and I've seen them as low as $.43 per card - a HUGE savings over the $.85 per card you have found. I'm not sure if they're doing it any more or not, but Easy Card was offering 10,000 free mag-stripe cards to all purchasers of new systems.

When it comes down to it, it's all about negotiations. If you tell your distributor that this is a breaking point, and he needs to throw in the cards or you won't go for it, then I'm sure he'll find a way to get you your cards.

[ThePoetSuede]

One vendor quoted me $49,500 for an Easy Card system but never gave me the information regarding what I was getting for that price, Hence we go to vendor #2.

He quoted me $32,998 book price for an ESD Mag Card System. It included 2 Deluxe VTM'S and several other components including the computer. However it did not include any cards. These were qouted at 5000 custom cards for $.85 per, again book price.

I was also quoted the ESD Smart Card system at $11,500 for a Delux VTM & Value Reader VTM. Again, NO cards. These were added at 5000 custom cards for $2.95 per.

Of course, I went with the ESD Mag Stripe System

[SuperMatMan]

How much are your card readers for the machines? Is that included in price? What about installation, and wiring? The system itself doesn't sound like it's out of line, but the card price may be a little high. Really depends on what type of artwork, and number of colors. If you want cards cheaper, you could buy a larger quantity, you will more than likely need more relatively soon. It may be worth it to buy them up front. In a different borough of NYC we were using over 120 ESD smart cards a week and that was with a deposit on the card. What did the distributor tell you the reorder price on the cards would be?