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I wonder how this would fare in an ATM. What happens if the ATM accidentally presses the card selection button? If the ATM gobbles the card, now you've effectiv

I wonder how this would fare in an ATM. What happens if the ATM accidentally presses the card selection button? If the ATM gobbles the card, now you've effectively lost your entire wallet. What happens if the cashier presses the card selection button while running your card too? Oops, now your boss wants to know why you've just paid for your groceries on the business credit card and why you've cloned your business credit card!! The first can be an innocent mistake, but the second can be grounds for disciplinary action. I can't see the banks being happy about customers cloning their own cards. In fact, it will probably be a convenient excuse for them to absolve themselves of all liability in the case of loss, theft, or misuse. Some, if they found out, might pitch a fit and close the account. This also is going to pose a lot of problems when used with non-domestic cards, as they point out in their FAQ. It's possible to use an EMV-based card with just the magstripe, but it's a pain in the butt and the bank may well be aware that all your meatspace transactions are not using the EMV-chip. They may assume that your card is broken or (quite correctly) cloned and block it. A call from the fraud department may well lead to a fit being pitched. From wikipedia: "Magnetic stripe cloning can be detected by the implementation of magnetic card reader heads and firmware that can read a signature of magnetic noise permanently embedded in all magnetic stripes during the card production process." [0] Oops, now your card is blocked. Retailers might also get skittish if they figure out this isn't actual bank-issued plastic. They may well refuse it because of the risk of fraud. I would. I really wouldn't want to be running someone's cloned card, even if the cardholder was the one that did the cloning. In fact, it might jeopardize a retailer's merchant account if the acquiring bank found out the merchant were running cloned cards! The best way to counter a bulky wallet is to not add bulk in the first place. How many credit cards and debit cards does one need to carry on a daily basis? I carry maybe two or three cards, some ID, my Oyster card, and a Costa rewards card that I use daily. I also have a backup wallet that contains a second set of cards in case I lose the first. The bulk of my wallet is receipts that accumulate, but even when I carried way more my life wasn't burdened by a whalelike wallet. It'd also be a pain in the butt to use this with some rewards cards. For example, my Costa rewards card is swiped at the same time as I'm paying. Would I really want to fumble through pressing a button to find the right rewards card, give that to the cashier, have it handed back so I can fumble through pressing buttons again so I can pay? Certainly not, and even less so the impatient people in line behind me. Sorry to promulgate the Hater News stereotype, but it's just too easy to poke holes in this idea. It has superficial appeal but I really wouldn't pay $100 for so many potential problems, especially as it would only make my wallet a few mm thinner. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_stripe_card http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_stripe_card

rexreed 13y ago
I agree - I don't see the comments here as Hater News, but rather the exact sort of questions pretty much any consumer or business user would ask. There's a glint of "oh this is useful" and then there's the "oh, but what about this... and that...". That's not Hater News - that's pretty much exactly what any non-technical person would inquire about this product.
- kintamanimatt 13y ago
  I agree. Perhaps I was really just promulgating the Critical Thinking News stereotype instead! I actually love to see progress, especially if something would really make my life better, even in a small way, but I really don't feel like this is going to be worth it.
- lmg643 13y ago
  I think Coin is going to be wildly successful. I was looking at my wallet the other day, and wondering why i can't slim it down even further to carry one digital card instead of multiple. i even thought it would make a good startup. and here we are. the only drawback in my mind's eye regarding coin as a business is that there will be no reason to have "swipes" anymore if you can just scan a smartphone, as with the starbucks card. however, the widespread use of scan technology is years away, whereas the swipe is ubiquitous now. ergo, IMHO, coin will be a success if they can execute on the product.
  - jonstjohn 13y ago
    My problem is that I tend to wear out card before I get a replacement. For example, my debit card currently requires 3-4 swipes to get it to work. I'd probably keep a backup card in my wallet if I decided to get Coin, just in case, but really like this idea.
  - untog 13y ago
    But how many of the cards in your wallet could be replaced by Coin? For me it's maybe three. If it can't replace nearly all of them it seems pretty pointless to me - I'm still going to be carrying my wallet, it'll just have two fewer cards in it. Yay? In any case, it does seem odd to build a business around something that is virtually guaranteed to be extinct in a few years time.

rexreed 13y ago

I agree - I don't see the comments here as Hater News, but rather the exact sort of questions pretty much any consumer or business user would ask. There's a glint of "oh this is useful" and then there's the "oh, but what about this... and that...". That's not Hater News - that's pretty much exactly what any non-technical person would inquire about this product.

kintamanimatt 13y ago
I agree. Perhaps I was really just promulgating the Critical Thinking News stereotype instead! I actually love to see progress, especially if something would really make my life better, even in a small way, but I really don't feel like this is going to be worth it.
lmg643 13y ago
I think Coin is going to be wildly successful. I was looking at my wallet the other day, and wondering why i can't slim it down even further to carry one digital card instead of multiple. i even thought it would make a good startup. and here we are. the only drawback in my mind's eye regarding coin as a business is that there will be no reason to have "swipes" anymore if you can just scan a smartphone, as with the starbucks card. however, the widespread use of scan technology is years away, whereas the swipe is ubiquitous now. ergo, IMHO, coin will be a success if they can execute on the product.
- jonstjohn 13y ago
  My problem is that I tend to wear out card before I get a replacement. For example, my debit card currently requires 3-4 swipes to get it to work. I'd probably keep a backup card in my wallet if I decided to get Coin, just in case, but really like this idea.
- untog 13y ago
  But how many of the cards in your wallet could be replaced by Coin? For me it's maybe three. If it can't replace nearly all of them it seems pretty pointless to me - I'm still going to be carrying my wallet, it'll just have two fewer cards in it. Yay? In any case, it does seem odd to build a business around something that is virtually guaranteed to be extinct in a few years time.