8 ms·
Many credit card companies are starting to issue new cards which are completely flat, making it impossible to make imprint. My new CapitalOne card is an example
by tedivm 13y ago
Many credit card companies are starting to issue new cards which are completely flat, making it impossible to make imprint. My new CapitalOne card is an example of this. Is your company planning on refusing to do business with them?
- pbreit 13y agoImprint was just an example. You can take a picture of it, view the CVC, etc. No one imprints anymore.
- pbhjpbhj 13y agoHow can you prove the pictures is the card and not just 'shopped though. With an imprint there's a larger barrier, creating an embossed card, doable but a barrier nonetheless. With credit cards, unless there was a unique image on it then you'd often be able to guess from the number what the other card details should look like.
- potatolicious 13y agoI'd argue that shopping a believable picture of a credit card that stands up to scrutiny is a higher barrier than the imprint - which really just involves some movable letters and carbon paper...
- sxtxixtxcxh 13y ago> No one imprints anymore. that's not true at all; have you been outside of any major city in america?
- coldtea 13y agoAs an avid road fan, I've been in 47 out of 50 states (no Hawaii, Alaska or Vermont) and roadtriped around 50.000 miles, in the course of 7 years. I've stayed in hundrends of small cities, from Ogalala, NE to Ozona, TX and Oatman, AZ, and used my credit cards for all kinds of purchases, from Kroger and CVS, to outlet stores, gas, local shops, small eateries, fast food places, restaurants etc. Never had a vendor inprint my card.
- sxtxixtxcxh 13y agoI had it happen at a Denny's in Oregon, and not because the electricity or phone lines were down, but because that's just how they processed cards.
- ams6110 13y agoImprinting happens a lot at hotel check-ins, in my experience. They will often imprint your card onto their copy of the check-in document.
- smackfu 13y agoYeah, it's a low-end version of a pre-authorization. If the room is already paid for in advance, and you have no extra charges, they can just shred that imprint.
- AdamTReineke 13y agoIt still happens. I had it happen at a gas station in the middle of nowhere Nebraska or South Dakota (where he probably didn't have internet) as well as at a gas station in a bigger town where their internet was out.
- sopooneo 13y agoI was under the impression a lot of swipe machines used plain old phone lines. No?
- willshowalter 13y agoOlder ones did. Newer ones tend to run over the internet. They don't tie up a phone line at either end of the connection, and the information transfer is much quicker, so in most circumstances it works better for everyone.
- ececconi 13y agoHave you never been in a cab in a major city?
- ansgri 13y agoBetter to ask, have you been _outside_ America. For I presume, in most countries who adopted CCs fairly recently, the concept of 'offline transaction' is entirely foreign.
- frmlobbyist 13y agoNot true a lot of small mom and pop stores who are not that electrically savvy still do take an imprint.
- covercash 13y agoYesterday Apple's in-store POS/easypay was down and employees were doing manual imprints. It's rare but does occasionally happen.
- huhtenberg 13y agoThese are "electronic" credit cards, they've been around for years and they are flat so not to be usable for offline processing (that's when they take an imprint, you sign it, they take the imprint to the bank and it settles in a week).
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- daigoba66 13y agoExcept that you can still use just the CC#, Name, and Expiry to authorize a purchase (both online and offline). I've done this at craft shows and such with vendors that didn't have mobile CC reader/app.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- dohertyjf 13y agoHence why Square was invented...
- tonyfelice 13y ago> "for offline processing" Agree, SUPER clever idea. I'm wondering how this would work to make purchases _online_. I know, I know. I'd use my real card. But it strikes me as ironic that the big idea for this digital card is that I don't have to carry my 'analog' cards around. Unless I want to make a digital purchase. Then I need my analog card.
- btgeekboy 13y agoWouldn't you have the image of the card in your phone anyway? So, your analog card would still be in the drawer at home, just as before.
- mattkleiman 13y agoThe lcd displays the CC# and the security code, all the info you would need to buy online. Don't even need to open the app! https://twitter.com/coin/statuses/401939329506746368 https://twitter.com/coin/statuses/401939329506746368
- toomuchtodo 13y agoMy Discover Card is like this as well. Totally flat, no ability to imprint.
- scotty79 13y agoFrom this thread I learned that there was some purpose to making in not flat. It's even sillier than the credit card itself.
- bsimpson 13y agoMy girlfriend's family wanted to rent bikes at Blazing Saddles in SF and the cashiers there threw a big fit when they realized her card wasn't imprintable. They wouldn't photocopy it or write the number down, they just flat-out declined the business.
- rfnslyr 13y agoTheir loss really.
- baddox 13y agoIt's both parties' loss.
- lnanek2 13y agoTheir loss of possibly getting chargebacked? Seems like a benefit.
- lawnchair_larry 13y agoNo, their loss of the sale, obviously.
- lambda 13y agoEveryone loses in this case. The card is supposed to facilitate a transaction and it failed to do so; the shop went without their money, the family went without their bikes, and all of the various financial institutions went without their cut. Which is why the poster above is warning about this; if there will be merchants out there who won't accept it, it's pretty much DOA as you can't replace all the cards in your wallet with it.
- read 13y agoThat's partly what makes this idea such a great bet. It's a positive sign Coin evokes such magnitude of excitement and disbelief.
- 13y ago
- wyclif 13y agoYes, all mine are completely flat at this point as well. I assume all credit card issuers are rolling this out.
- blazingfrog2 13y agoFlat may be fine. However, from what I've seen in the video, the Coin is not only flat but also almost totally anonymized. The cashier would not be able to verify the name against a photo ID or even take a picture of the card. This would be possible with a non-imprintable card.
- binarycrusader 13y agoUnless required by local or state law, most major credit card companies prohibit the requirement of supplementary identification to complete a transaction. With that said, they require verification of the signature on the back of the card with the one on the receipt / screen. In the event that the card is not signed, you are then allowed to require identification and the card must be signed by the customer before it is used.
- ChiperSoft 13y agoExcept at the post office, which will outright refuse any card that is not signed.
- binarycrusader 13y agoTechnically, the card isn't valid unless signed. Most credit card companies prohibit the "See ID" that some people put on their cards in place a of a signature.
- flatfilefan 13y ago"See ID" is also a signature if done own handed. I've seen a court decision to the effect that you can declare your signature anything you write. Important is if _you_ accept it as such later on.
- binarycrusader 13y agoThe importance is consistency and recognition as you point out. But writing "See ID" on the back of the card and then using a completely different signature on the receipt is not acceptable as far as I know.