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Is it common for people to still swipe cards in some counties? I pay nearly all my small purchases with RFID and bigger ones with chip and pin.
by shirro 13y ago
Is it common for people to still swipe cards in some counties? I pay nearly all my small purchases with RFID and bigger ones with chip and pin.
- mikeash 13y agoIt's almost the only way it's done in the US, still. RFID is available on a lot of readers but just a few cards, and few people seem aware of it. Chip and pin doesn't exist at all.
- zwieback 13y agoDoes anyone know why other technologies didn't catch on? I could imagine more powerful regulators in other countries being one factor and lower cost as another but I really don't know whether those are the real drivers or not.
- nemothekid 13y agoSwiping is American? Or the general public isn't aware. Here in San Francisco, RFID readers (Google Wallet, PayPass Credit Cards) are common, but a majority of people still swipe, even if their cards supports it.
- Philadelphia 13y agoIt's probably mostly a matter of it not providing enough advantage to justify the huge expense of replacing everything.
- skeletonjelly 13y agoHas to be something else. Chip and/or RFID is pretty common in every country I've been to that isn't USA.
- techsupporter 13y agoAt least one article I found says that it's about liability: https://origin.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/are-chip-and-pin-credit-cards-coming-1.aspx https://origin.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/are-chip-an... Supposedly the big motivator behind the chip and PIN push in other countries is that liability for fraudulent transactions could be pushed onto the cardholder. ("You didn't guard your PIN and your money was stolen, sucks for you.") That article says that Regulation E of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act of 1978 in the United States prohibits such a shift by US banks. Without the motivation, banks in the US haven't invested in the infrastructure because it doesn't get them anything. Swiping a card "just works," people are used to it, it's a solved problem, and doesn't require any new outlays of money (not just for the cards and readers, also advertising about how it works, increased call center staff for confused customers, more livery for merchants, and so on) so I guess they're letting sleeping dogs lie.
- zwieback 13y agoThanks, that explanation makes perfect sense.
- objclxt 13y ago> Is it common for people to still swipe cards in some counties? I think this is Square's biggest problem when it comes to global expansion. It's relatively easy for a company like Stripe to launch in Europe: fundamentally the problem is one of paperwork, negotiation, and contracts. For Square, it's all this plus hardware - EMV hardware that needs to be certified by the card issuers, and that's considerably more complex and probably can't be given away for free. I wonder how close Square are to having an EMV solution that's cost effective and can work for them...
- kalleboo 13y agoThere's already iZettle in Europe which does Chip and PIN, and they started after Square so they've had plenty of time.