Following the October 1, 2015 deadline created by U.S. credit card issuers MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express, the liability of EMV compliant payment processing systems has shifted in the U.S. Prior to this shift, one of two parties would be held responsible in the case of fraudulent credit card transactions – the payment processor or the issuing bank. Now, whichever party is the least EMV compliant in a fraudulent credit card transaction – the merchant or the card issuing bank – will be liable for the consumer losses.
While business owners and shoppers tend to see the shift as a negative, it turns out that there are many overlooked benefits to the EMV shift for both businesses and consumers.
As mentioned, the Oct. 1, 2015 deadline is strongly encouraging businesses to switch to EMV compliant payment processing systems in order to avoid being held liable for fraudulent credit card transactions. While switching to a new EMV compliant POS system may be expensive, it can potentially save businesses from losing hundreds to thousands of dollars in credit card fraud. What’s more, this switch gives business owners the opportunity to not only become EMV compliant but to consider switching to a more modern and mobile POS system.
Tablet-based POS is becoming more prevalent in businesses, especially small businesses. The reason being is that tablet-based POS is usually inexpensive and can scale or expand your business. Tablet POS is also a sleek and attractive option for small business owners, allowing them to keep a modern check-out and save precious counter space at the point of transaction. The benefit of upgrading your traditional cash register or POS to a mobile or tablet POS system, is that most mPOS systems are already EMV compliant, making the shift to EMV as smooth and inexpensive as possible.
Now, let’s talk about some of the benefits of EMV for shoppers.
Since the shift to EMV compliant payment processing, there has been an obvious push-back from shoppers all over the U.S. This is mostly due to the fact that dipping the EMV chip of your credit card takes significantly longer than the simple swipe of a magnetic stripe reader. While this can be a nuisance, the EMV chip is a major benefit for consumer shoppers as well.
The reason you have to wait an extra 5 to 10 seconds for the chip reader to process your payment is because each transaction with your EMV card is a unique one. When dipping your card into the chip reader, the terminal performs many stages of complex processing to create a unique transaction each time your EMV card is used for payments. This requires dozens of pieces of data to be read in order to create this unique transaction, resulting in a slightly longer wait time. But the benefit is, that if the card information gets copied and attempted to be used for another transaction, the information would not be usable, and the card would just be denied.
To learn more about the EMV shift and mobile payment solutions, check out Star Micronics eBook – mPOS: How its Revolutionizing Payments.
