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Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders

plastc.com

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Re: Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders

#41

Post by reubensutton »

xiaodown wrote: post #35
tacostakohashi wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was always bemused about this idea that putting multiple credit cards on a single physical card is some great feature that a lot of people want and would pay money for. In my experience, having many credit cards is a complete pain to manage, because for each card you need to monitor the statement, set up the automatic payment (or do it manually), change the address when you move, etc, etc, and no sane person is goi…

So, for reference, I'm a guy who has multiple cards. I have two debit cards and a credit card. The credit card is a credit card (and I mostly use it for company purchases that get reimbursed). The two debit cards correspond to two different checking accounts. I have a "main" checking account that my check gets deposited into, and another account that I use for, mainly, online purchases or recurring subscriptions like…

On the London transport network you've been able to pay at the barriers with a contactless credit card in the same way as you would use an Oyster card for a couple of years now. It's weird that other transport networks haven't adopted it yet

Re: Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders

#42

Post by thecosas »

reubensutton wrote: post #37
abalone wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> everywhere that accepts cards Given the shift to chip-and-PIN, which can't be emulated like this -- Plastc claimed they could but never demonstrated it (because it's impossible) -- they were way too late to market with this idea even 3 years ago. And if merchants are going to roll out new POS hardware they might as well jump to NFC as it leapfrogs cards on convenience. And security, if your device implements tokeni…

What makes it impossible to emulate?

https://squareup.com/townsquare/why-are-chip-cards-more-secu...

"To rip it off, someone would have to get into the physical chip circuit and manipulate things to get your bank information. Not only is this level of data surgery really difficult, but it also requires a set of high-tech equipment that can cost north of $1 million."

Re: Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders

#43

Post by nocha »

reubensutton wrote: post #37
abalone wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> everywhere that accepts cards Given the shift to chip-and-PIN, which can't be emulated like this -- Plastc claimed they could but never demonstrated it (because it's impossible) -- they were way too late to market with this idea even 3 years ago. And if merchants are going to roll out new POS hardware they might as well jump to NFC as it leapfrogs cards on convenience. And security, if your device implements tokeni…

What makes it impossible to emulate?

IIRC Chip and Pin uses a challenge-response type set up with public key crypto to authenticate your card with your bank. You cannot clone that, as processing is done on the card - not the reader, and the card never reveals it's secrets.

Re: Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders

#44

Post by huebnerob »

xKingfisher wrote: post #32
tacostakohashi wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was always bemused about this idea that putting multiple credit cards on a single physical card is some great feature that a lot of people want and would pay money for. In my experience, having many credit cards is a complete pain to manage, because for each card you need to monitor the statement, set up the automatic payment (or do it manually), change the address when you move, etc, etc, and no sane person is goi…

My dream for something like this is having everything on one card would let you manage the complexity a lot better. Having one single interface to pay all bills and see spending breakdowns aggregated across all your cards, recommending the optimal order to pay down cards (if you are going to carry a balance). Then on top of this, automatic fallback in case one card is declined, new numbers for every online transactio…

This sounds like a genuinely useful technology that will sadly never make it past the Big Credit gods. Card providers seem to make their profits when you're not managing your card usage so intelligently.

Re: Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders

#46

Post by linsomniac »

xKingfisher wrote: post #32
tacostakohashi wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was always bemused about this idea that putting multiple credit cards on a single physical card is some great feature that a lot of people want and would pay money for. In my experience, having many credit cards is a complete pain to manage, because for each card you need to monitor the statement, set up the automatic payment (or do it manually), change the address when you move, etc, etc, and no sane person is goi…

My dream for something like this is having everything on one card would let you manage the complexity a lot better. Having one single interface to pay all bills and see spending breakdowns aggregated across all your cards, recommending the optimal order to pay down cards (if you are going to carry a balance). Then on top of this, automatic fallback in case one card is declined, new numbers for every online transactio…

One of the Plastc alternatives, I can't seem to find it now, was a device like Plastc, but also a yearly subscription fee, because they promoted the benefits being that the card would automatically switch between your available cards to optimize rewards.

At a gas station you would use the card that had the best gas points. At the grocery store it would switch to the card with the best grocery points...

I was never interested in it, because I don't really want to manage many cards, but I can see the appeal in it.

Re: Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders

#47

Post by limeyx »

vkou wrote: post #7

"In 2011 after buying a pair of sneakers, then a fruit smoothie and noticing a Google Wallet icon on the cash register, Marquis asked the cashier how many people actually paid with their phones. The cashier responded that so far 2-3 people per month were using it... Immediately the lightbulb went on in Ryan’s mind that there was a significant shift happening in the market from a physical credit card to digital paymen…

All I want is an automatic popup on my phone when I approach the register to scan my card details with samsung pay rather than have to slide up apps, use my thumbprint to unlock and wave the damn thing around madly

Currently I use it because of the novelty but it's actually more difficult for me than a physical card

Re: Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders

#48

Post by dstaley »

cschep wrote: post #45

I wonder if this has anything to do with Final ( https://getfinal.com ) shipping?

I doubt it since Final isn't really in the same sphere as Plastc. Final is a typical credit (as in line of credit) card with the added bonus of virtual credit card numbers (similar to Privacy.com credit card numbers). If someone was interested in Plastc, there's nothing about Final that'd be enticing to them.

Re: Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders

#49

Post by derekp7 »

Mister_Snuggles wrote: post #33
thomnottom wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like that the first comment points out that they would be useless once the chip and pin switch takes place "in a year or so".

Chip & Pin is an interesting beast. Canada went straight to Chip & Pin, skipping over Chip & Sign. Since credit cards generally didn't have PINs at the time, there was a little work on the part of the issuing banks to assign PINs. One of my cards came with a letter that said "Use the same PIN as you use with your regular bank card", another came with one that said "Here's your new PIN, you can change it at any of our…

The card issuers are afraid people will forget their PIN, since most people have only one ATM card but multiple credit cards. And if one CC provider requires a PIN, but another one doesn't, then the customer will put the card back in their wallet and pull out another card. Or they will not switch between cards, and consolidate to only one card (whereas a lot of people pull out a credit card at random, apparently).

Re: Plastc will cease operations and will not fulfill any pre-orders

#50

Post by pdelgallego »

Chaebixi wrote: post #27
serg_chernata wrote: post #10

At least Coin delivered my product before getting scooped up. =/

I just noticed they shutdown the coin servers at the end of February, and the app is useless without them. Now I can't add anymore loyalty cards to my Coin. Damn internet of shit.

RMS said "Software As a Service" is not free
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