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Europe's Square

izettle.com

61–70 of 111 posts

Re: Europe's Square

#61
post #47

I have one reader connected to my ipad. Got it for free so I had to try it. I have accepted only one payment so far so not much experience about it, but some comments: For private individuals a facebook account is needed to accept payments. The legal agreement is a mess, they even warn that your data can be transferred to countries where privacy laws are not in par with european standards and data is stored for 7 yea…

> The customer must sign the transaction on the ipad screen with finger (even harder with iphone). it's very hard to check that to the signature on the back of the card. In my experience, signing works really well. Also, in Sweden nobody checks the signature. I don't even bother signing my card, and I can't understand how anybody can read the signature on the card. I think it's happened once that someone's wanted to…

I guess that checking the signature is a US thing, in the UK, Switzerland and Spain if you don't pay with a chip & pin card they ask for ID, and that works pretty fine security wise.

Re: Europe's Square

#62
post #32
post #6

One thing that may not be too familiar to the Americans, but this looks a lot sturdier (read:larger) because it isn't a swiper like Square. It is a chip reader, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_and_PIN

Heads up, If you're an American going to Europe, regular swipe only credit cards won't work as often here. Nearly all point-of-sale credit card machines require chip & pin. Or you'll wind up like some tourists in my local supermarket unable to use their credit card.

that ain't true. My Visa is swipe, and my Amex chip. All places accept both swipe and chip & pin, no matter how small the place is. Just make sure that if you swipe you have ID w/ photo with you.

Re: Europe's Square

#63
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The customer must sign the transaction on the ipad screen with finger (even harder with iphone). it's very hard to check that to the signature on the back of the card. In my experience, signing works really well. Also, in Sweden nobody checks the signature. I don't even bother signing my card, and I can't understand how anybody can read the signature on the card. I think it's happened once that someone's wanted to…

I guess that checking the signature is a US thing, in the UK, Switzerland and Spain if you don't pay with a chip & pin card they ask for ID, and that works pretty fine security wise.

Except for car park payment machines in the UK - which seem to accept your card and don't ask for a PIN or a signature.

Re: Europe's Square

#64
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess that checking the signature is a US thing, in the UK, Switzerland and Spain if you don't pay with a chip & pin card they ask for ID, and that works pretty fine security wise.

Except for car park payment machines in the UK - which seem to accept your card and don't ask for a PIN or a signature.

very true, i guess there might be exceptions due to average transactions sizes. 5 GBP for parking might not compare to a 3,000 GBP Louis Vuitton purse

Re: Europe's Square

#65
Their is another company that is breaking into this market in US, Brazil and Europe. They are working on making it easy to accept cards in Europe and also getting the governmental approval for coupon fiscal in Brazil. The company Tillify.com are also rolling native apps and web apps for all devices that work consumer side and vendor side, They are also using the mobile phone number as a digital id to enroll consumers into their platform.

Re: Europe's Square

#67
post #47

I have one reader connected to my ipad. Got it for free so I had to try it. I have accepted only one payment so far so not much experience about it, but some comments: For private individuals a facebook account is needed to accept payments. The legal agreement is a mess, they even warn that your data can be transferred to countries where privacy laws are not in par with european standards and data is stored for 7 yea…

You could buy a iPad pen for better signing and sign checking.

Re: Europe's Square

#68
In Europe the card acceptance system will need to read the chip, but not enter the pin. The best solution is to accept the signature on the panel. This is what izettle have done. Its a u-turn on chip and pin but the only way it can be done as you cant pass the pin through the app for security issues. In larger outlets no doubt a wired card reader will be used and the pin will be entered into that reader as current systems do.

Re: Europe's Square

#69
post #36

However successful this product becomes (which looks doubtful given its dependence upon signatures), its irritating generic web 2.0 startup name will prevent me from ever taking it seriously.

Square has a good product name, because it's memorable, and it fits the device (it's square!)

On the other hand, iZettle is neither memorable, nor makes any sense.

Re: Europe's Square

#70
post #19

Swede here -- the company is Swedish and I have used it on several occasions, as a payer. It works great. As others have mentioned, it reads the chip, and is sturdy. Not using PIN though, you sign the receipt with your finger, which works really well. You can also get the receipt via email. Edit: they definitely support VISA.

Lack of Chip and PIN support is going to be a major turn-off in much of the European market...

I disagree. These systems will just take over as by design they are like a Trojan horse. Sure i think that Europeans are less easy going than their us counterparts, none the same I think these apps will take off with or without a pin. Furthermore once you have signed and paid once your card details are securely stored and their is no need to use it ever again. Just like purchasing on-line you can just use a consumer app to make payment with out the need for the card - and as such the pin and even signature is irrelevant!
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