Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Coin

onlycoin.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 720 posts

Re: Coin

#361

Post by schrodinger »

bennyg wrote: post #339
untog wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how many of the cards in your wallet could be replaced by Coin? For me it's maybe three. If it can't replace nearly all of them it seems pretty pointless to me - I'm still going to be carrying my wallet, it'll just have two fewer cards in it. Yay? In any case, it does seem odd to build a business around something that is virtually guaranteed to be extinct in a few years time.

What about bars? A lot of bars I go to hold onto your card until you tab out. I'd hate to keep getting notifications about losing my card every time I'm out on the town. When you go back up to the bar, they ask what your name is to tab out. I didn't see anything on the Coin to do that. I also wouldn't want the bartender to press the button and change to a business account or something similar. I'm not being a hater,…

I've been to a bar recently where they didn't have to hold my card to keep a tab open. So much more convenient!

Re: Coin

#362

Post by Drexl »

jhandl wrote: post #190
nlh wrote: post #167

SUPER clever idea -- kudos for that. In theory, this is awesome. As a consumer, I love it. As a merchant, however (which I am), there is no chance I would accept this. None. Unless the issuers (that is, Visa, MC, Amex) drastically change their policies, which I don't see happening anytime soon. Why? Because the issuers are very clear about a few things: When push comes to shove and it REALLY gets down to it, unless t…

I love the idea behind Coin but what I need is a fat wallet. I carry 19 cards, of which 16 are essential. Some of them are not for swiping so they wouldn't benefit from Coin. The solution for me is a wallet that can hold 20 to 30 cards, but as far as I can tell there's no such thing.

It's less than 19, but perhaps the coolest card wallet on the market. Their kickstarter was a HUGE success. Maybe get two of them?

http://www.ridgewallet.com/ http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/124039987/the-bridge-fro...

Re: Coin

#363

Post by Dylan16807 »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #107
Osmium wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I can't remember the last time I saw someone sign for or swipe a credit card in the UK: it's all chip-and-pin now, all the time. This looks like cool technology but it just wouldn't work here.

Pro tip: if you're in the UK and think Chip+PIN is a really good way for the bank to shift liability to the cardholder and want to make your life miserable, ask the bank for a Chip+Signature card. That'll fuck things up for you on the regular.

Which will fuck things up? I can't tell if you're saying Chip+Signature will avoid the problems or make them worse.

Re: Coin

#365

Post by dakrisht »

berberous wrote: post #40
rexreed wrote: post #25

How would you prevent mass credit card theft in this case? Couldn't an unscrupulous person, say a waiter at a restaurant, take your card, use his/her own Coin to make a copy of your card, add it to their own Coin, and then use that card at their leisure at a future date? I know, the same question was asked re: Square and the like, but the difference is that you need a Square account to steal other people's cards, and…

From the FAQ: "As an additional safeguard, the Coin app will only allow you to add cards you own." So it sounds like if the name doesn't match, it won't work (you have to take a picture of the front).

Match? How? With OCR and image processing?

Currently, one assumes you can take a picture of any card and store it for visual purposes. There's zero explanation of how they authenticate a physical card (photo) with the swipe data.

Re: Coin

#366

Post by vlokshin »

nlh wrote: post #167

SUPER clever idea -- kudos for that. In theory, this is awesome. As a consumer, I love it. As a merchant, however (which I am), there is no chance I would accept this. None. Unless the issuers (that is, Visa, MC, Amex) drastically change their policies, which I don't see happening anytime soon. Why? Because the issuers are very clear about a few things: When push comes to shove and it REALLY gets down to it, unless t…

These are some very solid counter-arguments to the awesomeness of what Coin could be, and I really hope you're wrong... but you make some very solid points, with the experience to back it up.

Re: Coin

#367

Post by porter »

This looks like one of those game changers that everyone says will never work. But then somehow they figure it out and change the world. VCs should be all over this.

Re: Coin

#368

Post by mrinterweb »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #315
rmc wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans going to Europe: Remember that your credit card might not work as often in Europe. Be prepared for hearing "We only take chip & pin cards here" in shops etc.

Imagine my dismay when a coffeeshop in Amsterdam would not take my magstrip only American Express.

The different scenarios my imagination has come up with all end with you saying "mega bummer, dude".

Re: Coin

#369

Post by untog »

dakrisht wrote: post #354
typicalrunt wrote: post #347

It's a neat idea, but what I'd really like to see is a way to use randomly-generated numbers as my credit card for one-time payments instead of handing over my full credit card details to an online store. I hear this is done by a few credit card companies now but I have yet to see it in Canada. Coin could even take this idea one step further and allow you to store your credit card, but when you swipe their card it pr…

I like this randomized credit card numbers idea but I don't understand how it would work? How would the terminal know it's debiting your account? Where would the authentication take place? Where would the randomization take place? And what would this be based on? Credit cards are actually very simple in nature (and why there are billions of dollars of fraud occurring every year). It's simply an account number printed…

Presumably the idea is that the account number (i.e. credit card number) is randomised for each transaction - but still valid. So authentication etc. would happen exactly as it does right now. But that number would become invalid immediately after it is debited. That way even if someone intercepted the number they would not be able to use it in the future.

Obviously this only really works for online transactions that don't require a physical card - and even then introduces a ton of complexity to things like refunds. But the idea is interesting.

Re: Coin

#370

Post by donpdonp »

yial wrote: post #257
jonstjohn wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For most self-swipe checkouts, it seems like this card would work well (coffee shop, grocery store, etc). But, it isn't too uncommon to have a merchant request to see the card, and some larger retailers (e.g., Lowes) have to input numbers off the front of the card, as well.

I know that the processing at the one store I work at requires that we input the last four of the card. There's no way to over ride this on our end.

The little display window on the card appears to show the last 4 digits.
Post reply on HN