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Europe's Square

izettle.com

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Re: Europe's Square

#41

Post by oliwarner »

rmc wrote: post #32
lachyg wrote: 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.

This is nonsense (at least in the UK and France). Yes there is preference for chip & pin but every reader I've seen supports swipe & sign still. Chips break, contacts corrode. It's there as a backup.

(And yes, this totally defeats the security aspect of C&P)

Re: Europe's Square

#43

Post by robmcm »

bnr wrote: post #21
robmcm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be worried letting someone read my card information via an Android phone. Malware would easily be able to sit in the background and intercept information from the reader. At least on iOS you know any interception would have to be on transmition from the app to the server, which is not all client side. Perhaps that's a little unfair. I guess as more and more apps and devices become avaliable for reading you ca…

How about jailbroken iPhones? Do you check the vendor/platform of the CC reader in every shop before paying?

Yes very true, and you could easily hack once of the physical readers they use now. Almost every shop I go into seems to have a different make or model of card reader.

I guess with Android there is more change of the device owner not knownig it's there, it's much easier to say phish someone into installing malware onto an Android device than it is to jailbrake their iOS phone.

I wouldn't like to be in the shoes of fraud departments right now...

Re: Europe's Square

#44

Post by objclxt »

buro9 wrote: post #35
hopeless wrote: post #15

What's all this "sign with your finger" nonsense? With Chip & PIN cards (i.e., all our modern credit cards) you should just need the chip & PIN. Signatures are only a backup authentication. Also, signing with anything other than a pen and paper is still a disastrous user experience (see every courier's PDA system ever built)

PIN keypads have to be secure... totally secure. Passing through the iPhone isn't security. For them to include a PIN entry system, they would need to do so on the chip reader device itself (non-iPhone). The keypads for PIN entry systems always hash the PIN before it leaves the keypad... no other software gets the PIN. If you cannot offer secure PIN entry, then you cannot offer PIN entry. You can still take a signatu…

A good example of this is the Apple Stores in Europe: like in the US, staff use iPods to take orders and checkout. The difference is when it comes to payment: instead of swiping the credit card and signing on the iPod screen, transaction details are wirelessly sent to one of many Chip & PIN readers around the store, and you then complete your purchase there.

Re: Europe's Square

#45

Post by phreeza »

netrus wrote: post #12
quarterto wrote: post #3

Looks good. I always thought the Square dongle looked a bit flimsy. This looks much more professional. On the other hand, what the fuck is with that name? iZettle? What's a zettle when it's at home?

Well, a Zettel is a small sheet of paper in German. I have no idea if this is the background, but I really read this as iZettel - and it doesn't make any sense. On the other hand, "Kindle" is something like an angel in German (or a beer), and I think it is a great name anyway!

I always thought it was the bavarian/austrian/swiss diminutive for Zettel. Didn't make much sense to me either, except maybe because an old fashioned receipt is a small "Zettel"?

Re: Europe's Square

#46

Post by jnye131 »

oliwarner wrote: post #41
rmc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is nonsense (at least in the UK and France). Yes there is preference for chip & pin but every reader I've seen supports swipe & sign still. Chips break, contacts corrode. It's there as a backup. (And yes, this totally defeats the security aspect of C&P)

For transactions in the UK the merchant can also take a signature for low value transactions on a chip and pin card. There is more risk with this though.

Re: Europe's Square

#47

Post by anemic »

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 years

Location of the transaction is stored and cannot be turned off, it's unclear why this is needed.

They seem to comply with PCI data security standards but are not audited (yet?)

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. also the customer must type his/her email on the screen if they want a receipt (there is no receipt printer). So each transaction takes a long time.

So it's good for selling at fleamarkets and such but for serious business it's no match for a payment terminal. Also if you don't already own iphone/ipad then it's also more expensive.

Re: Europe's Square

#48

Post by biafra »

oliwarner wrote: post #41
rmc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is nonsense (at least in the UK and France). Yes there is preference for chip & pin but every reader I've seen supports swipe & sign still. Chips break, contacts corrode. It's there as a backup. (And yes, this totally defeats the security aspect of C&P)

It also works in Germany. Where they accept credit cards at all.

Re: Europe's Square

#49

Post by thatjoshguy »

objclxt wrote: post #44
buro9 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PIN keypads have to be secure... totally secure. Passing through the iPhone isn't security. For them to include a PIN entry system, they would need to do so on the chip reader device itself (non-iPhone). The keypads for PIN entry systems always hash the PIN before it leaves the keypad... no other software gets the PIN. If you cannot offer secure PIN entry, then you cannot offer PIN entry. You can still take a signatu…

A good example of this is the Apple Stores in Europe: like in the US, staff use iPods to take orders and checkout. The difference is when it comes to payment: instead of swiping the credit card and signing on the iPod screen, transaction details are wirelessly sent to one of many Chip & PIN readers around the store, and you then complete your purchase there.

Do they go to cashwrap, or do they have just 'standalone' chip+pin terminals in the store?

Re: Europe's Square

#50

Post by ernesth »

oliwarner wrote: post #41
rmc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is nonsense (at least in the UK and France). Yes there is preference for chip & pin but every reader I've seen supports swipe & sign still. Chips break, contacts corrode. It's there as a backup. (And yes, this totally defeats the security aspect of C&P)

In french trains, the conductor's card reader only supports chip, the automats in train stations also don't support swipe.
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