Live data from Hacker News

EMV Switch This Week Could Threaten Many Businesses in U.S

eweek.com

1–10 of 59 posts

Re: EMV Switch This Week Could Threaten Many Businesses in U.S

#2
I guess I'm not surprised by the lack of EMV capable card readers I still see in the US. Having worked in this space in the past, I am always checking out the payment terminals at the stored I visit. I've even seen some larger merchants that I frequent upgrade their PIN pads recently but to non-EMV capable models.

If the big-box stores aren't getting it done there is little hope for the mom & pop type stores who will be forced to either stop taking cards or accept the liability for fraud since it's unlikely the acquiring banks will want to hold the bag for their customers once the card brands pass it downstream.

Re: EMV Switch This Week Could Threaten Many Businesses in U.S

#3
So there is zero incentive to replace a non-emv reader. Once you have to NOT use the stripe.

It is a big problem for stores. Credit cards have both so stores have to force only those transactions to the EMV.

The machines need to be smart enough to figure out if the card has both and not allow the stripe transaction.

Re: EMV Switch This Week Could Threaten Many Businesses in U.S

#4
post #2

I guess I'm not surprised by the lack of EMV capable card readers I still see in the US. Having worked in this space in the past, I am always checking out the payment terminals at the stored I visit. I've even seen some larger merchants that I frequent upgrade their PIN pads recently but to non-EMV capable models. If the big-box stores aren't getting it done there is little hope for the mom & pop type stores who will…

It's funny - the only two businesses that have made me use the EMV features on my card are the locally owned butcher shop down the street and Wal-Mart.

Re: EMV Switch This Week Could Threaten Many Businesses in U.S

#5
I'm pretty sure the article has it completely backwards. If a retailer has a chip reading terminal, they aren't responsible for fraud. It incentivizes retailers to update their hardware, or face shouldering the fraud risk for chip enabled cards that they end up swiping.

Re: EMV Switch This Week Could Threaten Many Businesses in U.S

#6
post #2

I guess I'm not surprised by the lack of EMV capable card readers I still see in the US. Having worked in this space in the past, I am always checking out the payment terminals at the stored I visit. I've even seen some larger merchants that I frequent upgrade their PIN pads recently but to non-EMV capable models. If the big-box stores aren't getting it done there is little hope for the mom & pop type stores who will…

I've actually found more mom-and-pop type places have upgraded than big box stores. The first place I was able to use Google Wallet with my Android phone was a locally owned grocery store. The first EMV transaction I performed outside of Walmart was at my local liquor store on a stand-beside terminal (not directly integrated with the point of sale).

I work in this space, and while both the software and hardware have been ready for some time, retailers are just really slow to change. When you're talking about potentially hundreds to thousands of new card readers at nearly $1k each, followed by many hours of testing new software versions, piloting and rolling it out, etc., it is a significant investment for them to add support for EMV. That said, it's not like this was on short notice. They've had plenty of time (and incentive) to get this done.

Re: EMV Switch This Week Could Threaten Many Businesses in U.S

#7
It's depressing to see the US still treating EMV cards like a strange exotic novelty while Europe is already upgrading those again and moving to NFC-enabled cards after EMV has worked without any major issues for 20 years.

For small, repeated transactions you just hold the card to the reader and are done in 1-3 seconds. The first transaction on each reader and random transactions every 20-50$ (and all transactions above a $20 limit) will require chip+PIN verification, which seems to cut down fraudulent transactions for now.

Re: EMV Switch This Week Could Threaten Many Businesses in U.S

#8
post #3

So there is zero incentive to replace a non-emv reader. Once you have to NOT use the stripe. It is a big problem for stores. Credit cards have both so stores have to force only those transactions to the EMV. The machines need to be smart enough to figure out if the card has both and not allow the stripe transaction.

The local Walmart setup chip & signature a couple of months ago. Magstripe transactions are denied by default on my card that has the chip.

Re: EMV Switch This Week Could Threaten Many Businesses in U.S

#9
post #3

So there is zero incentive to replace a non-emv reader. Once you have to NOT use the stripe. It is a big problem for stores. Credit cards have both so stores have to force only those transactions to the EMV. The machines need to be smart enough to figure out if the card has both and not allow the stripe transaction.

The machines (and/or PoS software) are smart enough to know if the card that was swiped contains a chip (it is in the track data on the magnetic stripe). But if the card reader lacks the chip reader, it obviously won't reject the swipe. The incentive to upgrade is that now the retailers will be on the hook for any fraud when a customer has to swipe their chip-enabled card due to lack of support at the store.

Re: EMV Switch This Week Could Threaten Many Businesses in U.S

#10
post #8
post #3

So there is zero incentive to replace a non-emv reader. Once you have to NOT use the stripe. It is a big problem for stores. Credit cards have both so stores have to force only those transactions to the EMV. The machines need to be smart enough to figure out if the card has both and not allow the stripe transaction.

The local Walmart setup chip & signature a couple of months ago. Magstripe transactions are denied by default on my card that has the chip.

OK I haven't experienced that.
Post reply on HN