Stay Safe: Less Virus Spreading with Contactless Credit Card Processing
June 18, 2020
the New Normal
As this is written many retailers are about to reopen in full after the long coronavirus lockdown. Although they’re "open for business" it remains to be seen just what will be the "new normal". The coronavirus is still around and a vaccine is out somewhere over the horizon. Both associates and customers will most likely feel squeamish coming back in close quarters again.
The goal now is to protect both employees and customers, and minimize unnecessary contacts of items that can spread infections. We've been lax to date, but now it’s time to "amp up" our protections. How can merchants get paid while minimizing human exposure to virus carrying physical objects?
First, paper cash need to be reduced or go out entirely. Why would you want a stranger, not knowing where they've been, passing paper, i.e. cash, with their bare hands to you or your staff? Then, why would you want to count it, and handle it, and then physically deposited it to a bank?
Ask customers to not use cash. Years ago some airlines did away with collecting cash for products in flight for strictly efficiency reasons, so cashless can definitely work down here on the ground as well.
Second, let's look at the traditional way of getting paid with a credit card:
- The clerk rings up the total on the cash register to calculate the total owed.
- That amount is keyed into the credit card terminal.
- The customer fishes into their wallet and pulls out a piece of plastic and hands it to the clerk.
- The clerk, holding the card in their bare hands, then swipes or dips the card into the terminal and awaits for a confirmed authorization.
- Then the clerk hands over a terminal printout for the customer to sign, grabbing a pen from the top of the counter.
- Customer signs the printout and hands it back to the clerk.
- The clerk then prints and gives the clerk a receipt printout.
With the addition of a contactless pinpad and raising the limit on requiring signatures on credit card transactions, a lot of "touch points" can be eliminated.
A Safer way to get paid by credit card:
The clerk still rings up the total on the cash register to calculate the total owed.
The clerk then keys that amount into the credit card terminal which is on their side of the Plexiglas barrier.
The amount owed is flashed on the pinpad facing the customer.
The customer fishes into their wallet and pulls out their "tap and go" credit card with the contactless icon and merely waves it over the screen to complete the transaction.
The transaction amount is less than the limit for signature required, so the customer does not need to sign anything.
The customer does not need a paper receipt because their bank or credit card company phone app already has the transaction available electronically.
Absolutely no touching takes place for payments.
The payments industry has relaxed the need for signatures on credit card transactions. You can work with your processor to raise the limit to a comfortable level of $25 or $50 or even higher.
These are just some very simple suggested changes in procedure to protect your customers and your staff. Stay safe.
FAQs:
What does the contactless pinpad cost?
The one-time purchase is around $225. Installations are typically free.
Are there added fees for contactless credit card transactions?
No, the same fees prevail regardless of contactless, chip insert, or swiping.
If I add this pinpad, what about my customers that only have chip cards?
The pinpad has a slot for dipping a chip credit card, and even a magnetic swiper for older credit cards.
What about debit cards that require a pin?
The pinpad has a keyboard for the customer to key their pin number directly in.
Can contactless pinpads accept Apple Pay and Android Pay?
Absolutely.
Are contactless transactions less secure?
No, they're very secure. In fact there are extra security measures when using Apple Pay.
Will using the pinpad as contactless be slower than inserting the chip?
No, it's actually much faster. It takes a while for the pinpad to read the security data on the chip; contactless cards use a fast passing token.
Can these pinpads be merely added to my current terminal?
That depends. If you own a VeriFone VX 520 or Ingenico iCT 220, then most likely yes. It merely requires a download by your processor to your terminal to activate the pinpad.
What if my regular customer doesn’t have a tap and go credit card and wants to go contactless?
If they have a smartphone that offers a wallet capability, they merely have to load their credit card info into their smartphone and then use that as tap and go.
Next Step:
What to learn more about using contactless processing? Contact us:
Al Valente
NCR / JetPay
Email us
Albert.valente@ncr.com
(860) 961-4987
About the Author
Al Valente is a business consultant servicing New England and helps customers to make smart investment decisions in selecting their payments processing systems. He is an independent agent for NCR/JetPay, Upserve, and Choice Merchant Solutions.
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