EMV Technology: Hurting Merchants?

One of the latest discussions many merchants have been having is the new implementation of the EMV technology for credit card processing. One of the biggest issues that are arising for merchants, is how slow the chip readers can be. This will be detrimental to sales when the holiday season comes around. Imagine long lines of people many of whom will simply ditch their shopping carts and go elsewhere as the readers take forever to approve a transaction? The problem stems from the platforms the merchants are using to process the chip readers and not the reader itself. If you are looking for a solution to your chip reader issue and want one that is the fastest you can find, contact Prestige Merchant Services. The platform they utilize has a median time of 1.60 seconds for the terminal interaction with the chip. Chip reading does not have to be slow any longer.

EMV and the liability shift

Apparently many businesses have been slow to adapt to the latest security standards known as EMV which utilizes the chip in the latest credit cards to thwart fraud. I already posted at length about EMV technology and how it operates with regard to a credit card machine. More importantly the discussion of the liability shift as of October 2015. Those retailers not utilizing the EMV technology are now left holding the bag if fraud is committed. The Wall Street Journal reported the story of a grocer that was hit with a $4000 charge as they had a series of fraudulent charges and had not switched to the EMV credit card reader.

Unfortunately many small business owners have been hesitant to switch due to the high cost of EMV credit card machines. Many processors are charging upwards of $5-800 for an EMV ready credit card terminal as they are taking advantage of the need for new equipment. There are processors such as Prestige Merchant Services who offer a free EMV terminal program to businesses looking for competitive pricing without a contract and don't want to pay for new equipment. Be careful about which processor you deal with as many will attempt lock you into long term contracts and will try to lease you equipment that will cost you 10-20 times what the credit card terminal is worth.