It's time to upgrade to a POS chip card reader | Worldpay

If you haven't already upgraded to a POS chip card reader, now's the time. A POS chip card reader enables you to accept chip cards, which have all but replaced traditional magnetic strip cards in the US since the fraud liability shift in October 2015. 

EMV and chip cards

Chip and PIN (also known as EMV) technology is one of the biggest advances in payment technology to come out over the last few years, and chip cards have quickly become the global standard for cards. Driven by card brand leaders Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, chip cards offer protection magnetic stripe cards do not. Each chip card generates a unique, one-time code with every transaction, making it virtually impossible to create counterfeit cards that have any value at the point of sale.

That added layer of fraud protection provides more assurance to consumers, who are thinking more and more about fraud and protecting their personal information. For merchants, accepting EMV chip cards reduces the likelihood of facing fraud-related chargebacks. Without EMV, the liability for fraud-related chargebacks at the point of sale has swung in the direction of retailers since the October 2015 shift.

Why you should make the switch?

EMV technology has already proven itself on a global scale. The US, oddly enough, is one of the last remaining holdouts on chip technology, as the EMV shift already has occurred in most major international markets. In fact, chip technology goes all the way back to France in the early 90s. In 2018, 97.3 percent of card-present transactions in Europe Zone 1 were EMV, according to EMVCo. 

In addition to catching up with the rest of the world, by making this switch to accepting EMV payments, you're letting customers know that you care about protecting transaction data. Not accepting chip cards can lower your customers' confidence in your business. They may feel you are not doing enough to make safety and security a priority.

Lastly, by using a POS chip card reader, you're potentially saving yourself a lot of headaches from chargebacks and related liability due to the aforementioned liability shift that places accountability for fraud-related transactions back on the least safe party in the transaction. If you aren’t accepting chip cards, there's a good chance that you will be financially liable for claims of fraudulent transactions. This is a huge change from when card-issuing institutions, e.g. credit card banks, previously bore most of the liability for fraud. 

Meet your customers' expectations

Since 2015, card-issuing banks have been aggressively reissuing credit and debit cards, replacing magnetic strip cards with chip cards. And more and more merchants are accepting chip cards. EMVCo reports that from January-December 2018, 53.5 percent of transactions in the US were EMV, up 10 percent from 2017. 

If you're still using an old payment terminal, now is the perfect time to make switch to a POS chip card reader. Find out what's right for your business by reaching out to a Worldpay representative today.