EMV has been making waves, causing merchants with credit card terminals to lose sleep over the new wave of technology.
However, in the rush to talk about credit card terminals, we seem to have forgotten about Point-of-Sales systems being affected as well.
Reading up on the topic has been, frustrating to say the least. Many of the articles have been misleading and making it sound like EMV is a law to be enforced, or merchants will take more fraud losses by not switching to EMV.
Panic & mayhem, and a great deal of misinformation have been pushed down merchants throats. Sometimes resulting into unnecessary purchases, and nonessential stress.
Credit Card processors have been heavily spreading chaos about the new the technology hardware through the woodwork, and many terminal markers have pushed production into overtime for EMV.
No, why?
Because counterfeit card fraud is not that common.
From our experience, statistically, you’re more likely to see lost/stolen card fraud rather than counterfeit cards.
Funny story about that.
Point-of-Sale systems developers haven’t finished the software to adapt the new EMV technology.
There’s been some complications.
A lot of Point-of-Sale systems aren’t syncing with their processor providers, and some POS software developers do not have the technology ready yet.
“Despite relatively slow EMV adoption in the United States, experts predict that the technology will go mainstream within a matter of years. According to a recent report by Javelin Strategy & Research, EMV credit card machines will become "ubiquitous" by 2018. The Wall Street Journal believes widespread adoption could arrive as soon as 2015.”
The article has a lot more promotion of EMV and POS systems, but it even mentions the mainstream availability of the technology won’t be “ubiquitous” until 2018.
The October 1st liability shift deadline has come and gone, and many POS providers have yet to release EMV software.
Point-of-Sale software is compatible, just not with all the processing platforms yet. Basically they are fine tuning the product rather than shoving out faulty software.
So it’s coming, it’s just not here yet.
The truth is that the chance of card present on a counterfeit card with a POS system is already a small slice of fraud.
If you’re a small to medium sized merchant, your chance of counterfeit fraud (because EMV only applies to counterfeit cards), with a POS system are minuscule.
If you’re getting calls about being fined, ignore them.
Your POS provider or payment processor will be able to help with questions about upgrading to the technology.
Don’t get swept up in the sensationalism of EMV. You will want to upgrade eventually, but don’t be bullied by cold callers.
Wait for the hype to die down, and then upgrade when it becomes cheaper.
The software isn’t widely available for POS yet, so wait for your provider to contact you and say it’s ready.
If you’d like to learn more about what technologies steps to take with your own business, or would like a free demo, contact us here.
