diburning

They probably don't use it anymore.

diburning

Doesn't Looppay work with most if not all card readers since it transmits to a magstripe reader?

scibot

Exactly, but a few people have not been able to get it to work at Target and I have no idea why it failed to work for them. With the Verifone MX915/925's I hold the fob at about the center and it works fine when I do that.
So I was looking on the contactless locator and I found a Walmart on there! https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...essloactor.PNG

mrcobra92

Probably a mistake.

RedLight2015

Don't forget there were a few Walmarts that had contactless on (by mistake? Testing?) that had the Mx915

mrcobra92

That's true, though I believe they were shut off almost as soon as Apple Pay launched. Does anyone know if they were running EMV contactless?

reclusive46

Doesn't a retailer have to support EMV contactless if they use EMV? If so that would be a yes. I could be wrong though.

tmiw

That reminds me--since Walmart has to turn on contactless before 2020 for Asda due to the MC mandate and they're basically using the same/similar systems as in the US, does that mean their US locations will likely see it around then as well? Or are they still going to be butthurt about Visa and MasterCard by then and do something to ensure that it stays disabled in the US?

reclusive46

I don't think the deadline will affect the US very much.

Visa Europe now also has the same mandate and AmEx has introduced a lowered discount fee for merchants accepting contactless AmEx payments (This probably has more to do with the fact that many European terminals don't support Amex Contactless)

t325

I'm going to say no, simply because the same logic could have been applied to EMV, and it's just not the case here. I know Wal-Mart was one of the first major chains to support EMV, but their implementation hasn't been without issues despite EMV working fine in Asda for the past several years on a similar system. At least I assume it's been working, I don't set foot in Wal-Mart no matter what it's called

2020 is a long time away though. I would imagine that in 4 years, MCX will be but a memory we look back on and laugh at, and Wal-Mart will have long since joined the club and enabled contactless like everyone else. Target's turning it on, and the relationship between the two chains has always been monkey-see, monkey-do.

tmiw

I have a feeling there'll need to be a mandate in the US too at some point. I'm not seeing us get near 100% penetration like in Australia without one based on the behavior of some retailers so far. The stupid thing is that they seemingly bought hardware that's capable of it and basically won huge concessions re: debit fees and surcharging too, but apparently some hold grudges for a very long time.

t325

I feel like we'll get near 100% penetration without the mandate. Stores are already getting NFC capable hardware and enabling it is pretty easy, I'm guessing, especially if they've already enabled EMV. Eventually MCX is going to crash and burn, the number of people with NFC capable phones will increase, the number of supporting banks will increase and stores will be compelled to turn it on.

Target, Best Buy and Rite Aid are the first dominos to fall. Wal-Mart's eventually going to turn it on no matter how much they resist. They're not going to sit idly by while their competition brags about supporting NFC. Plus, while EMV is going to do a lot to reduce fraud, NFC + tokenization still has an extra layer of security, and if turning it on is a matter of flipping a switch in some software and throwing the NFC logo on the PIN Pad screen, they'll do it just to cover their butts. Especially if Target starts touting that they support secure mobile payments unlike their main competitor. Wal-Mart's not going to let them get away with that.

WhatWhatTech

No, the two aren't linked. No retailer in the US is required to take contactless and the EMV liability shift on October 1 doesn't require contactless acceptance either. Contactless is wholly optional for the whole world. Visa Europe was the first entity to mandate contactless acceptance by 2020 in Europe, but no such mandate exists anywhere else in the world which is why this is such a big deal.

D582

Accepting MSD contactless is essentially like 'flipping a switch'. EMV contactless requires additional certification, especially considering the level of integration US merchants have with their terminals.

tmiw

I wonder how such a mandate will go elsewhere if one were to be put into place. Would businesses be okay with one or would they fight it tooth and nail?

And to my understanding, MSD will soon be (if not already) no longer supported for Visa. So businesses will basically have no choice but to get certified for EMV contactless if they want to accept Apple Pay.

Honestly, they should have made the requirements such that going semi-integrated would be a lot less hassle.