Contactless payments are becoming a popular method of payment for consumers. They eliminate the need to swipe cards, insert them into a https://southbeachcapitaladvance.com/how-consumers-and-merchants-make-contactless-payments/ slot or enter PINs. It is quick, convenient and an excellent alternative to cash or mobile wallets. The technology is rapidly growing in popularity and businesses need to understand how it operates, what its benefits are and how they can benefit from it.
When a consumer uses their contactless card or eWallet to make an purchase the device and point of sale terminal communicate via radio waves that are short-term. A cryptographic code is transmitted and if the transaction meets certain conditions (e.g. the card is authenticated and funds are available) the merchant’s POS terminal will trigger the transaction.
Once the transaction is complete after the transaction has been completed, the POS terminal will notify the cardholder that their transaction was accepted, typically with a green light, checkmark or a beep. In certain cases, the POS terminal may also ask the cardholder to sign an official signature prior to accepting the payment.
Aside from their convenience, contactless cards provide greater security than traditional magnetic stripe cards due to the fact that the data is encrypted on a microchip. In addition, the data that is sent to a POS terminal is encrypted, making it virtually impossible for hackers the information and use it for fraudulent transactions.
For these reasons, contactless payments are an effective tool for merchants of all sizes. With the appropriate software, merchants can accept contactless payments using credit card and online ACH through a single system. They can manage this system from their accounting software in the back office.
