Walmart Still Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in U.S. Despite Many Customer Requests

[SnowCrocodile]

Many restaurants offer tap to pay at the table these days. However, most restaurants don’t store you cc. information on their servers.

Most still don’t use mobile pay terminals. You give your card to a waiter and he or she disappears with it. Taking the photo of a card with CVV code is trivial. A whole lot easier than breaking into a server.

Same with small offices that pay **** wages to administrative staff and have high turnover. Accessing customers’ billing info is too easy. And there’s a slim chance that the police or the issuing bank’s fraud investigation team will spend the resources required to track the source of leak to that specific office and that specific employee who no longer works there, let alone build any prosecutable evidence that is not entirely circumstantial.

 

[lartola]

Do you use your card at restaurants or other small businesses? Because that’s where the majority of fraud originates.

Very rarely. I go to restaurants mostly when I’m outside the US where they never take your card away. And in the US just as much fraud or more originates online than at restaurants and small businesses, hence why many restaurants in the US still take people’s cards away and people are ok with that. Even if I were wrong, paying online by manually entering your card details isn’t the best idea. That option shouldn’t even exist anymore.

 

[lartola]

Many restaurants offer tap to pay at the table these days. However, most restaurants don’t store you cc. information on their servers.

In the US they’re still far from being the majority.

 

[garyjones027]

Most still don’t use mobile pay terminals. You give your card to a waiter and he or she disappears with it. Taking the photo of a card with CVV code is trivial. A whole lot easier than breaking into a server.

Same with small offices that pay **** wages to administrative staff and have high turnover. Accessing customers’ billing info is too easy. And there’s a slim chance that the police or the issuing bank’s fraud investigation team will spend the resources required to track the source of leak to that specific office and that specific employee who no longer works there, let alone build any prosecutable evidence that is not entirely circumstantial.

For servers that take your card, what if the server is corrupt and takes a photo of your card to use it online.

This is why card fraud happens in USA a lot.

 

[Momof2.1107]

For servers that take your card, what if the server is corrupt and takes a photo of your card to use it online.

This is why card fraud happens in USA a lot.

I don’t eat out at restaurants very often, and if we decide to go to a restaurant where you hand over your card to the server, I always use my prepaid card with the exact amount and tip added. I lock the card after the transaction is processed and do not unlock again until I need to use it again. I have one card for restaurants and one for shopping, etc.

 

[poorcody]

Do you use your card at restaurants or other small businesses? Because that’s where the majority of fraud originates.

I agree with restaurants -- I stopped handing over my credit card decades ago. Either cash, or now-a-days a lot are starting to take Apple Pay at the table.

I disagree on small businesses. Many of them (especially the smallest ones) use Square or similar, where your credit card info is never even accessible to the merchant. It goes encrypted from the tap to Square.

Only thing worse than restaurants for fraud are gas pumps from what I've read. Too easy to install skimmers on those. I use Exxon Mobile Pay app or pumps that take Apple Pay.

 

[lartola]

Only thing worse than restaurants for fraud are gas pumps from what I've read. Too easy to install skimmers on those. I use Exxon Mobile Pay app or pumps that take Apple Pay.

And online. Anywhere you have to manually enter your actual card info there’s a high risk of fraud.

 

[lartola]

For servers that take your card, what if the server is corrupt and takes a photo of your card to use it online.

This is why card fraud happens in USA a lot.

And it’s also why GS and Apple have the apple card with no numbers on it. Clearly they designed it to be handed over to the server at restaurants, a US exclusive situation by now.

 

[poorcody]

And online. Anywhere you have to manually enter your actual card info there’s a high risk of fraud.

Yeah but that's easy to circumvent-- just use virtual cards. Every online purchase (non-Apple Pay) I use a unique card number.

 

[VulchR]

Yeah but that's easy to circumvent-- just use virtual cards. Every online purchase (non-Apple Pay) I use a unique card number.

How does that work - surely the system would run out of numbers unless one of them is a transaction count, in which case it would be easy to mimic?

 

[poorcody]

How does that work - surely the system would run out of numbers unless one of them is a transaction count, in which case it would be easy to mimic?

You get a brand new credit card number for every merchant (or even every transaction if you want). Sixteen digits on a credit card mean they have a quadrillion numbers in theory available. You get a CVV and expiration date with each number too.

Depending on the service, you can limit transaction amounts, expiration dates, and can lock or unlock the number in the future. The number is always tied to the merchant so if someone tries to use it elsewhere, it won't work, even unlocked. I've had numbers stolen a few times (once from HomeDepot.com), and the thiefs' attempts to use them were denied.

CapitalOne and Privacy.com both have browser extensions that will generate numbers on the fly when you are checking out. They're very easy to use once you take the time to set it up.

 

[VulchR]

You get a brand new credit card number for every merchant (or even every transaction if you want). Sixteen digits on a credit card mean they have a quadrillion numbers in theory available. You get a CVV and expiration date with each number too.

Depending on the service, you can limit transaction amounts, expiration dates, and can lock or unlock the number in the future. The number is always tied to the merchant so if someone tries to use it elsewhere, it won't work, even unlocked. I've had numbers stolen a few times (once from HomeDepot.com), and the thiefs' attempts to use them were denied.

CapitalOne and Privacy.com both have browser extensions that will generate numbers on the fly when you are checking out. They're very easy to use once you take the time to set it up.

Thanks! Sounds like a good idea.

 

[SnowCrocodile]

I agree with restaurants -- I stopped handing over my credit card decades ago. Either cash, or now-a-days a lot are starting to take Apple Pay at the table.

I disagree on small businesses. Many of them (especially the smallest ones) use Square or similar, where your credit card info is never even accessible to the merchant. It goes encrypted from the tap to Square.

Only thing worse than restaurants for fraud are gas pumps from what I've read. Too easy to install skimmers on those. I use Exxon Mobile Pay app or pumps that take Apple Pay.

A lot of small businesses still expect you to lend them your card. E.g. quick oil change places, some doctors' offices. I had to get some PT last year and their office looked like the computer / register equipment was last upgraded in 2010. Sometimes it's cost, but I think more often than not it's just inertia. "Why fix it if it ain't broken" mentality. Especially if the owners are not very tech inclined.

 

[SalisburySam]

A lot of small businesses still expect you to lend them your card. E.g. quick oil change places, some doctors' offices. I had to get some PT last year and their office looked like the computer / register equipment was last upgraded in 2010. Sometimes it's cost, but I think more often than not it's just inertia. "Why fix it if it ain't broken" mentality. Especially if the owners are not very tech inclined.

I think for small businesses that it is more likely cost-benefit analysis where small margins are involved. What additional income will I get to offset the capital and ongoing expenses of this new technology? How does my current run rate compare? Alternatively, am I losing business because of what would appear to be technologically not current? How do I know? These are more important considerations added to the “Why fix it if is ain’t broken” question.

 

[SnowCrocodile]

I think for small businesses that it is more likely cost-benefit analysis where small margins are involved. What additional income will I get to offset the capital and ongoing expenses of this new technology? How does my current run rate compare? Alternatively, am I losing business because of what would appear to be technologically not current? How do I know? These are more important considerations added to the “Why fix it if is ain’t broken” question.

It’s a lot of factors. And highly dependent on the individual business and its owner(s).

A good number of small business owners are highly opinionated, high energy, “just do it” types who don’t perform detailed analysis prior to making a decision (or they wouldn’t get in business in the first place).

People who do like to analyze everything are often too cautious to accept the inevitable high risks and stress associated with running a business.

My close relative runs a fairly successful company with about a dozen permanent employees, and he’s one of most disorganized people I know. Constantly overcommitting his time, forgetting important dates, and if his wife didn’t run the accounting with an iron grip he’d likely be broke by now. But, he’s a risk taker with an uncanny business intuition. He knows how to make money, and will be ok as long as someone else is handling all the mundane little details (like filing taxes on time).