Does a flower shop need EMV Terminals?
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We get asked this question all the time since EMV first rolled out in the United States.
For over three years we had already been supporting EMV (referred to as Debit-Pin-Chip) in Canada with our florists POS users.
It is important to note that there is "no" mandatory law that a US merchant use EMV terminals in their business. That is why only 20% of merchants in the US use EMV presently and 80% have taken a wait and see attitude. The high cost of the EMV terminals and software upgrades has not helped either.
Just recently, Target and Walmart filed suit against the major credit card companies objecting to the current rules put in place by Visa and MasterCard. So there is clearly a ways to go before all the US standards are sorted out.
Keep in mind, as a florist, EMV liability rules ONLY affect "in person" transactions. If someone walks in and uses a bad card, and you did not have a EMV terminal, you are liable for that transaction. Ask yourself this, when was the last time that happened?
For most flower shops we talk to, it is less than one in one thousand transactions. It is important to know, this does NOT change anything with telephone and online orders. You are still fully responsible for those orders (in most cases), and nothing has changed there.
This is not to say cardholder security is not an important issue as it clearly is. But there are so many more security gaps in many flower shops we see every day, that EMV is not the magic bullet that is going to solve all your liability issues.
Common sense still is the best method. If you received a $44,000 flower order (like that florist in Ontario) from a caller in Africa, don't fill the order until you can properly verify the cardholder actually placed the order! In that case Chase took back the funds after she filled the order.
Sometime next year, we suspect there will be a move towards smart cards and pin codes for each transaction, as opposed to smart card and signature we have now. At that point it will make more sense to look at what the EMV offers from your processor are and if they make economic sense for your flower shop.
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