Skip to content

Search

"Card Reader"

57 articles found

Diagram explaining how a pre-authorization transaction works on a credit card

Merchant & POS

What Is a Pre-Authorization Transaction?

An operation that allows a credit card's limit to be blocked for a period, due to the nature of the product or service sold. Preferred mainly by companies in travel, tourism, and car rental.

Diagram showing the pre-authorization closing process flow on a POS terminal

Merchant & POS

What Is Pre-Authorization Closing?

Pre-authorization closing turns a pre-authorized transaction into a financial one, posting it to the merchant and cardholder accounts. See how amounts and available limit are affected.

Chart of the effects of credit card usage on inflation

Credit Card

Does Credit Card Usage Increase Inflation?

The effect of credit cards on inflation has been debated for years. Because I am asked about it so often, I ran a poll on arifunal.com to gather readers' views. This post weighs the positive and negative effects and compares the poll with the research findings.

Illustration of a fallback transaction swiping a card's magnetic stripe after a chip read failure

Merchant & POS

What Is a Fallback Transaction?

When a chip can't be read due to a chip fault or the card being inserted incorrectly, the transaction is completed by swiping the magnetic stripe on the right side of the POS. Can chipless cards do fallback?

ISO 8583 F22 Point of Service Entry Mode table

ISO 8583

ISO 8583 Field Descriptions (F22)

F22 - POINT OF SERVICE ENTRY MODE: This field holds how the transaction was performed via the POS/ATM and the PIN entry capability of the POS device. The first 2 digits show how the transaction was performed, and the last digit (shown as x) carries the POS's PIN entry capability. Numeric...

Customer making a contactless payment by tapping a card on a POS terminal

Contactless

What Is a Contactless Transaction?

A contactless transaction is a fast and secure payment made between a credit card and a POS terminal without direct contact, without reading the card's chip or magnetic stripe. Both the card and POS terminal must support contactless transactions.

Close-up of a bank card's chip failing to be read by a POS terminal

Credit Card

What should I do if my card's chip isn't reading?

If your card's chip won't read, the chip data is likely corrupted or the POS's chip reader is faulty. This is usually caused by magnetic interaction with another card's chip.

ATM machine with card reader, keypad and screen

ATM

15 Interesting Facts About ATMs

Although we can now carry out almost all branch transactions at an ATM, for most of us an ATM is still just a machine for depositing and withdrawing cash. Today, without a card, we can use our phones to deposit and withdraw cash via QR code.

PIN pad device connected to a POS terminal

Merchant & POS

What Is a PIN Pad Device?

A PIN pad lets cardholders safely enter their PIN during POS transactions and lets contactless cards be tapped to transfer card data to the POS. Here is how it works.