By now you’ve probably heard that you should be accepting EMV chip cards. The liability shift has been in effect for over five months now, which means that if you’re not EMV compliant, your business could now be on the hook for certain types of fraudulent transactions. Even so, just between 22 percent and 37 percent of retailers have adopted the technology, according to research from the Strawhecker Group.
Why are businesses dragging their feet on getting new payment terminals? Cost is one of the most highly cited reasons. In a recent survey by Software Advice, a reviews site for iPad POS systems, SMB retailers that haven’t adopted EMV were asked why they had yet to transition. Thirty-three percent said that switching everything out was too expensive for their business.
This concern is not unfounded. For small businesses, getting set up with EMV terminals can indeed be expensive. On average, it costs between $500 and $1,000, which isn’t just penny change.
But that’s not the case with Square. We’re committed to making the switch to new payment methods as affordable and easy as possible for small businesses. Our new EMV chip card reader (which also accepts NFC payments like Apple Pay) doesn’t require an extensive setup process. It works directly with the mobile device you already have, so there’s no need to go out and buy a bunch of other expensive hardware to get set up.
As for how to take a chip card payment, that’s easy, too. Watch this quick one-minute video to learn how.
