If An American Customer Asks You, “Can I Dip?”
I read an interesting article this morning on Snopes — the internet rumour-bashing website — that used the word “dip” to refer to what we know as “inserting” a chip card in a point of sale card reader. So basically, the alternatives were “swipe” or “dip.” Have you heard that one?
The technology is new in the U.S. and the article was concerned with what happens when a merchant is not set up for chip cards and the transaction is fraudulent. The article also referred to “EMV technology” which stands for Europay MasterCard Visa. Chip cards are still more widely used in Canada and Europe and are new to the U.S.
Stores which do “book table” sales at churches, concerts and conferences and continue to use manual sales slips and imprinters do assume risk in “card not present” transactions. The Square Reader attaches to your cell phone and solves the problem, but the transaction fees are higher.
