Best Buy announced that it has officially stopped accepting Visa’s contactless cards due to the high fees associated with its usage. Even after months of receiving threats from Best Buy, Visa insists chains accept a more expensive signature authorization as opposed to the more retail-friendly PIN, according to Storefrontbacktalk.com. Visa’s lack of a PIN option results in those transactions having a much higher interchange rate.
The $35 billion company began removing its acceptance of Visa contactless cards in October, completing the cutoff in November, said one Best Buy executive involved in the decision.
The cards were perceived as more convenient than mag-stripe, when in fact the time needed to wave the card was not significantly less than the time needed to swipe it. It is hard to say if this along with the high fees will cause other companies to follow Best Buy’s suit.
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