It’s more than a good idea: It’s become pretty risky to not accept chip cards in your bar or nightclub. Before the liability shift in 2015, you could rely on the issuing bank to eat fraudulent payment card charges made in your establishment, but that is no longer the case. Now, you are directly responsible to pay back the money, PLUS fines and fees. Ouch.
If you haven’t done it yet, don’t worry. Most bars and restaurants in the U.S. have been sluggishly adopting the new technology. However, it’s now time to act and figure out what you need to do to accept chip cards from patrons. We suggest starting by talking to your point of sale provider.
You can read more about why you should accept EMV/chip cards in our recent blog, Why You Need to CYA by Accepting EMV Payments.
Say Goodbye to the Swipe
Chip cards, also known as EMV cards, eliminate swiping all together. The new cards, which probably have replaced all your old magnet strip cards in your own wallet right now, are inserted into a chip card reader instead of being swiped.
EMV technology is much more secure since it generates a new processing number each time the card is read, and that number cannot be duplicated. In fact, these chip cards have dramatically reduced credit card fraud. When the European Union implemented the chip cards they saw an 80% reduction in fraudulent charges, according to Kiosk Marketplace.
By the way, if you have FOCUS software, not to worry, your point of sale is fully capable of handling alternative payment methods.
Chip Cards Won’t Slow You Down
What does accepting chip cards mean for your nightclub or bar? For one, it does not mean a slowdown in service. Great strides have been made to speed up processing times on chip card readers and with a little bit of training and tweaking of work flows you have set up for your bartenders and cocktail servers, they shouldn’t miss a beat when switching from swiping to chip card terminals. Focus is currently beta testing a new feature that allows bartenders and cocktail servers to start a tab with a chip card, the same way they are used to running a bar tab with a swipe.
There are three ways you can speed up processing time in your bar or nightclub:
- Upgrade your internet connection – don’t let your network slow down your bar business
- Have the right point of sale – don’t let your POS hold you back from accepting EMV and other alternative payments
- Keep up with the latest payment terminals – the latest payments technology is imperative for getting the fastest processing speeds
Not to mention, few bar owners want to take on the costs associated with credit card fraud. It’s simply not worth the risk.