… And that’s
not a hyperbole! According to research conducted by Javelin Research &
Strategy, 15 million is the estimated number of
point-of-sale (POS) terminals that aren’t currently enabled to accept EMV chip
cards. In fact,
research gathered by the Strawhecker Group indicates that even now, as more and
more retailers have moved toward EMV-compliant POS hardware, between 22-37% of business owners are
still using outdated POS hardware to process transactions. That means that 22-37% of US
merchants are leaving themselves vulnerable to credit card fraud and the
liability associated with chargebacks—all because of outdated credit card
processing hardware!
Get Holiday Protection with EMV Hardware
If you’re among the percentage of small business owners who haven’t made the transition to EMV-enabled point-of-sale hardware, it’s never been a better time to make the shift. Over the past few years, Javelin’s research shows there’s been an overall drop in credit card fraud, due primarily to the widespread adoption of EMV-compliant hardware. However, every year during the holiday season, fraudsters kick into high gear. Research estimates that retailers see anywhere from a 14-20% increase in credit card fraud during the holiday shopping season. Here’s how to protect your business, your customers, and your time by making the shift to EMV chip card compliant POS hardware!
The Cost of EMV Hardware
Javelin Research & Strategy estimates the cost of upgrading the 15 million pieces of outdated POS hardware at around $6.75 billion dollars. Even as EMV chip card processing hardware becomes the new standard for US merchants, ready-to-use EMV-compliant terminals still cost between $500-1,000. For EMV-compliant iPad POS equipment, the costs can be more in the $1,000-3,500 range. That means for a small business owner or a sole proprietor, investing in new POS equipment can be an additional overhead expense that’s hard to work into a budget. Fully 33% of small merchants surveyed by Software Advice reported that the cost of conversion to EMV-compliant hardware was the main obstacle to making the switch.
…vs. the Cost of Not Having EMV Hardware
Because EMV chip card readers are the new standard for merchants, there’s a direct and indirect cost to not having upgraded equipment. The direct cost of using outdated POS hardware without EMV capability is the fraud liability shift. First, to be clear: this isn’t a law or other mandate, and there’s no penalty for using POS equipment that isn’t EMV-enabled. However, the liability shift is means that if credit card fraud happens during a transaction where the merchant isn’t using EMV-compliant hardware, liability falls on the merchant—not the issuing financial institution. Which means that not having an EMV chip card reader might take money out of your pocket and steal precious time fighting chargebacks. The indirect cost of not having EMV-enabled POS hardware is that it makes your business look out of touch to customers and can negatively impact their trust. After all, if your customers understand that EMV chip card readers better protect their financial information, they might assume that you don’t care about their financial safety enough to upgrade to the equipment designed to protect them.
We’ll Give You a Head Start
By now, you know there are 15 million (or five) reasons to upgrade your POS equipment to support EMV chip card transactions. But there’s one more that might offset the 6.75 billion reasons small business owners list as their biggest obstacle to making the transition to EMV-compliant POS hardware. When you sign up for a new Vagaro Merchant Services (VMS) account, we’ll send you a free EMV chip card reader to get you started. Vagaro doesn’t perform a hard credit check with VMS applications, so you’ll generally receive an approval email the same day. In your approval email, Vagaro will include a link to take advantage of this offer and get the new “gold standard” of credit card processing security. We know how much it means for your business to be EMV compliant. We also know how much your customers depend on you and give you their trust every time they hand over their credit cards for payment. EMV point-of-sale equipment is a show of good faith that’ll ensure their ongoing trust in your business. And with EMV-compliant hardware, you’ll be taking proactive measures to avoid chargebacks that could negatively impact both your business and its hard-earned reputation.
Make that statistic 15 million minus one! Sign up for a new Vagaro Merchant Services account today, and we’ll send you a free EMV chip card reader to get you started off on the right foot. And since your software will already be in sync with your hardware, you’ll be ready to go with the most up-to-date POS hardware for your small business!
Header Image: Giorgio Trovato via Vagaro
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