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Using Apple Pay when the vendor doesn't take your card?
- Thread starter profmjh
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I doubt it. When I use Apple Pay it always comes up as a VISA payment on the receipt. If the retailer doesn't accept Amex the payment will probably just get rejected.
That's a different scenario though, and has to do with authentication of the card, not the type of card
We sometimes deal with international cards that won't validate on a swipe, but can be run manually by typing in card numbers
Usually these were due to the chip being present in the card, but the terminal not accepting chips (swipe only)
Our terminals are all chip enabled now, so it is less of an issue
Make sure you've got an alternative payment method on hand if you attempt to use it.
Make sure you've got an alternative payment method on hand if you attempt to use it.
And be mindful of the customers waiting in line behind you
All Apple Pay does is encrypt your information and validate that it is you accessing the card (because you set it up in Apple pay and are using Touch ID or Face ID to validate), much like the chip does validation. It doesn't change the type of card being used, so if the business doesn't accept your form of payment from the card, it won't from Apple Pay either, because you are essentially using the card. It only changes the front end validation, not the back end processing.
WRONG! Lots of places accept AE, but several more don't because AE takes a bigger bite out of the transaction (up to 3.5% verses 1.5% for Visa.
I have tried to use apple pay with my American express card before at places that I discovered don't take it, and the transaction does not work.
Several times when I attempted to use apple pay, it gives a declined error on the card reader machine. The annoying part is that the reader machine doesn't actually tell you that the amex (vs an apple pay failure) is the issue, usually I try a couple of times before I give up, pull out the amex plastic card, then they tell me they don't take it.
Several times when I attempted to use apple pay, it gives a declined error on the card reader machine. The annoying part is that the reader machine doesn't actually tell you that the amex (vs an apple pay failure) is the issue, usually I try a couple of times before I give up, pull out the amex plastic card, then they tell me they don't take it.
The reason for this is, the information the card reader sends to the gateway for approval is the same as if you were using the card itself. It doesn't distinguish that it is Apple Pay or the actual plastic card being used, so the returned "decline/error" is just that, the card was declined/errored without regard to Apple Pay being used. It has no other way to report it. Apple Pay is not acting as a gateway or credit card processor, etc. It is just validating through Touch ID/Face ID that you are in fact the one using the card set up in Apple Pay.
I'm not saying it's apple's fault, it's clearly the result of the terminal manufacturers being lazy and not giving a clear error message as to why the transaction was declined.
If the terminal said something like "Amex Cards not accepted" or some clear message, it would become obvious what the problem was. (I have had this happen with physicals cards as well as Apple Pay, the cashier tries to run the card a few times, then realized they are trying to run an amex.)
Apple pay & other pay by phone systems still is confusing to most customers & cashiers in the US, enough so most people don't bother and still pull physical cards out and use them even if they already have their phone in their hand. My parents & wife have never even bothered to set up apple pay, and they have owned multiple generations of supported phones.