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They couldn't care less, they want to not pay the merchant fees. They'd lose money if they had to.
The only way to do that is to only accept cash. All other methods have fees, Applepay doesn’t cost any more than using other cards
 
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Happens quite often at Walmart and other stores. Either the machine won’t read the chip even if the card is new or if the chip is damaged ( card split across chip ) then you have to swipe. Once again it’s ridiculous that Walmart is so primitive they have no Tap To Pay yet. But also once again it doesn’t matter. By 2027 they’ll all have to upgrade every terminal to ones that have no swipe lane and must have Tap To Pay along with the chip slot.

www.whec.com/top-news/gates-pd-find-three-card-skimming-devices-in-24-hours


I know that they have to upgrade those card readers to avoid card skimmers which is a common problem in USA.

But new card readers must have the swipe lane for EBT cards which has no chip which use the magstripe.

The process to roll out EBT cards with chip will take some years.
 
I may be an anomaly, but I shop at Walmart very infrequently because of this.
Me too, except s/infrequently/never, and because they're kinda evil (for one, a lot of their employees are on government assistance because Walmart won't pay them enough, won't give them healhcare benefits, and purposely keeps their hours low enough to ensure they don't qualify for other benefits - so the taxpayers end up subsidizing Walmart by paying for the things Walmart workers need to survive - oh, plus, they made a point of crushing all the small independent stores in areas they moved into, to avoid competition - so... evil, and a drain on society).
 
Happens quite often at Walmart and other stores. Either the machine won’t read the chip even if the card is new or if the chip is damaged ( card split across chip ) then you have to swipe. Once again it’s ridiculous that Walmart is so primitive they have no Tap To Pay yet. But also once again it doesn’t matter. By 2027 they’ll all have to upgrade every terminal to ones that have no swipe lane and must have Tap To Pay along with the chip slot.

They will do the option to 'turn off the tap' for those new card terminals in 2027 like they do with current card terminals in 2025.
 
How can a store not accept a card payment? Where I live Apple Pay was automatically compatible with all card readers the moment it became available, with no possible exceptions, since it uses the same technology as Visa and Mastercard. A shop can't just refuse ApplePay unless they also refuse all cards that your Apple Pay is "emulating". If you have a Visa card linked to your Apple Pay account, then the card reader sees a regular Visa card, it doesn't know it's Apple Pay. There's no technical difference between a regular bank card and Apple Pay as far as the card reader is concerned.
In the US, when Apple Pay rolled out (and the prevailing tech was swipe-to-pay), there were a number of stores where they had NFC-capable terminals that had the tech turned on by default, and it just started working.

I recall reports of a Best Buy somewhere, where they called the cops on someone who used Apple Pay, because they thought the person had hacked the terminal somehow (because a payment showed up without seeing them swipe a credit card).

And a few stores (the most galling example was Home Depot) had the terminals start working, and they frantically turned off NFC payments (because they're idiots, apparently).

I think a big part of the reason for a few chain stores, was they had a harebrained scheme (look up "CurrentC") to make people use their own app, which would conduct the transaction via QR codes (with extra hoops to jump through each time), and, importantly, the app could only connect directly to your bank account, so they could do an ACH transfer (which is cheaper for them and is lacking much of the consumer security afforded by going through a credit card). Pretty much all the other stores that were on the CurrentC path finally relented and let NFC payments work, except Walmart, who either carried through or did something similar.
 
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The terminal manufacturers are not selling any new models without Tap To Pay. Even Visa is mandating after Sept. 1st 2025 that terminals that accept their cards must meet the new NFC standard for Tap To Pay. No merchant going forward will have a choice. Not even Wal-Mart.

Walmart will then 'turn off the tap' for those new card terminals.
 
The terminal manufacturers are not selling any new models without Tap To Pay. Even Visa is mandating after Sept. 1st 2025 that terminals that accept their cards must meet the new NFC standard for Tap To Pay. No merchant going forward will have a choice. Not even Wal-Mart.
Hope the new models don't allow card skimmers like they found on some terminals currently in use.
 
Winco Foods also doesn't accept apple pay. However I continue to shop there because they have the lowest prices on some of the groceries I buy. Hopefully someday Walmart and Winco Foods will accept apple pay...
 
Something isn’t adding up here. There is no way to tap to pay at an American Walmart. What are you talking about?
You’re right brain fart here, I was thinking of the store’s that don’t take Mastercard but where Visa works on watch.
 
Walmart hates Visa and MasterCard and don't want to pay *any* interchange fees, it's not about any beef with Apple.

They also order their payment terminals with all NFC hardware removed, so they can't just flip a switch the way Home Depot did.
I have seen this claim posted by random people, but no credible news source has made this claim? Care to back up this statement?
 
Winco Foods also doesn't accept apple pay. However I continue to shop there because they have the lowest prices on some of the groceries I buy. Hopefully someday Walmart and Winco Foods will accept apple pay...
There are at least 7 Winco stores that are accepting it now. Every couple of days I find a new one.
https://www.wincofoods.com/stores/win-co-foods-nampa-caldwell-blvd-11/4670

https://www.wincofoods.com/stores/win-co-foods-tacoma-106/4666

https://www.wincofoods.com/stores/win-co-foods-chandler-129/4689

https://www.wincofoods.com/stores/win-co-foods-norco-123/4683

https://www.wincofoods.com/stores/win-co-foods-pocatello-117/4676

https://www.wincofoods.com/stores/win-co-foods-ventura-116/4675

https://www.wincofoods.com/stores/win-co-foods-lancaster-ca-35/4725

Hobby Lobby is the only other Top 100 retailer that doesn't accept it.
 
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They don’t take ANY tap to pay cards, even physical ones.

They may change eventually, because rumor is all the major credit card companies may soon require all merchants that take cards to require tap to pay in POS system or they’ll be on the hook for any fraud liabilities.
M
Got a source for that rumor?
 
Do you not carry ANY credit cards with you at any time? I don't carry EVERY single credit card that I own, but I at least have my AMEX and a Chase VISA for when I need to use a CC where Apple Pay is not accepted.
I live in the UK where every retailer in the country nearly accepts contactless payments.
 
They want all the information

In the UK, supermarkets do it via loyalty cards. They all accept ApplePay/contactless payments no problem, but they provide a financial inducement to also scan a loyalty card at the checkout. The supermarket learns everything about your shopping habits if you use a Nectar or Tesco club card before you pay.
 
Someone in the comments made a very interesting comment. You have to assign a credit card/debit card to Walmart pay therefore for Walmart to be able to take payment they would have to go through visa or mastercard anyway. Debit and credit cards can be used, customers have to slot their cards into the card device, punch in their pin number and the purchase is made. For Walmart to be able to do this they have to go through visa or mastercard.

So people saying Walmart not allowing tap-to-pay (contactless payment) is due to them not wanting to pay merchant fee's is total BS because they have to pay merchant fee's anyway every time a debit or credit card is used via Walmart pay or is used in the card machine.

If you search online for the reason why Walmart will not allow contactless payments from anyone else is because they have developed their on tap-to-pay app 'Walmart App' and they want customers to use that an not anybody else's.


That article is from January 2025 and in it a Walmart spokesperson gives the reason why they do not accept contactless payments from others. quoted from the article

Walmart spokesperson

We do not accept NFC and instead have implemented convenient solutions, such as Walmart Pay, that provide our customers easy, touchless payments on any smartphone.

You will find the same thing being said time and time again by Walmart and that is they want to make sure it is only them that can use contactless payment via the use of their Walmart app'

Therefore, as for the Apple card, I do not know how the card works. Can it be used like a normal credit card, you put it in a cash machine, enter your pin and money comes out from your account? Does it work like a credit card, your in a shop buying products, you put it into a card machine at the till, enter your pin and payment is made. Can the Apple card be added to the Walmart app payment methods and used that way? Or is the Apple card purely a contactless only card which is why it cannot be used at Walmart?
 
Don't think they will ever support it. Disappointing. Hope they change their stance in the future.
 
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Yes, but they also don't want to pay the merchant fees that Apple requires for Apple Pay.
Merchant fees for Apple Pay are no worse than they are for any other contactless or card payment system. It's primarily the data. Walmart still pays the same processing fees for any other form of payment other than the one they own. Credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards all have processing fees attached to them. The biggest fees are for credit cards.

Additionally, I think it is legit to suggest the average Walmart customer is very different from an Apple Pay or Apple Card customer and I have doubts that it would represent a big slice of their revenue collection methods even if they took it. Basically, they are giving the middle finger to the customers who would find it more convenient. It's a business decision.
 
How can a store not accept a card payment? Where I live Apple Pay was automatically compatible with all card readers the moment it became available, with no possible exceptions, since it uses the same technology as Visa and Mastercard. A shop can't just refuse ApplePay unless they also refuse all cards that your Apple Pay is "emulating". If you have a Visa card linked to your Apple Pay account, then the card reader sees a regular Visa card, it doesn't know it's Apple Pay. There's no technical difference between a regular bank card and Apple Pay as far as the card reader is concerned.
You can use it at Walmart as you would a credit card and the fees are the same as any other CC. In an Apple Pay transaction, the payment is processed by Apple systems through their partners. Small increases in the fees are taken to fund the benefits. When you use any credit card that offers benefits, especially cash back cards, the merchant pays more than with a no benefit card. The banks and airlines, etc. are not paying their cash to pay for what they are giving you. I honestly think it is about data collection more than the money despite Walmart size.
 
This honestly pisses me off when I am in Walmart.

Like I honestly wouldn't mind using Walmart pay via their app if Walmart pay worked consistently.

I was in Walmart last week and I was having issues with it failing and declining my payment despite the card being active and full of money.

I've never had this issue with apple pay anywhere that accepts it for years and from the time I used android, Google pay and samsung pay worked.
 
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