Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1256819
68 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k j u l y / a u g u s t 2 0 2 0 DIGITAL WALLETS By Lisa Bakewell Safe Solutions for You and Your Clients As a small business owner trying to maneuver your way back to active business during COVID-19, you definitely want to get paid quickly and easily, but you also want to get paid as contact free as possible—for client safety as well as your own. While contactless payments have not been as popular in the United States as in other parts of the world, they are becoming more common—and more significant—as we all seek ways to limit the number of surfaces we touch outside the home. As of March 2020, VisaNet shows that 71 percent of face-to-face US transactions occur at contactless- enabled locations, up from 62 percent in March 2019.¹ Now is the time for you and your clients to embrace contactless payment technology. And, fortunately, it is easy to adopt this cleaner, safer way to pay—and to get paid. What are Digital Wallets? As a business owner, when you hear the term mobile payment app, you may envision your mobile point-of-sale (POS) app. These POS apps, such as Square, Clover, Vend, etc., are those you install on your phone (or tablet), sync to your card reader, and then process client payments. On the other hand, contactless payments (also referred to as tap-and-go, no-touch, or tap-to-pay) are secure payments made via wireless technology (using a smart card or smartphone and mobile wallet) to pay for products and services without contact of any kind. Choosing which touch-free payment options to accept can be confusing because there are so many choices. To help, we have compiled all the tap-to-pay info you need to move forward with confidence. Smart Card Basics Smart cards, also known as chip cards or EMV cards (named after the creators of this technology: Europay, Mastercard, and Visa), are typical credit/debit cards with an embedded microchip that were created to replace the old magnetic stripe on credit cards for added security. Until recently, clients had to insert their smart card into your POS terminal. But, with the addition of a second chip (signified by vector waves on the credit card), no-touch payments are now possible using a POS terminal with near-field communication (NFC) frequency capabilities. Mobile Wallet Basics Smartphones and wearables (such as Apple Watches) mimic smart cards and may also be used to complete