What is happening?
Mastercard has mandated that from 1st March 2018 all Contactless transactions must now be communicated to your acquiring bank for real-time authorisation, regardless of value. This follows the same process that is already in place for Apple Pay and Android Pay.
This move supports a growing trend toward contactless payments and reducing risk associated with fraud and charge-backs for both card-holders and merchants.
To receive the required update you will need to be running v03.56.19.3 or later of the VeriFone software. If you have received an update by Fidelity recently to resolve issues with chip and pin transactions crashing you will be on the correct version. if you are unsure, please contact our helpdesk and we will check for you.
If you are not running the correct version when the change is implemented your system will continue to work and you will still be able to take contactless Mastercard payments. Your acquirer may potentially charge you extra for these transactions until the changes are made. You would need to confirm this with your acquirer/merchant provider.
What do I need to do?
1. Check your Chip&Pin terminal is running a compatible software version - see table below.
2. If necessary, upgrade your software version.
3. Download the new configuration to all contactless capable terminals in your estate.
Compatible software versions:
Solution Type
| Solution Version(s)
|
VX 820 POS Client / Ocius Sentinel
| |
VX 820 Duet / IP
| |
VX 820 Ocius RS
| |
VX 680 Bluetooth / Wi-Fi / GPRS
| |
You can schedule the configuration download or upgrade your software version at a time that suits you best. Please see the support guides here if you need help with this process.
Please Note* It is important your device is power-cycled following the update.
What impact will this have?
Transaction times will become slower. This is because the system will go through a full online authorisation process for each transaction. Previously contactless transactions would authorise without doing this process.
What if I do not get this update?
You will still be able to continue taking contactless transactions as usual however you may be charged extra by your Merchant for processing these transactions.