Payment Methods: Tap vs. Swipe (An Explainer)
What is Tap to Pay?
When a contactless digital transaction is made by tapping or hovering the credit or debit card over the payment terminal or PoS terminal, it is a tap based transaction.
How does ‘Tap to Pay’ Work?
Radio-frequency identification (RFID), a technology that enables devices to recognize particular objects through radio waves. RFID has been employed at supermarkets, airports, and shopping centers for many years.
A subset of high-frequency RFID is NFC. To assure accuracy and permit close-range contact between different devices, it uses a particular RFID frequency, specifically 13.56 MHz.
A tap enabled capable card, smartphone, or wearable device can be separated by two inches from a NFC-capable payment terminal. When this is done, the two exchange encrypted data until the transaction is successful. Every payment terminal that enables NFC tap to pay will display a distinctive contactless payment symbol.What is Swipe to Pay?
When a customer swipes their card at the terminal, it is a swipe to pay transaction. The magnetic chip on the card has encrypted data that is read by the card-swipe machine to check for funds.
Tap vs. Swipe: Which is the Best Payment Method?
Tapping is a much faster and safer payment method than swiping the card However, each has advantages and cons of its own. The following are some significant differences between the two:
- Convenience
- Speed
- Physical protection
- Card durability
- Security for transactions
- Acceptability
Conclusion: Innoviti Technologies offer purchase tools that can be integrated with payment terminals. Being API driven, they have an in-built versatility, and are able to accept multiple modes of payment. Businesses have been able to transform their business by tapping into Innoviti’s collaborative commerce platform. In addition to offering sophisticated payment methods, all merchants — both enterprise and local — are able to upscale like never before.
- Is it better to tap or swipe my card?
Contactless payments are quicker and safer than using cash or a magnetic stripe swipe than inserting a credit card.
- How do I know if I can tap to pay?
Tapping to pay uses short-range wireless technology to make safe payments between a contactless chip card or mobile/wearable device and a contactless checkout terminal.
- What is the disadvantage of contactless payment?
If you are not responsibly using the contactless payment, then you can easily be charged the desired amount of cash.
