Chip and Pin: Summary for retailers

For nearly a decade chip and pin has been a vital part of retail technology in the UK. Retailers face a bewildering choice of chip and pin options, and this site has a collection of articles to help the UK retailer understand the different options.

The basic choice of chip and pin solution comes down to integration. If you have an EPOS system, then you will ideally want an integrated chip and pin solution that talks to your EPOS system - this usually limits your choice of chip and pin solution to those supported by the software house providing your EPOS system.

Unintegrated systems are also widely available - these are stand alone - you have to key in the amount instead of it being sent electronically from your EPOS system. Normally your bank or merchant account provider can point the way to a suitable stand alone chip and pin solution, but if you want something integrated with your EPOS system then you need to talk to your EPOS system provider.

These days, chip and pin solutions are fairly reliable. This wasn't always the case. The first generation of chip and pin solutions in the UK were notoriously unreliable. This comes down to the fact that fairly delicate technology is needed to read the chip in customers' cards, and this technology was not robust enough to handle dirty and dusty environments. Most 1st generation chip and pin machines would have failed basic EU regulations on dust and dirt ingress - I'm amazed that there wasn't a huge legal challenge mounted by retailers to recoup the cost of replacing badly designed chip and pin machines.

I personally had customer who had chip and pin machines which lasted less than 3 months. Even worse, the rate of units turning up dead on arrival at retailers was shocking - often a third of units shipped didn't work when they were installed. This made it a nightmare for the EPOS system providers who had to test every single handset before they could give it to their customers. Modern handsets are much more reliable and can easily last 3 or 4 years in most retail environments.

• Chip and Pin machines: An introduction to chip and pin machines in retail EPOS software
• Slow Chip and pin: Why some chip and pin machines operate extremely slowly and what the retailer can do about it. Slow chip and pin machines can create huge queues in your shop and make for some very grumpy customers
• Chip and pin fraud: We all worry about credit card fraud, so how easy is it to defraud chip and pin technology - was chip and pin the solution to all card fraud?
• Chip and pin fraud: Customers fault: How the banks try to dodge the responsibility for chip and pin fraud by trying to blame any fraud on the customers an users instead of accepting that the technology is imperfect.
• Mobile wireless Chip and pin Mobile chip and pin machines are extremely popular, using Wifi and 3G technology - but they should only be used where appropriate
• Rent or buy chip and pin? You can buy chip and pin machines, and you can rent chip and pin machines - the benefits and pitfalls of both.
• Connect PC to chip and pin: How does chip and pin technology interface with your computer and why chip and pin doesn't like USB
• 36 backup for chip and pin: Consider using a wireless chip and pin machine as a backup to your normal chip and pin solution
• The future of chip and pin: Where is the technology heading in the future?
• Ecommerce and chip and pin: Why you can't use a chip and pin machine to take payment for your Ecommerce website
• Apply for chip and pin: How to go about applying for chip and pin technology and machines.
• Commidea reviews and experiences. I've worked with Commidea for over 10 years, and as such have lots of stories to tell!
• Commidea ocius for pcs chip and pin solution is one of the best options for integrated chip and pin for small retailers - here is how it works.