Contactless Payment System

What Does Contactless Payment System Mean?

A contactless payment system is an innovation in point-of-sale payments that does not require the traditional transactions used in either cash or conventional credit or debit card design.

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Connectivity is often achieved by radio-frequency devices. Users just have to place a card or another item in proximity to a piece of cashiering hardware in order to complete the transaction. No PIN numbers or other verifications are required.

Techopedia Explains Contactless Payment System

Because of the less stringent security arrangements of the contactless payment system, this system has been slow to be adopted in conventional retail. Companies like McDonald’s have been experimenting with contactless payment systems for some years. Now, innovators like Apple offer contactless payment systems.

Another good example of a contactless payment system is an RFID device commonly used for highway or local road toll systems. Contactless payment systems have been adopted recently in highway toll systems because the convenience they provide overrode security concerns. That same philosophy, however, has not yet been adopted in general retail, where many buyers and sellers prefer using a card with qualifiers like PIN numbers.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…