How many of today's transactions are contactless vs. chip vs. magnetic stripe?

[GeekinTX]

It's been awhile since I've used Square, almost nine years. Back then, I got the free magnetic stripe reader, and that worked for everything I needed. Back then, I don't know if chips were in use, but contactless was still in the future. I've still got that little mag stripe reader, but my new phone (Pixel 7) doesn't have a headphone jack. I haven't tried it yet, but I've got one of these little gizmos that allow you to plug in headphones to a bluetooth device. I used it to send music to the radio on a bus that had only the 3.5 jack for an auxiliary. It's just audio - is there any chance this will work with my old magnetic stripe reader?

I see that the NFC in my phone is compatible with contactless cards. So I'm considering buying a reader to be able to handle chips.

All cards have a mag stripe. Almost all today seem to have a chip. But Google/Apple/Samsung and the newer contactless cards are something I haven't accepted before. It seems I wouldn't miss anything by giving up the mag stripe reader as long as I could accept the chip. But if I can do contactless with my phone and no additional hardware, would I lose sales by not being able to accept a chip?

Sorry, I'm so long winded. I guess my question boils down to this: How many of today's transactions are contactless vs. chip vs. magnetic stripe?

Ron

[JK_Fiber_Art · Accepted solution]

I believe not all credit cards are contactless even though they have a chip.  Bottom line, it's best to be able to accept any type of card these days.  I've run into situations whereas the card had a chip, was also contactless and a magstripe - the card appeared to made of some sort of metal (not the normal plastic), my contactless and chip reader did not like it however, the magstipe reader in my Square Stand had no problem and the transaction went through.  (Note, I could have manually entered the card as a last resort but, that wasn't necessary.)   As for transactions - contactless verses chip verses magstripe - for me it's around 70%, 29% and 1%.  Currently, it's best to avoid magstipe if possible because of the Liability Shift - see this info.   Yes, you can accept contactless cards without any hardware but, I would not recommend that as your "only" method as it can be a finicky sometimes.   As for using any adapters for your magstripe reader as you described in your post, there's a 99.9% chance they won't work.   (We use Square's contactless and chip reader all the time, you can connect it to your smart device via Bluetooth or USB to a Square Stand.) 

[GeekinTX]

Thanks for your response. That 70/29/1 was what I was looking for. I'm going to go ahead and get a Square Reader - it sounds like that'll handle 99% of cards. Personally, I haven't seen a card with a mag stripe without a chip in a long time. I guess I can key the number in manually (at a tiny higher fee, I think) as opposed to trying to find appropriate hardware for that 1%.

This is for mobile use at a craft bazaar, so I hope the reader will handle most of my non-cash sales. Thanks again.

[JK_Fiber_Art]

Just a tip from our experience doing events - ensure you have the ability to charge your reader (portable charger or power bank) while doing remote events - the reader does hold a decent charge but, don't take the risk.

[GeekinTX]

Thanks for the tip. Yeah, I didn't really believe the "all day" spec on the 2nd gen reader. I've got a power bank that I use for my phone that should suffice to charge both devices.

[rtfulk]

About the only mag stripe cards we take now is Visa or Mastercard gift cards, we do get a very few bank temp cards.  We are also seeing an increase with the Tap cards, I would say we are about 60% tap and 40% chip now. I like the tap cards they are faster and the customer likes tapping them. I also agree with @JK_Fiber_Art if you are doing mobile I would invest in a power bank to keep it charged.