Contactless Credit Card Payments vs Cash (Euros) Sep 2022

[cluso]

We are getting ready for our next trip to Europe, then a Transatlantic next month.  Just wondering if the Covid contactless payments by CC are pretty much here to stay (unless in a small Mom and Pop restaurant) in Europe.  We usually get Euros from local bank ATMs while in Europe, but don't want to get too much.  Mostly restaurant expenses, as we don't need to "shop" much.  Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal on this trip.  We have the "No Transaction Fee" cards and leave small leftover Euro bills for extra gratuities onboard.  Any recent experiences?

[slidergirl]

Just been to France and Italy.  Contactless use all over the place.  Even the toll booths on the highway had contactless pay.  Every restaurant I ate in had the terminals where the server did your CC at the table or you walked to the cashier and tapped.  I think I had 300EU in cash for my whole month - used in markets and when I picked up a drink.  I came home with 100EU (I always bring home for next time).  

[marazul]

29 minutes ago, slidergirl said:

Just been to France and Italy.  Contactless use all over the place.  Even the toll booths on the highway had contactless pay.  Every restaurant I ate in had the terminals where the server did your CC at the table or you walked to the cashier and tapped.  I think I had 300EU in cash for my whole month - used in markets and when I picked up a drink.  I came home with 100EU (I always bring home for next time).  

Same in Spain.

[Hlitner]

I want to correct a misconception.  Contactless credit card use has been somewhat common in Europe for a few years prior to COVID!  Americans (not familiar with Europe) should also be aware that, in Europe, it is almost unheard of to allow a credit card out of your sight.  Unlike here in the USA where merchants and waiters might take your credit card out of your sight to run the card, in Europe the norm is to bring the credit card user to your location or put it in a terminal within your view.    In Europe we would not normally allow anyone to take our credit cards out of our view.

 

Hank

[CruiserBruce]

Totally agree with @Hlitner. Contact less payment in Europe has been around far, far longer in Europe,  than in the US, maybe over a decade longer. Chips in credit cards also arrived in Europe before  the US. PIN and chip has been widely accepted in Europe for over a decade....its just starting to get popular here in the last 2 or 3 years.

 

This was true on our trip to Europe in July, and long before that.

 

[iancal]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I want to correct a misconception.  Contactless credit card use has been somewhat common in Europe for a few years prior to COVID!  Americans (not familiar with Europe) should also be aware that, in Europe, it is almost unheard of to allow a credit card out of your sight.  Unlike here in the USA where merchants and waiters might take your credit card out of your sight to run the card, in Europe the norm is to bring the credit card user to your location or put it in a terminal within your view.    In Europe we would not normally allow anyone to take our credit cards out of our view.

 

Hank

We live in Canada.  Contactless has been the norm for years. Same in Europe and OZ.  Well before covid.  Never realized that chip cards or tap and go was such an issue prior to reading about  it on this forum.

 

As a matter of practice we would never let anyone take our credit cards out of our line of sight.  Or anywhere else for that matter.

 

Restaurants bring portable units to the table.  We either tap or we insert and enter our PIN number depending on the restaurant and the limits that they have established.  It is not uncommon to tap for any purchase under $200. but have to insert and verify with PIN for anything over.

 

Exact same for our travels in Europe, Australia, and SE Asia.

Edited September 11, 2022 by iancal

[cluso]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I want to correct a misconception.  Contactless credit card use has been somewhat common in Europe for a few years prior to COVID!  Americans (not familiar with Europe) should also be aware that, in Europe, it is almost unheard of to allow a credit card out of your sight.  Unlike here in the USA where merchants and waiters might take your credit card out of your sight to run the card, in Europe the norm is to bring the credit card user to your location or put it in a terminal within your view.    In Europe we would not normally allow anyone to take our credit cards out of our view.

 

Hank

Yes, I just called it that so US folks could relate to the term.  We lived in Europe in the early and mid 90's and lots of places used the little machines at your table (although some smaller places were cash only).  When we returned to the US, we were surprised that it took many, many years before this caught on.

[Hlitner]

9 minutes ago, cluso said:

Yes, I just called it that so US folks could relate to the term.  We lived in Europe in the early and mid 90's and lots of places used the little machines at your table (although some smaller places were cash only).  When we returned to the US, we were surprised that it took many, many years before this caught on.

It sure is taking a long time for this technology to be normalized here.   But in the past couple of years we have noticed that more restaurants are using the portable credit card machines at the tables.  When it comes to credit card technology, I think the USA lags most of the world (including many third world countries).

 

Hank

[cluso]

Dup

Edited September 11, 2022 by cluso

[cluso]

9 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

It sure is taking a long time for this technology to be normalized here.   But in the past couple of years we have noticed that more restaurants are using the portable credit card machines at the tables.  When it comes to credit card technology, I think the USA lags most of the world (including many third world countries).

 

Hank

I agree with you.

We were just wondering if restaurants in Europe were prone to not using cash as much as they used to.  We don't want to overload on Euros.

[Hlitner]

6 minutes ago, cluso said:

I agree with you.

We were just wondering if restaurants in Europe were prone to not using cash as much as they used to.  We don't want to overload on Euros.

That will depend on the country.  If you are in northern Europe/Baltic, everyone takes plastic and, in some countries, such as Finland and Sweden, it is actually unusual to use cash.  But in other countries, such as Italy, there are still some places that do not accept plastic.   It is always wise to check, when going into a restaurant, unless you are carrying enough currency.  And we have had times when the credit card system is down, and one needs to find some cash.  It once happened to us in Bruge and I had to run out of the restaurant and find an ATM (while DW relaxed at our table).    This led us to recommend that folks should generally have enough currency to cover a tab...just in case.

 

Hank

[RTR 21-0]

I know the Euro is not the currency for Croatia but is it generally accepted there?  

[slidergirl]

On 9/11/2022 at 4:31 PM, Hlitner said:

That will depend on the country.  If you are in northern Europe/Baltic, everyone takes plastic and, in some countries, such as Finland and Sweden, it is actually unusual to use cash.  But in other countries, such as Italy, there are still some places that do not accept plastic.   It is always wise to check, when going into a restaurant, unless you are carrying enough currency.  And we have had times when the credit card system is down, and one needs to find some cash.  It once happened to us in Bruge and I had to run out of the restaurant and find an ATM (while DW relaxed at our table).    This led us to recommend that folks should generally have enough currency to cover a tab...just in case.

 

Hank

True that.  one of the restaurants i like to visit in Florence, Trattoria Sostanza, is still cash-only.   

I keep cash on hand to visit the gelato stores or coffee shops.  And, i keep enough cash on me to cover a nice meal if i encounter a "cash only" place.  

[VMax1700]

2 hours ago, RTR 21-0 said:

I know the Euro is not the currency for Croatia but is it generally accepted there?  

Generally accepted - no.  Some stores in large tourist areas may accept them at a crazy exchange rate, but if you are only in one Croatian port for a short time then you may feel that the exchange rate is better than obtaining an unknown quantity of kuna.

[MeHeartCruising]

The Netherlands always seems to be the oddity for me.  12 years ago, they would not take my US credit card at all to buy a train ticket at the counter in a train station.  I had to go to a nearby ATM and get Euros.  
 

Today, I tried to use my contactless Visa (that has worked flawlessly on this trip in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland) to buy some stroopwafels in Delft and the card was not working with the store’s reader.  She asked where I was from.  I told her the US. She said we have to use a different reader and it will cost 60 cents more.  Since I badly needed stroopwafels, I agreed.  The second contactless reader worked fine.  Weird. 
 

Later, at a convenience store in Amsterdam, the contactless would not work in the  self-serve register, but inserting the chip card in did work.  The display also asked me to sign the receipt and then asked if I wanted a receipt.   I said no to the receipt and it finished the transaction. There was nothing to sign after all.  I had none of these issues in other countries on my trip.  Although, these were, indeed very minor issues.  In the end, the card was always accepted. 

[slidergirl]

2 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

The Netherlands always seems to be the oddity for me.  12 years ago, they would not take my US credit card at all to buy a train ticket at the counter in a train station.  I had to go to a nearby ATM and get Euros.  
 

Today, I tried to use my contactless Visa (that has worked flawlessly on this trip in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland) to buy some stroopwafels in Delft and the card was not working with the store’s reader.  She asked where I was from.  I told her the US. She said we have to use a different reader and it will cost 60 cents more.  Since I badly needed stroopwafels, I agreed.  The second contactless reader worked fine.  Weird. 
 

Later, at a convenience store in Amsterdam, the contactless would not work in the  self-serve register, but inserting the chip card in did work.  The display also asked me to sign the receipt and then asked if I wanted a receipt.   I said no to the receipt and it finished the transaction. There was nothing to sign after all.  I had none of these issues in other countries on my trip.  Although, these were, indeed very minor issues.  In the end, the card was always accepted. 

The oddities of contactless vs insert and signing/not signing is a function of 90% of US-issued cards.  They are set up as 'Chip and Signature' primary rather then the 'chip and discrete pin' primary of European cards.  Happens all the time at hotels I worked at.   Even this summer, in France and Italy I had cases where i had to insert or I had to sign.  Even used my iphone wallet and my apple watch wallet at some pkaces.  With my cafds, i had no issues at the toll booths or self-serve gas stations.  I just went with the flow.  

[lisiamc]

I’ve had very good results with ApplePay, too. I would think that GooglePay also works well.