When do you need to sign using Apple Pay?

[Jim Gramze]

At my grocery store ? Family Fare ? they have taken Apple Pay from day one because they had NFC pay terminals. Once in a while after using my iPhone 6+ pay, where I always have to tap "Credit" after doing so, I have to sign as if I had swiped a credit card. But only once in a while do I have to sign. I'm wondering if there is a price point beyond which a signature is required. I'm guessing $100 USD in this case. Would this be specific to Family Fare or is it a common thing?

I do know that a signature is not required with a regular credit card if the cost is below $25 USD. MacDonald defaults to credit when using a bank card and does not require a signature for "normal-sized" purchases.

So, is this signature requirement an Apple Pay thing or is it likely a Family-Fare specific oddity?

 

[HelloNNNewman]

Yes, small-ticket convenience shops and quick serve restaurants like McD's will usually allow anything less than $25 to process through a system called QSR (Quick Sale Retail) started by Visa and MC back in '03. The short answer to your question is: It's up to individual retailers to set their own thresholds as to at what price point they require signatures.

The higher the threshold, the higher the risk for chargebacks and fraud for those companies. Family-Fare probably set their threshold for signatures low enough (to keep down their costs associated with fraud) to where you are seeing signatures required more now (companies will adjust it every so often as their risk requires).

The new NFC payment services are still considered CNP (Card Not Present) transactions by the card issuers and therefore have a higher risk involved (therefore higher transaction cost for retailers) right off the bat. As this 'newer' payment option is used more and more, I'm sure the issuers will come out with a new Interchange pricing (process cost) dedicated to NFC transactions and their risk.