The older version of Eftpos software will no longer function from April 30 next year, meaning thousands of Kiwi retailers will have to upgrade over the next few months. Payment technology provider Smartpay estimates that between 20,000 and 40,000 retailers nationwide will be affected.rn
From April 30, Eftpos 6.1 and PTS 2013 software will cease to be supported on the New Zealand network.
Smartpay chief executive and managing director Bradley Gerdis says, “This will be one of the most significant technology upgrades in New Zealand since the switch from analogue to digital television. Just like analogue TVs stopped working in 2013, Eftpos terminals with older software will no longer function from the end of April 2017.”
Gerdis says one of the most significant features of the coming Eftpos upgrade will be the requirement of contactless payment options, as older terminals which don’t support it are upgraded or replaced in order to be compatible with the new software. It will still be possible to refuse to activate this technology.
“Not all retailers will choose to use this function, but if consumers continue to increase their use of contactless technology it will be more difficult for them not to,” says Gerdis.
Contactless payments are being enthusiastically adopted by Kiwi consumers, with Apple Pay’s New Zealand launch in October making it the latest addition to shoppers’ options.
A recent MasterCard survey found the number of Kiwis using contactless payments has jumped by 20 percent since 2015, with two out of three New Zealanders regularly using this technology.
However, that convenience isn’t without its downsides – Retail NZ called for greater transparency of fees set by banks and credit card companies around contactless payments after a report found contactless fees could cost retailers as much as $3.1 billion over the next 10 years.
Smartpay will automatically upgrade all its customers to the latest Eftpos software.
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