A payment card that has an embedded chip is called an EMV card. The EMV transaction type is named after the three companies that developed the technology standard: Europay, Mastercard, and Visa. The cardholder data that is stored on the embedded chip is used to make transactions more secure and reduce fraud risks.

The EMV card data is obtained through the payment terminal in one of these ways:

Contact

The customer inserts a payment card with an embedded chip into the payment terminal. You can choose to verify the customer's identity by requiring PIN entry on the terminal.

Contactless

The customer taps either a contactless-enabled card or payment-enabled mobile or wearable device on or near a contactless payment terminal. Enabled cards, phones, watches, and other devices use the same contactless technology.

Payment cards typically store customer data on a magnetic stripe embedded in the back of the card. A customer swipes their card on a payment terminal to pass this data to the merchant's point-of-sale system. Swiping of the payment card is typically used for non-EMV cards, such as some pre-paid cards, or as an alternative payment method when a contact- or contactless-EMV payment fails.

When you are unable to obtain the customer information from the EMV chip or the magnetic stripe on the payment card, you can manually enter the customer information into the payment terminal to complete a transaction.