Heads up, If you're an American going to Europe, regular swipe only credit cards won't work as often here. Nearly all point-of-sale credit card machines require chip & pin. Or you'll wind up like some tourists in my local supermarket unable to use their credit card.

Whilst many places often refuse to swipe any more (which I suppose is their prerogative) it does actually work. If the chip/pin reader has the swipe slot at the top then it will work.

Tesco don't have the swipe slot, and they now train till staff to say they can't swipe cards. But it does work on the till itself (I know this because when a friend visited we made the poor till attendant try it :)).

EDIT: also, interestingly, it looks like this service only uses the chip feature, not the pin :)

Increasingly, most shops do not offer the ability to swipe/sign. I think it is their right to refuse to do so.

IIRC, the law states that if your card has a Chip/Pin, you have to use it. It basically ignores the case of swipe cards.

Generally I've found that swipe almost always works, it's just that most people don't know that it does. (And you have to be willing to help show them how.)

In holland the hardware still supports swipe, but the store's bank will not. Only hotels are, for now, exempt.

The skimming just got out of hand.

Heads up, if you're an American going to Europe, be aware that attitudes to living on credit or via credit cards are at times very different.

In Belgium and the Netherlands, it's not usual to see supermarkets even taking credit cards, and some restaurants (!) don't either. This is changing, but slowly.

Conversely, good luck buying gas from an automatic pump if you're in the US and paying with a European card. In the absence of a PIN they'll ask for a ZIP code, which you don't have.

As a Brit in NY, when I swipe my UK card to by a Metro pass I'm asked for my ZIP code. I just put in the ZIP code of my apartment and have never had any trouble. A teller at the bank told me that since it isn't a US card they ignore it anyway...

I was once told travelling in the US on a Canadian credit card to just input '00000' and that it should do the trick on all of the self-serve pumps. Worked for me on multiple pumps.

It also works if you just press enter -- I think it just ignores the input.

Credit cards are also not so popular in Germany. Supermarkets accept the local bank debit card, but I typically leave my Visa to home.

Usually I remember to get enough money from ATM's. The worst day to forget to withdraw some cash is the first of May, when it's a bit different because all the ATM's are closed to prevent the protesters from breaking them.

I live in Belgium and all supermarkets I know of take credit cards. Maybe we don't agree on the definition of supermarket (to me it means something like Wal-Mart; in Belgium: Carrefour, Champion, Colruyt, ...), but I'll say that if it has a parking, then it most probably takes credit cards.

Here in Ireland credit cards about very commonly accepted in many shops, supermarkets and restaurants.

This is nonsense (at least in the UK and France). Yes there is preference for chip & pin but every reader I've seen supports swipe & sign still. Chips break, contacts corrode. It's there as a backup.

(And yes, this totally defeats the security aspect of C&P)

"(And yes, this totally defeats the security aspect of C&P)"

As I understand it, C&P isn't meant to be more secure for users - it's meant to be more "secure" for banks, since if someone fakes your signature it's not your fault (and the bank has to swallow the loss), but if someone gets hold of your PIN it IS your fault.

> Yes there is preference for chip & pin but every reader I've seen supports swipe & sign still.

Many automated machines (e.g. gas stations) don't support swipe at all, only chip & pin.

And in Belgium, most of the terminals in smaller shop seem to be swipe-less, they're pretty big square things and only have a slot for chip-based (above the screen rather than below), no swipe slot.

In french trains, the conductor's card reader only supports chip, the automats in train stations also don't support swipe.

Yes, southern europe generally supports and even uses credit cards. Holland has banned swipe all together. You need an authentification chip and a pin.

In our defense: we had to, because the skimming by eastern european criminal organisations was getting out of hand. There were incidents were they completely replaced cash machienes with identically looking clones.

So, in holland, get money at a tourist bank, the airport or your hotel. Beyond those places, you cant swipe anywhere.

For transactions in the UK the merchant can also take a signature for low value transactions on a chip and pin card. There is more risk with this though.

I used to work in a small supermarket, towards the end of last year we were being directed not to accept credit cards.

It also works in Germany. Where they accept credit cards at all.

In France, they only seem to have automatic fuel pumps and they only accept local credit cards. They don't take cash and there is no staff to appeal to. As a foreign tourist (not even from the US) I had been reduced to begging the natives to fill up my car for me in return for cash and had been looked at like a bum (hobo, scammer). Oh well, I guess 'tat fiiil tiiiich zi roasbifs!' :)

that ain't true. My Visa is swipe, and my Amex chip. All places accept both swipe and chip & pin, no matter how small the place is. Just make sure that if you swipe you have ID w/ photo with you.

In Holland the policy is now to only allow pin based transactions using the chip. The magnectic stripe is no longer supported.

So, although most hardware is still technically capable to swipe, no bank is supporting it any more.

It was in response to eastern europe based organized crime, that was modifying cash machienes.

Likewise, all online bank transactions use a secondary device for authentification.

If you visit holland, and only bring a credit card, make sure you get cash at your hotel, the airport or a bank, because you cant use it anywhere else.

Certainly _all_ don't. New equipment distributed in Ireland, particularly to smaller businesses, often don't have swipe readers at all.

My US credit cards work fine here in Italy.