Visa Diplomatic About Best Buy Snub

Visa Inc. said it is "disappointed" that Best Buy Co. is no longer accepting contactless Visa cards, though it noted that consumers may still use the same cards to initiate transactions through the cards' magnetic stripes.

"It's important for cardholders to know they can continue to use their payWave card with a traditional swipe when shopping at Best Buy" and other locations, Visa said last week. Visa promotes its contactless cards under the payWave brand.

Best Buy has said stopped accepting contactless transactions made with Visa cards because Visa requires the payments to be authorized by signature rather than less costly PIN debit.

Retailers' interchange fees for signature-based transactions are roughly double those of transactions initiated with a PIN, said Nick Holland, a senior analyst at Aite Group LLC.

Not all card networks have such restrictive policies on contactless card transaction authorization. MasterCard Inc. allows its contactless cards to be used with both signatures and PINs; Best Buy continues to accept contactless MasterCard transactions.

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