On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 8:03 PM, Richard Symonds richard.symonds@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
I don't mean to sound daft, but Chip & PIN cards are (at least here) MasterCard/Visa cards with 16-digit numbers. The two are the same?
While usually true in the U.S. and UK, this isn't the norm for most of the world. (Yes, I learned this the hard way.)
Assumptions about the availability of various payment systems have been a thorn in the side for many Wikimanias—for instance, I remember having to explain that bank transfers aren't just uncommon in the U.S., but actually inconvenient and often expensive. To be fair, most people have never had to think about payment processing on a global scale, and assumptions you learned to make five years ago may not hold true today.
I wasn't planning to pay using a credit card, but at least I'm fortunate enough to have that option available to me. Many others won't—the Netherlands isn't exactly a technologically isolated country, but revolving lines of credit aren't something your average student here will routinely have (for instance), and our banking system isn't centered around the credit card network. It's not my headache, this year, but I urge the organization team to reconsider this decision.
Austin