On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 8:03 PM, Richard Symonds
<richard.symonds(a)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