A problem at the US terminal provider Verifone means that card payments do not work at many retailers in Germany.
(Photo: Verifone)
Frankfurt, Dusseldorf According to payment service providers and retailers, payment by giro card or credit card in Germany is disrupted nationwide. This also applies to most cell phone payment methods. The reason for this are problems with certain card readers from the US company Verifone.
Card payments are currently not working for several large retailers, for example for some of the Edeka stores. “It is a cross-industry problem that currently affects several trading companies,” said Edeka Wednesday afternoon on request with. “The manufacturer is already working intensively to rectify the fault.”
Even at Aldi Nord, card payment is not possible in some branches, the company said. There are clear restrictions at the drugstore chain dm: “Due to an overarching, national technical problem in the processing of card payments, these can currently not be carried out at all or only occasionally – depending on the card terminal in the store -” said Martin Dallmeier, responsible as dm managing director for the finance and controlling department. According to its own statements, the competitor Rossmann is also affected.
Customers are also facing difficulties at gas stations, for example at Esso: At around 500 Esso gas stations there have been disruptions in cashless payments since Tuesday morning, according to the oil company Exxon Mobil.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
According to the payment service provider Payone, the problems occur with card payment terminals of the type H5000 from the manufacturer Verifone. That happened for the first time on Tuesday. According to Payone, the cause is a so-called certificate error. According to the current status, it will be necessary to install new software updates on all H5000 terminals.
The payment service provider Concardis further explained that Verifone was “working flat out to fix the bug”. Concardis is asking retail customers not to restart the devices themselves for the time being and to leave the terminals connected to the power supply and the network as they are. This is also emphasized by the Federal Association of the relevant network operators.
It is questionable whether the problem, once a terminal has been switched off, can be solved digitally and remotely at all. Verifone itself has not yet made a public statement.
It is unclear exactly how many card readers are disrupted. According to industry experts, the terminal type H5000 is a phased-out model, but it is still widespread. Accordingly, 100,000 corresponding devices could be in use. In total there are almost a million card terminals in Germany.
In terms of sales, card payments dominate
Consumers in Germany are paying more and more with their card at the checkout, mostly with the Girocard, better known under the old name “EC card”. The share of sales from card payments at the checkout rose to almost 59 percent in 2021. In the previous year, card payments accounted for 56 percent, as determined by the EHI Retail Institute, a retail research institute. In 2017, cash still prevailed.
However, Germans still prefer to pay small amounts with coins and bills. In 2021, 61 percent of transactions were still settled in cash.
Aldi Süd is not affected by the disruption, as the company announced. At Rewe, the terminal type from Verifone is generally not used. However, it cannot be ruled out that individual retailers would use it, according to Rewe.
More: Cash on the retreat: consumer advocates want to enshrine the acceptance of cash in law