ASB PayTag Hands-On
Yesterday I received my ASB PayTag sticker after signing up to participate in their trial. ASB PayTag is a Visa payWave sticker that sticks on to the back of your phone. It allows you to make contactless payments, by unofficially using your mobile phone. It is essentially just a miniature Visa payWave credit/debit card, that’s stuck on to the back of your phone!
Now the first question that comes to mind is: Why not just utilize the NFC chip that is already in your smartphone, to pay for items? Well that is a very good question! My guess is that because that type of payment (NFC payments) is taking a little longer to develop, and is probably more advanced to incorporate. In fact, Semble is the latest technology currently still in development, that allows you to make payments by actually using your smartphone’s NFC chip!
The ASB PayTag actually came in the form of a regular-sized credit card, but required you to snap off a small portion (about 1/4) of the card to stick onto the back of your phone. The Visa payWave sticker (ASB PayTag) is not actually a normal, thin piece sticker, but is a miniature card that has a sticker on the back of it. Because of this, I figured some rounded/curved-back smartphones e.g the LG G3, may not be the perfect fit for this sticker card. Fortunately, my Nexus 5 has a flat back, so the sticker was easily able to be stuck on!
The ASB PayTag accesses your funds from either an ASB Visa Debit or an ASB Visa Credit Card account. If you already have an ASB Visa payWave card, you probably already know how the contactless technology works. Just hold your card/phone over the contactless terminal and wait for confirmation that the payment has been approved.
The biggest issue with Contactless payWave cards is that not many retailers in New Zealand currently offer contactless technology on their EFTPOS terminals, or they do but restrict your access to only their cards; *cough* looking at you Countdown! Even before Semble arrives, New Zealand retailers really need to get their act together with the times, and need to upgrade their EFTPOS terminals so they can accept Contactless technology!
So far, the ASB PayTag sticker has not interfered with the NFC function on my Nexus 5.
Steps when using your ASB PayTag for the very first time:
ASB PayTag has basically the same limitations as a regular Visa Debit/Credit Card and transactions over $80 will require a PIN and they also expire after 3 years.
According to ASB, PayTag is coming soon for the general public and so far, my trial with the ASB PayTag has gone well! However, I really hope the use of NFC to pay for items will come very soon as that will mean true contactless payments without actually needing to bring your wallet!
For more information on the ASB PayTag, please visit: https://www.asb.co.nz/paytag/
