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Contactless Payments

Tap to pay, be on your way

Contactless payments offer speed, convenience and security as businesses serve more customers and increase sales.

woman paying to barista in cafe using phone.

70%

of in-person Mastercard transactions are contactless globally[1]

10X

Contactless is up to 10x faster than other face-to-face transaction methods[1]

7 in 10

POS terminals are contactless enabled[1]

How it works

Customers can pay by tapping or waving their enabled card or smart device on a contactless-enabled point-of-sale (POS) reader.

Discover how tap to pay can help your business

Contactless payments drive sales and loyalty.

Quick checkout, happy customers

Serve more customers in less time, boosting sales, loyalty and cross-sell opportunities.

Safer alternative

Consumers like the increased speed, safety and cleanliness of tap to pay.

Increased transaction amounts

Contactless-enabled accounts spend more on average than non-contactless accounts.

Point-of-sale security

EMV-level security helps reduce fraud on the network that authenticates billions of transactions each year.

Better business operations

Lower the risks, costs and labor of handling and transporting cash.

Added convenience

No receipts required and no cardholder verification on transactions under $50.

Case Study

New York City’s MTA transit system began accepting contactless payments in 2019. Four years later, it recorded its billionth payment
Learn more
woman looking at phone riding public transport.

Make the most of contactless payments

Contactless is transforming checkout everywhere

Delivering speed, convenience and security wherever consumers shop.

Tap on Phone

Tap on Phone lets merchants accept contactless payments from their smartphone or other NFC-enabled device

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Cloud Commerce

Transform eligible devices into acceptance devices — accept contactless payments instantly.

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Mastercard’s Sonic branding

Reinforce trust, safety and security at checkout with a unique multisensory payment confirmation.

Explore

Developer Resources

Developers

Start building with Mastercard

Access our full suite of APIs and developer tools to create secure, scalable, and innovative payment solutions.

Explore the APIs
man helping quickly oboard customer using laptop.

[1] Anonymized and aggregated data from the Mastercard Data Warehouse, Q3 2024