There are a couple of key steps you should take to be able to pay with your card. First of all, before we can start this tutorial, you should activate your UvA-card over at one of the service desks. Most of you will already have an activated card. You can easily check this by trying to put money on your card.

 

After this step, you’ll have two different methods of putting some of your hard-earned money on your UvA-card. You can either comfortably do so through an internet portal or at one of the new consoles found on the walls. For our faculty, this is at the entrance (where the Chipknip-console used to be).

 

You’re online now right? Yeah, you’re reading this at the What The Faculty-website. That means that after you’re done reading some of our articles, you can immediately follow this how-to to wire some money to your card.

 

The first step would be to go over to the dedicated web portal. Log in using the same credentials you use for BlackBoard, SIS or any other UvA-service.

 

Step 2 would be to navigate the follow-up screen. You will see a button to top up your balance, one to get an overview of your previous transactions and a contact form. As you might see, there’s also a possibility to close your account, but you probably won’t do that.

 

We’ll go to ‘top up balance’. You can choose to make a transaction of either 10, 20 or 50 euros. The maximum amount of money you can have on your card is 60 euros. This will be topped with a transaction fee of 0.50 cents. Select one and go over to the payment methods.

 

Ready to pay? This is Step 4. You can choose to pay through iDeal or PayPal. After you select one, you’ll be directed to their familiar screens to complete your payment. When completed, you get an overview and confirmation.

 

Last but not least, enjoy your delicious coffee!

 

No computer in sight or rather pay with your debit card? That’s also a possibility. The university exchanged the Chipknip-consoles for their PinPoint counterparts. The steps are very much like putting credit on your OV-chipkaart.

 

First of all, you should hold your card in front of the reader. This will activate the console and start up the payment module. Immediately after that, you’ll be able to select the amount you want to add to your card balance.

 

Payment is with bank card – you can’t pay by cash. Enter your PIN code, follow the instructions on the screen and await a successful payment. You’ll see that your balance has been increased in the following screen, where it displays your new credit. Don’t forget your receipt!

 

Again, enjoy your fresh prints and those delicious candy bars in the vending machines.

 

The type of things you can buy might be fairly limited at the moment, and so are the places you can pay with your UvA-card. What would be the first thing you’d add to the current supply of coffee and vending machines? Let me know in the comments!

 

© WTF Thomas