[1] Maestro is accepted at around fifteen million point of sale outlets in 93 countries.

The payment is authorized by the card issuer to ensure that the cardholder has sufficient funds in their account to make the purchase.

The cardholder then confirms the payment by either signing the sales receipt or entering their 4- to 6-digit PIN, except with contactless transactions below a specified amount for which no further verification is required.

Maestro often requires on-line electronic authorization for every transaction, although Mastercard's rules permit the establishment of floor limits on Maestro EMV chip transactions only.

If the information is not read, the issuer will decline the transaction, regardless of any disposable amount on the connected account, except in the Asia Pacific region, where manual keyed entry is permitted under some circumstances.