thread Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card? in Hardware Setup & Troubleshooting

Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

NTS — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 06:20:40 GMT

The title of this thread has been edited from the original: Swipe tap enabled card

Are you able to swipe a credit card on the stand that is tap enabled?, or can you only tap ? Also the contactless reader has an insert slot. When would you use this?

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

Helen — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 23:20:01 GMT

I'm happy to clarify @NTS!

You can accept Interac Flash debit cards by using the tap function of the contactless reader or the Square Terminal for payments up to $100. To accept a payment over $100 you'll be prompted to insert the debit card to the reader/Terminal.

You can insert a chip credit card to the contactless and chip card reader. If the credit card doesn't have a chip you can swipe the credit card on the Square Stand.

This Support Centre article has information about the card brands you can accept with Square. If you have any other questions about this reply here to let me know.

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

ronhamelin — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:49:00 GMT

This is really a pain! I lost a sale because someone couldn't use their debit card and the tap didn't work. I tried inserting it and it was rejected. I tried tapping again. Nothing. And then again. Nothing. It doesn't even respond to the tap. USELESS!

My client went home and said he'll interac the money to me by email. Fingers crossed he actually does since I already provided the service. NOT HAPPY AT ALL!

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

Chad — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:39:46 GMT

Sorry to hear about the trouble @ronhamelin, we are working on bringing debit chip and PIN transactions to our Canadian Sellers. We will make an announcement once this feature becomes available!

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

ronhamelin — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:51:50 GMT

good to know! Does that mean Ill be able to swipe instead of tap a debit interac?

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

Chad — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 16:57:11 GMT

@ronhamelin I'll check on this for you. My hunch says no, mainly because the banking industry is moving away from magstripe all together, but I'll look into this and share what I can.

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

ronhamelin — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 19:04:16 GMT

ok then, so in the meantime, how do we process Interac when it just doesn't work? I've seen plenty of other posts in these forums about the tap not working. I've since changed my website to say we only accept CCs, no longer Interac, sadly, since Quebecers use Interac all the time.

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

Chad — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 22:11:52 GMT

@ronhamelin If you're having trouble processing a tap payment I recommend trying some of the steps in our article Contactless + Chip Reader Troubleshooting. Usually these troubleshooting steps resolve most issues when it comes to processing a tap payment, if you're still experiencing trouble I would recommend reaching out to our Customer Success Team and they can take a closer look at your reader.

Since we only offer Interac processing via tap, your customer would have to use a different card or another payment method to complete the transaction.

If you have any other questions please feel free to reach out to me!

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

GoodDog — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 03:25:30 GMT

Enabling Canadian customers to use the chip and/or mag strip with Interac cards will happen sooner than later I hope. Have experienced a loss of payment and a loss of sales from card holders who did not have the tap enabled on their Interac cards. 😞

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

Tom — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 15:47:47 GMT

Hey @GoodDog, I'm really sorry to hear this.😕 We definitely do not want any of our customers to miss out on a sale. I can't access and share out a specific timeline for when we'll be able to expand payment options, but we are tracking this request. I'll be sure surface your experience with our Point of Sale team. We'll announce any developments as they become available.

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

Vbarber — Sat, 20 Oct 2018 20:28:19 GMT

I have lost sales because tap was the only debit card option. This post is from May. It’s 5 months later and still no update? It makes no sense to me that Square will accept the LESS SAFE option of tap, as opposed to insert/PIN.

Re: Can I swipe a tap enabled card?

Helen — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 22:47:18 GMT

@Vbarber I'm really sorry to hear you've lost sales as a result. Our Payments team is working on this, we certainly want you to be able to accept other types of debit cards.

Also keep in mind that contactless payments (also called 'Near Field Communication' or NFC), including Interac debit tap are secure. When a customer pays by Interac tap their bank details are tokenized and encrypted to complete the payment, meaning that information can't be accessed. This blog post has details about security and NFCmobile payments in Canada and I hope it helps.

I will share your post with the Payments team and if we have any news we'll share it with you here in this thread.