thread Re: Best scanner for plastic and eGift cards in Payments Troubleshooting

Best scanner for plastic and eGift cards

cashxx — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 20:29:41 GMT

What is the best scanner for plastic and eGift cards?

Worth getting a supported QR code type scanner?

Do they all seem work ok with scanning off phone screens?

Thanks,

Dan

Re: Best scanner for plastic and eGift cards

mjws1224 — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 02:47:32 GMT

In my personal opinion, it's not really worth purchasing an external scanner when you can use an iPad or your mobile phone to scan the gift cards.

In terms of plastic gift cards, swiping the card itself with the magstripe reader is easiest actually. For eGift cards, scanning the QR code isn't really an issue when using a mobile device that has a camera.

Re: Best scanner for plastic and eGift cards

cashxx — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 02:57:54 GMT

Thanks for the reply. I probably should have mentioned we will only have two Square Registers. Will probably use the magstripe for physical but not sure about eGift cards. Hate to have the cashiers have to enter in the 16 digit number. Probably won't have a customer database to do it that way. So about the easiest would be a scanner.

Not sure which one would be the best choice for scanning on phones and if getting the one that supports the QR code is worth it or not.

Would have been nice to see a camera built into the Square Register for this purpose or in the customer facing screen would have been interesting.

Re: Best scanner for plastic and eGift cards

mjws1224 — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 03:01:41 GMT

Ah, I see! Square actually sells a hand-held scanner, it connects to any Square hub. https://squareup.com/shop/hardware/us/en/products/barcode-scanner-usb

I agree that it's a little tedious to enter the 16-digit number, but it does save money in the long run.

Have a nice day!

-Jin

Re: Best scanner for plastic and eGift cards

AestheticsA — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 19:47:18 GMT

Does this scanner also scan QR codes? I’ve searched everywhere for this answer and can’t find it anywhere

Re: Best scanner for plastic and eGift cards

cashxx — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 20:01:44 GMT

Don't think so. Just 1D type barcodes.

Re: Best scanner for plastic and eGift cards

AestheticsA — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 20:06:34 GMT

Ugh I thought so. Thank you so much for your response. I’ll try and search one and pray it works with both.

Re: Best scanner for plastic and eGift cards

cashxx — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 20:08:20 GMT

Not sure if you seen this page, might be helpful. https://squareup.com/us/en/compatibility/accessories/barcode-scanners