thread Re: Using both the swipe reader and chip card reader in Archived Discussions (Read Only)

Using both the swipe reader and chip card reader

bleaf — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:09:25 GMT

If there are 2 of us working an event this weekend and we both are ringing up sales, will we be able to use the old swipe reader if the chip reader is busy? We will be using 2 iPads. We have many swipe readers but only one chip reader.

Re: Using both the swipe reader and chip card reader

TrueNorth — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 00:14:56 GMT

It should work, it worked for me 🙂 I did a festival and only took my readers, and all the cards I ran swiped even though they had chips in them. I was worried about that, but I had to leave my chip reader at my store because the square register will not let me swipe cards that have chips.

Re: Using both the swipe reader and chip card reader

EJ_ — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 20:54:28 GMT

To add to what @TrueNorth mentioned, even though cards have Chips on them, they are still able to be swiped since they also have Magnetic Stripes on the back.

In this specific situation, since you'll have the Square Contactless and Chip Card Reader connected to one of your devices, that device will not be allowed to swipe the magnetic strip on cards *if* the card also has a chip.

Anytime you try to swipe a Chip Card with a Square Contactless and Chip Card Reader connected, you'll be prompted to dip the Chip.

Your other device, since it does *not* have a Square Contactless and Chip Card Reader connected, can swipe magnetic stripes on chip cards as normal.

Re: Using both the swipe reader and chip card reader

keysnpics — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 14:24:22 GMT

I'm a brand new customer, and we only wish to accept magnetic-enabled cards and therefore only have that reader. It sounds like, as long as the "with chip" card has a stripe, and we only have that type of reader, we shouldn't ecounter any problems. Am I getting this right?

Timothy

P.S. We're just doing holiday craft fairs, so don't want to invest in higher tech for the rest of the year (some ad hoc sales).

Re: Using both the swipe reader and chip card reader

Spenser — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 15:10:01 GMT

Yep, that's right Timothy! We'll only require use of the chip when you're using a chip reader. With just the magstripe reader plugged in, you can accept any card that has the magstripe, chip enabled or not. Should work out great for your craft fairs!