Now you can take payments in person from your Apple computer or Chromebook using Square Reader for magstripe!
For some businesses — particularly those in office settings that run their businesses on a computer — using a phone or a stand-alone reader might not be the best fit.
Now you can take credit card payments in person from your Apple computer or Chromebook using Square Reader for magstripe. It’s a quick way to integrate payments into your existing workflow by turning your computer into a checkout station with Virtual Terminal.
To get started swiping credit card payments from your computer, you’ll need the following:
* An Apple or Chromebook computer with a 3.5mm headphone jack using Safari or Chrome browsers.
* A Square Reader for magstripe.
* An accepted credit card to test your first swipe.
Once you have all of your hardware, you can set up the Square Reader for magstripe on Virtual Terminal by enabling the necessary permissions and performing a test swipe.
- Visit the Virtual Terminal section of your online Square Dashboard > Take a Payment.
- Under Payment Method, click Swipe Card.
- Click Allow Microphone Access > Allow in the permissions pop-up.
- Plug your Square Reader for magstripe into the headphone jack of your computer. Note: If your reader is already connected, you may need to unplug it and plug it back in. If your reader is not auto-detected, click Reader Connected to continue.
- Follow the instructions on screen and swipe a credit card through your Square Reader for magstripe. If successful, you will see the card brand and the last four digits of the card appear.
- Click Complete Setup and you will be ready to start swiping cards in Virtual Terminal.
Once you’ve swiped your test card and set up your account, you can begin processing swiped magstripe payments directly from your computer.
- Plug your reader into the headphone jack of your computer.
- Visit the Virtual Terminal section of your online Square Dashboard.
- Click Take a Payment.
- Under Payment Method click Swipe Card. Note: After taking a swiped payment, you can click New Sale and swipe another card without having to select Swipe Card or clicking Charge.
- Swipe a credit card through your Square Reader for magstripe. There is no need to collect or enter a signature or PIN.
Once you see Payment Successful, you’re all set and can print or send a digital receipt to your customer via email or SMS message. You can review and confirm this payment was successful from the Sales section of your dashboard under the Transactions tab.
Thanks for taking the time to read this update and being part of the Seller Community. This update was made possible thanks to feedback from you, so please let us know what you think!
