Magstripe reader 8 years old and not working?

[Sjaguar13]

I was given a magstripe reader by a friend who never used it. It's still in the package, and it has a date of 2014 on it, making it at least 8 years old. I plugged it into an RCA tablet, and it asked for microphone permission. Once I granted that it shows the reader is connected and will say I can swipe to process a payment. However, swiping does nothing. The card is never read and the payment is never processed.

I tried plugging the magstripe reader into a Samsung Galaxy S7 phone, and it's the same thing. Permission is requested and granted, Square POS app shows the device is connected, and swiping does nothing.

Is the 8-year old magstripe reader obsolete, broken, or do I have another issue?

[Minion]

The card you are using, does it have a chip?

[Sjaguar13]

No, it's a Visa gift card. It has no chip and is not tappable. I tried other cards with a chip, and they don't work either.

[Minion]

Thanks for that info @Sjaguar13 I Would go through these steps here first, and then try do run some practice swipes and see if any of those fix the issue.  Some gift cards may need to be manually entered in.  But if this isn't working still with other  cards it may be due to a defective reader

[Sjaguar13]

The steps didn't provide any help. I bought another reader off eBay, the kind that can swipe and also do the chip. It had a date of 2012 written on it, and when plugging in a USB cable to charge something, no lights came on. It also didn't let me swipe but acted the same way. All devices recognized a headset was plugged in, the Square app knew a reader was connected, but swiping did nothing. Without it being able to charge, I figured it might also be defective.

I went to Staples and bought a new one, and swiped a card in the parking lot before leaving. It actually worked. Seems like readers that are a few years old are probably trash.