Square Reader for Contactless and Chip is Now Accepting Debit Tap in Canada!

[carolinea]

We’re thrilled to launch Square Reader for contactless and chip in Canada. This latest addition to the Square reader family lets you accept chip cards, contactless payments, and now—finally—debit tap!

What this means for your business

Square Reader for contactless and chip is now available from the online Square Shop for $59. Once you have your reader, you can accept contactless payments, mobile payments like Apple Pay and Android Pay, and chip credit cards too.

Your reader can connect wirelessly to any supported device or you can purchase the Dock for Square Reader to keep your reader charged and positioned for payments. You can also use the dock to plug your reader right into Square Stand for instant setup. Learn more about how to use your reader in our Support Centre.

Accepting payments with Square Reader

Once you have your Square Reader set up, you can start processing debit tap, credit and mobile transactions with the Square app on your device. It’s similar to accepting payments with the magstripe reader, but a few things are different:

• Debit tap transactions have a limit of $100. Credit card transactions have no limits—tap or insert the card, manually enter the card number, or swipe it with your included magstripe reader. Magstripe, inserted and manually entered debit transactions are currently not available.
• Accepting tips on tap payments. You’ll need to hit the Contactless option before you can complete the transaction.
• Refunding debit card payments. These have to be done in person, you’ll need to tap the original purchasing card to refund the payment.

For more information about accepting debit cards with Square Reader, read our Interac FAQs.

[Chad]

I see, so when you're checking out a customer and you tap charge on Point of Sale you'll see some tender options. For processing debit taps you won't need to select any of these. Your customer will tap their card and the reader will beep to confirm the payment. 

It sounds like other tender might have been selected for these payments. Currently we don't provide phone support on the weekends, but you can give us a call tomorrow morning. 

Check out this post on how to find your customer code and our phone number. Our Support Team can reach out to customers if they received a receipt, but they weren't charged. 

[Clayshapes]

Thank you- I will call Monday- but for the record- very confusing. Other users should beware- instructions are not clear. 

[KatPat]

The instructions for using debit tap are unclear as I learned last weekend. After pressing charge I chose debit/ credit then tender.  I received a thumbs up and assumed the transaction had successfully completed. When I checked my transaction page these debit sales showed up as debit transaction completed. .  Sadly I did not receive this money from Square . When I called support I was told they had no record of the transactions and that I should have inserted the debit card to process the sale.  I sent a second email to Square support with no feedback to date.  I do not think I should forfeit these sales when instructions are unclear and all seemed well. Square has made no effort to address this complaint or to compensate me for the losses. My next inquiry will be can I return the tap reader and be reimbursed the $59 dollars.  Canadian merchants beware!

[Clayshapes]

Same thing happened to me - but at least Square helped to retrieve some of the sales. If there are email addresses already associated with the customers, Square reps can email them for you, to explain the situation. I was able to retrieve most of my lost sales. Agree though, that the procedure is unclear. Pressing "tender" is the mistake - but that is not at all clear.

[MMMH]

Got my reader and dock today.  Yay! Can you only pair to one device? Can't even get the orange pairing light to come on .

[HCSalon]

We were excited to get the Square Reader for contactless and chip to accept Debit cards in Canada. To our surprise most customers do NOT have debit cards with contactless technology, thereby restricting them to use Interac eTransfer to complete their Debit transaction.

Square, please get cracking on being able to except Debit cards in Canada without contactless, and for transactions over $100!

[katieand]

Thanks for sharing that, @HCSalon! It's great to know what sellers are experiencing on the ground. We'll be sure to pass this on to our Canada product team.

[MMMH]

Most people in Canada do have contactless chip on their debit cards, they just haven't activated it.  I myself hadn't activated mine for a long time.

[HCSalon]

@MMMH 

We'll make sure to double check future customers for the flash waves logo on their card to see if it's an "activation" issue.

I know for my personal debit card from Credit Union we never had to "activate" anything to have contactless work. It worked from the time we received it, and that was several years ago. 

Cheers.

[CherylTaschuk]

Hi,

I purchased your new card reader that is supposed to process credit and debit cards by tapping.  The credit card tap works great but I cannot get the debit card tap to work.  I have tried:

- reading all the documentation to ensure that I am doing what I am supposed to do

- tried using my own debit card to test it (it did not work)

- tried my own credit card to test it (it worked great)

- searched the “community” to find out if anyone else is having the problem

- contacted my financial institution to see if they have heard of any issues with the Square processing

- contacted your help desk to discuss my issue.  The help desk representative walked me through the whole process and came to the conclusion that I must have a faulty reader.

- replaced the reader with a new one from a local retailer but it still doesn’t work

The scenario is:

1. I select a product to sell and hit Charge
2. I wait for the green light on the reader, then tap the credit or debit card
3. The credit card transaction beeps and the transaction is processed correctly
   • If I use a debit card, there is no beep and the transaction does not proceed

Can you please tell me what I’m doing wrong or what the issue could possibly be?  I bought the new reader specifically to be able to accept debit cards during a large art show this weekend and now I won’t be able to accept debit payments.  A solution would be so appreciated.  I’m desperate!!!

[HCSalon]

 @CherylTaschuk, just clarifying...

1. You are NOT inserting the debit card, right? You are trying to use the contactless wave? (inserting debit card won't work)

2. You are selecting CHARGE > CREDIT CARD , then trying to use contactless debit right?

Please forgive me if I have the exact step by step terminology wrong as I'm going off of memory right now (don't have reader paired with my phone). If I recall selecting "Debit" doesn't actually try to perform a transaction with the reader, it records it as a "other" type of transaction, like cash. You must select "Credit Card" (even though you are actually going to use contactless debit card).

Those were the 2 mistakes I did when first trying to figure out why I couldn't get my debit transactions to work.

[CherylTaschuk]

Thank you for your help.  I will double check what you've suggested.  I think I may have discovered the problem.  I was testing using my debit card and my husband's but they may not be updated to the flash version.  We don't use them for purchases so I didn't realize you had to do that.  I'll test it today with your suggestions and an updated card.

Thanks so much.  I really appreciate it.

[CherylTaschuk]

Yaayyyy!!!!  My issue is resolved!  The problem was not with the Square reader, it was with the debit card.  The cards must be flash activated cards and this is somewhat new to us here.  I only use my debit card for ATM's, not purchases so I was unaware of the necessary upgrade.  I did it this morning and it works just like a credit card tap.  It has the usual limitations (maximum of $100) and you cannot insert it or swipe it but in 90% of my sales, it will work just fine.  I tried a refund and it didn't go through properly but that may have just been a delay in processing or something.  Not a big deal.

So, thanks, Square people, and please let the Canadian team know about the need for Flash activation.  I will send a note to the contact site.

And thanks for your help, hairycarysalon!!

[CherylTaschuk]

Yaayyyy!!!!  My issue is resolved!  The problem was not with the Square reader, it was with the debit card.  The cards must be flash activated cards and this is somewhat new to us here.  I only use my debit card for ATM's, not purchases so I was unaware of the necessary upgrade.  I did it this morning and it works just like a credit card tap.  It has the usual limitations (maximum of $100) and you cannot insert it or swipe it but in 90% of my sales, it will work just fine.  I tried a refund and it didn't go through properly but that may have just been a delay in processing or something.  Not a big deal.

So, thanks, Square people, and please let the Canadian team know about the need for Flash activation.  I will send a note to the contact site.

And thanks for your help, hairycarysalon!!

[CherylTaschuk]

Here is the documentation from a credit union here:

Introducing Interac Flash, a quick and safe way to make small purchases with your Coast Capital debit card.

Using it is a breeze - just tap your Interac Flash Coast Capital debit card at any Interac Flash-enabled payment terminal, and go. No need to insert your card into a POS terminal and enter your PIN each time.*

Key features

• Interac Flash allows you to pay-by-tap for everyday purchases under $100. If you’re feeling particularly spend-y, no worries – you’ll just be prompted to insert your chip card and enter your PIN once you accumulate $200 in purchases. This will reset the tap limit back to zero.
• Interac Flash uses EMV secure chip processing to store and process data – this means you’re protected against not-so-great things like fraud and card skimming.
• This feature is only available when using Coast Capital debit cards issued in May 2017 or later. Please visit your nearest Coast Capital branch to set-up a new card with Interac Flash.

[MMMH]

@CherylTaschuk@HCSalon

FYI  I'm not sure about the limit but you can also enter a debit card manually.  Extra charges may apply though.

[CherylTaschuk]

Thank you for that piece of info.  I may need it!

[Chefdougwalker]

This is all well and good, great system. BUT WHY HAVE YOU NOT DEALT WITH THE ISSUE THAT YOU CAN NOT INSERT THE DEBIT CHIP TO PUNCH IN YOUR PIN CODE. A LOT OF MY CUSTOMERS DON'T HAVE DEBIT TAP, I'M LOOSING A LOT OF CUSTOMERS DUE TO THIS ISSUE. FIX THIS. WHY CAN WE ONLY DO IT WITH CREDIT CARDS, IT MAKES NO SENSE.

[Chad]

Hello @Chefdougwalker, we're working to bring Interac debit chip and PIN processing to our sellers in Canada. We don't have a timeline on when this might be available, but it is on our radar.