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I am receiving an error when attempting to tap a debit card "Unknown Card Brand"
And when I try to use the chip reader it tells me to use the tap or use a different card.
I paid for this for the sole purpose of being able to provide Debit as a payment option, if it doesn't work, thenit is useless to me since I already had the swipe reader for credir card payments (which was free).
Looks like I was not the only person to have this problem; waiting on support to get back to me.
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Thanks @Emily2!
To accept debit card payments in Canada with Square you can use Square Contactless and Chip Reader or Square Terminal, with either device you can accept Interac chip transactions for any amount and Interac Flash transactions (tap debit) up to $100. Interac dip (chip and PIN) payments have no transaction limit.
These Support Centre acticles have more information about the payment cards you can accept in Canada:
If you have any other questions please reply here or give our Customer Success team a call.
This post was updated in 2020.
Seller Community Manager
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Does the contactless reader work with any cards? Has this happened to more than one card? Also you can use the swiper for Credit and Debit Cards.
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Tap worked for Visa. No Debit and the swipe doesn't work for anything. To my lnowledge swipe is still not available for debit anyway.
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Swipe works with anything, Credit, Debit, Gift Card. However, if you have the contactless reader hooked up it will force you to use the chip. Disconnect the contactless reader until you get the issue figured out and the swipe reader will work.
Have you tried a hard reset of the reader? Hold the power button for 20-30 seconds and it will hard reset. Maybe that will fix your issue.
Are you located in the U.S.?
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I am in Canada; I disconnected the contactless and the Swipe reader actually doesn't work at all. I have my old one at home that I will try later.
I have unistalled and reinstalled the app and completed a hard reset; Forgot reader and reconnected; still not working.
Frustrating and disappointed.
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Oh and Swipe did not work with Debit cards...this is why I wanted the contactless; At least not in Canada.
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You are correct that Debit cards can only be processed by tap in Canada. Have you had any work with this reader as this is a new feature to square in the last month or so?
https://squareup.com/help/ca/en/article/5085-accepted-cards
I don't know what Interac Debit means, so if that is all debit or just a specific kind.
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As I said; no debit cards work and I did have a Credit card work via Tap method. 2 different banks for Debit were tested. I will likely have to return the swipe...but I want to test my old one first.
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Hey @TDTB, I wanted to check in here and see if you were still encountering trouble with accepting debit cards. One thing to note, you'll need to tap Charge to prepare the reader for the payment. For more information, have a look here: Accept Contactless (NFC) Payments.
Does that help clear things up?
Square Community Program Manager | Square, Inc.
Find step-by-step help in our Support Center
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Just to be clear; I understand how this works; I have charged credit card via tap; I have been using a magnetic reader from square for years.
All hardware troubleshooting was done before I contcated square and posted to the community board.
The new magnetic reader I received in the box is defective- DOES NOT READ CARDS. And the contactless / chip reader DOES NOT READ DEBIT CARDS.
I am in Canada, so I can not swipe to charge debit...this is why I got the new reader; which is either faulty or the advertising is misleading (false) meaning it is not capable of reading canadian debit cards.
So far I am developing a sour taste for Square as I haven't been able to get any proper support. Just many Social Media type recommendations of the same BS.
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Hey @TDTB, I'm sorry to hear about the trouble and have taken the time to read through all the comments. Could you tell me a little bit about what happens when you go to tap a payment? Are there any lights shown on the reader? I know you had success with a credit card. Are you testing with an Interac debit card? When you tap the card does it register that there was a payment attempt or does nothing happen at all?
I'll keep an eye out for your reply.
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I am getting tired of saying this...
It gives me an error message:
Unknown card brand please use a different card.
I tried 3 different cards from 3 different banks; all with confirmed tap access.
Chip says:
Cancel Payment and tap card
Or use a different card.
All debit cards give the same message; all known troubleshhoting has been done.
Either the reader in malfunctioning ir it can not take canadian cards.
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Interesting @TDTB, what are the brands of the cards that you're trying to tap?
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Credit union
TD canada Trust
Alberta Treasury Branch
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@TDTB, I'm sorry I should have been a little more clear. Card brands would be Master Card, Visa, American Express, and JCB for example. Those look to be the card issuers, which are banks credit unions, and credit card companies.
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Once again...DEBIT- Bank Card. Credit Cards are not a problem.
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Yes, I understand that Debit Bank cards are what's giving you trouble. You mentioned that you received an error message that the card brand was not supported. This is why I asked the brands of the cards that you're using. Currently, Square can only accept Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover, and JCB logos. Currently this reader only accepts INTERAC Flash enabled debit cards for debit transactions. Did any of these cards have a different brand?
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They are Interact Flash and chip enabled.
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Hey!
This is also happening with our reader we just received!
We are located in canada and everything works except debit!
Yvette
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Sorry to hear about the trouble @marvette! Have you confirmed that the debit card your customer is using is on our list of accepted cards?
Keep in mind when you're using the new reader to accept debit payments using tap you must select "Contactless" in the Square app, and then have your customer tap to complete payment.
Seller Community Manager
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