My Square chip doesn't read Canadian debit card.

[hasan]

hello, I just got my square contactless chip reader. I tried the chip reader for debit but it doesnt read it. It reads Visa, Mastercard but it doesn't read any debit card. I bought it only for this reason, so I can accept debit cards. Some debit cards dont have tap option,so how am I gonna accept payments???

canada, Vancouver

[TDTB]

I am having the same problem; even when I try the tap...It says that the bank is unknown.

[Trinity66]

November 2017 - March 26th 2019 . Issue still not resolved . Not impressed .

[Joe]

Hi there, @Trinity66. I hope you are doing so well.

Wanted to reach out with some good news in regards to your post back in 2017. As of this week, I am happy to report that we're able to offer full Interac acceptance in Canada! This means that you can now accept chip and PIN payments using the Contactless & Chip Card reader 👏More info on Debit & Pin availability here. 

I know that you have been asking for this feature for quite some time, so I want to say thank you so much for your patience while we brought this feature to fruition! We appreciate you being a part of the Square Community. 

[Doghouse]

I am wating for a return phone call to resolve this problem. I don't get any message though, it just doesn't do anything, but the swipe works. 

[Doghouse · Accepted solution]

I received a phone call back. I didn't have the chip reader paired with the app. Then, when you click on charge and it brings up the method of payment screen, there is a line that reads "Contactless". Click on that and it starts the procedure. I tried with a President's Choice debit card and a CIBC Visa. They both worked!

[thebrowbarbym]

I am having this exact issue with my RBC debit chip and ive tried many ways to get it to work, reader is connected and accepting taps from this card but, not accepting the inserted chip.  Been on hold for 20 minutes and no success yet.  Help!

-Melissa

[Tom]

Hello @hasan, thanks for reaching out, and I apologize for our delayed response. I wanted to check in and make sure you got a followup on this.

At this time, the only way we're able to support debit card transactions in Canada is via the tap method, and the debit card must have the Interac label on it. We are tracking requests to support more card types and we'll certainly announce any updates.

In the meantime, your customers can pay with Visa co-branded debit cards and credit cards using either Square Invoices or Virtual Terminal — wanted to share that as a possible workaround.

Keep an eye on this article for accepted cards and please let me know if you have any further questions.

[nbcbrewm]

Well my only good source of accepting debit non Tap (Dream Payments) announced they were getting out of the business. So now I really need Square to step up and make Chip payments a reality for all cards in Canada  

Please make this happen I love every other aspect of Square (I had actually left square for a time as they did not accept tap debit, but came back because it now works so good ) If you could activate chip EMV on the Canadain market you would increase sales here !! 

[Helen]

Thank you for your post @nbcbrewm. I hear you and I'll share your request with the Payment Team. We are always working to make sure sellers can accept more payment types and I know this is really important to your business. If we have any updates on this we'll let everyone in this thread know.

Thanks again for choosing Square! 😀

[Diana-OTCC]

The main reason we went with Square is because I spoke with someone on the phone who said that Square accepts Canadian debit cards, so a kinda-sorta answer is not acceptable. We really need this to work without a work-around.  I hope there's a solid solution in the works!

Diana

[EJ_]

Thanks for voicing your thoughts on this @Diana-OTCC

We know how important this is for our Canadian sellers. Stay tuned for updates and hopefully we can get something rolled out in the near future to resolve this for everyone. 

[CaringTx]

I too have been frustrated by square not working for many Canadian debit cards. I have learned that some debit cards need to have their pin entered every so many transactions to ensure that it hasn’t been stolen. This explains why the same client sometimes can get the debit tap to work and the next time it fails.

i have simply stopped telling people that I accept tap debit and now get e transfer payment. Square loses their 0.10 $ but my clients don’t have  to feel embarrassed because square rejects their card. 

Please square... fix this problem!!!!

[Trinity66]

It looks like from the thread that this is an old complaint .

Square you are obviously not working on this problem - tap needs to be more than $100 or you need to start coordinating with Canadian banks and their debit card system . Please respond . 

[Natura]

Haha! Thanks! I'm going to start having my customers do this, as well!

[TranquilYogi]

I am using my square reading for the first time heavily this weekend... This lack of 'true' debit support is killing me! 30-40% of my transactions declined... Square.. your own website says that 56% of all transactions in canada are debit... um... fix this! 

[Trinity66]

I live in Toronto and also are not able to receive my clients debit cards by either swipe or insert contact payment . My sales are over $100 so the tap option is not a possibility . This is a big drag and I hope you at Square are going to solve this problem sooner rather than later - I have already jumped ship from the Moneris POS  with Royal Bank of Canada which also has flaws . Please remedy this issue  as some people don’t use credit cards !

[Columneetza1]

This really nees to get fixed fast, as it is costing me clients, spoon feeding my competition, and I am losing $7,000 per month as a result. 

[YKBaby]

For a 25 Billion Dollar company, this is very unfortunate. Square You Need to Rectify this Situation ASAP Please!!

[Filionceau]

You'll need to fix this as soon as possible or I'll have to look for another solution for Interac payments.

[bkeichinger]

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: card reader

so why does the tap work on the square reader but when they insert there chip card that is debit card it doesnt work and i do have the contactless+chip and the chip part doesnt work but the tap does