Why doesn’t reader work on my phone?

[BerkshireGuy71]

I’ve used the card swipe reader on my phone for many years. Now it doesn’t work. Support said I needed to order a new reader, so I did. And the new reader doesn’t work either. I keep getting an error message “Declined. The chip card must be inserted.” I tried everything Support recommended: I took the phone case off. I still got the Declined error. I uninstalled the app and reinstalled the app. I still got the Declined error. My Samsung Galaxy A14 is NOT on the incompatible list.

What else could be the problem?

[ryanwanner · Accepted solution]

Hello @BerkshireGuy71 !

I would highly recommend upgrading to the contactless reader for your phone, and quite honestly I'm surprised tech support didn't tell you the same. The swiper is nice to have in a pinch, but it is the most insecure way of taking in person card payments anymore. If you were to get a chargeback, it is a guarantee you'll lose since you swiped the card.

After doing some digging online, I see that your phone also supports tap to pay. This is where your phone becomes the card reader. Here is a help article showing how to enable TTP on your phone.

[BerkshireGuy71]

Hi Ryan,

Yes, I always see that “Tap To Pay” image when I’m ready to charge a card. The customers who are familiar with it, they tap their card and then nothing happens. 
So I guess I will look into ordering a contactless reader. I hope they will refund me for this new reader I just bought that doesn’t work and the contactless reader if it also doesn’t work on my phone. 
Funny thing though, the reader does work on my iPad so I’ll probably just take my iPad with me to the farmers market to charge cards there. The phone is more convenient, though, and it has WiFi so payments register immediately.