Member Benefits

When the stripe won’t swipe

Sometimes during the course of a business day a customer will pay for products or services with a credit card and your point of sale terminal or magnetic stripe reader will not accept the card, i.e. it won’t swipe. Here are a few tips to help troubleshoot this issue:

1. Check the terminal to make sure it is working properly. If the terminal is OK and the problem appears to be with the magnetic stripe, follow your company procedures for key-entered transactions. Be sure to check the card security features and match signatures. (Steps 2-5 below)
2. Check the card’s “valid thru” or “expiration” date to be sure the card hasn’t expired. If the transaction date is after the “valid thru” date, the card has expired.
3. Get a manual imprint of the card. Using a manual credit card imprinter (aka. knuckle buster/click-clack device).
4. Ask the customer to sign the imprinted sales draft.
5. Compare the signature of the card with the signature on the sales draft to be sure they match. Do not accept an unsigned card! Ask the cardholder to sign the card in your presence, and to provide government I.D.(driver’s license or passport). Compare the signatures on the transaction receipt, the card, and the additional identification.

This information is brought to you by Elavon, a provider of merchant processing for the VDTA. Call Kimberly Layton with questions at 1-866-638-8614.

Reprinted from Floor Care Professional, December 2008