Setting up and testing the card reader
Most vending revenue is card now. A machine with a dead reader is a machine earning nothing, and it will not necessarily tell you.
Before it can take a payment
Three separate things have to be true, and they fail independently: the reader must be powered and physically connected to the machine, the machine must be online, and the reader must be activated on your payment account. A reader can light up and beep while being completely unable to take money.
Setting it up
- Confirm the reader is securely connected and powered. Loose connectors are a common cause of intermittent failures that are maddening to chase later.
- Make sure the machine is online first. A reader cannot authorise anything if the machine cannot reach the network.
- Complete activation with your payment provider, linking the reader to your account and bank details.
- Allow time for the reader to pull its configuration down. This is not always instant on first boot.
- Run a real test transaction with your own card.
Testing it properly
ImportantA test transaction is not complete when the reader beeps. It is complete when the money arrives in your account. Plenty of readers approve at the machine and fail at settlement — the only way to know is to follow one transaction all the way through.
- Buy something with a real card, not a test card.
- Confirm the product actually vended.
- Confirm the sale appears in the platform within a few minutes.
- Confirm the transaction appears in your payment provider's dashboard.
- Confirm it settles to your bank on the expected schedule.
- Refund yourself afterwards so the first day's figures are clean.
Common failures
| Symptom | Usual cause |
|---|---|
| Reader is completely dark | Power or cable — check the connector at both ends |
| Reader lights up but declines everything | Machine is offline, or activation is incomplete |
| Approves but product does not drop | Not a payment fault — see "A product didn't drop" |
| Works intermittently | Loose connector, or marginal network signal |
| Contactless fails, chip works | Antenna or reader fault — contact us |
| All cards from one bank decline | Usually the issuer, not you; test another card before chasing it |
Keep cash in mind
If your machine also takes cash, test the note and coin acceptors at the same time, and remember that coin acceptors need float to give change. A machine that cannot give change will refuse cash sales it would otherwise have made — and it will do so quietly.