Square wireless chip reader

[wavejewelry]

I was so exited to try out my new square wireless chip reader at this past weekend's craft fair. I charged it up, went through the steps to link the chip reader to my phone, putting in the reader's serial number etc. Got the green lights on the reader and when I tried to use it for my first chip card sale, nothing happened! The mag strip reader still works. When I went back and followed all the steps again I got a message that the reader can't link to my cell. I got a prompt about an update for the register that would take 10 to 15 minutes to upload. 3 days later I still have an orange strip, at the top of the register, that says "Reader restarting - Please wait". Anyone else having problems with the Square wireless chip reader? I thought I'd check here first before calling Square.

[AllisonGlickCeramics]

In addition to needing your location services on, you also need your Bluetooth on. I had mine off to save battery life and I think it caused a problem with my chip reader.

I don't have the wireless chip reader, but I did have problems with two of the $29 chip readers that came out last year. One wouldn't hold a charge, and the other just didn't work, I filled out the online warranty on the square website and they sent replacements with a postage paid return labels for the old ones, no hassle at all.

This was months ago, perhaps they have better trouble shooting support now. Good luck!

[TheCatFarm]

Wanted to chime in and say I had a couple of issues using the Square chip reader (the $29) one back in December. If it sat in the phone without being used for a few minutes it seemed to go to sleep and wouldn't read the next buyer's card. On a whim I pulled it out of my phone ever so slightly, pushed it back in, gave it a second to reconnect then it worked just fine.

[AllisonGlickCeramics]

I also take it out of phone when not in use and plug it into the charger. But that sounds like it would make the problem Julie is having worse.

[PJCRAFTSWORLD]

We were at the State Fair yesterday and made a purchase and the vendor tried using the chip reader and it did not work so she went back to the slide reader and everything worked fine.

Egads. We have our first spring show coming up shortly and hope the reader works. I guess we'll carry the slide reader as a back up.

Which leads to a question. I understand that if you use the card reader and have a chip reader you lose all the protections offered by Square? Has anybody else heard this? So if the chip reader is not working and you have to use the card reader do you lose your protections, i.e. bad card, stolen card, etc.

[stringnstone]

@ Pat, have heard this but not everyone has a chip card... used my chip reader on my phone no problem and swiped the non-chip cards as normal...think it tends to be the wireless readers.

[WildHibiscusJewelry]

I have my new reader but didn't have time to set it up before my show last weekend so I just used my regular swiper (which works just fine for chipped cards too) I don't have bluetooth - I'm hoping it's not a requirement or I've thrown $49 away!

[WhimsyBits]

Kelly you will need bluetooth to use the wireless one, that's how it 'speaks' to your phone or tablet. And yes the regular swiper will work just fine on chip cards if they have a strip on the back. They do have a return policy so check to see if you can still return. I first ordered the $49 one and then read there was a $29 one that wasn't wireless so I decided to cancel my order for the $49 and get the $29 (doesn't need bluetooth so you might look into getting an exchange).

And yes they stated that if you continue to use the regular reader you will not be covered by their fraud protection. However I think you could fight it if you said you TRIED to use the chip reader and it didn't work. I think they just wanted people to get rid of the free readers and upgrade.

What's funny is that most major retailers can't even use the chip readers yet on their credit card machines. I've only seen a couple that do (Target and Walmart being some).

I used the $29 one at a few shows in Nov/Dec and I don't remember having any major issues. I do recall at some points it had a hard time 'waking up' so I think I also made a habit out of unplugging it from my device when it wasn't in use.

[PlaynwithScraps]

I had one of the $49 readers on order from Square for... maybe 10 months. I finally cancelled my order and bought a $29 reader at Staples. I read the $49 reader accepts Apple Pay- which I never expect to need. I tried my new reader and it worked at home but I've never tried it at a show.

[ElisaAlvarado]

I had ordered the $49 wireless reader but also cancelled it and got the $29 chip reader instead. More than 3/4 of my customers had chip cards at my holiday shows and I didn't have any issues with the reader. I always removed it after each sale though since I heard that it can drain your phone battery if left plugged in. The customers seemed really happy that I had a reader for their chip cards.

[ElisaAlvarado]

Maybe uninstall your app and then reinstall?

[wavejewelry]

I've uninstall and reinstall the app and it still failed to link up to my cell so now I'll have to call square. This is frustrating. I have a craft fair tomorrow and 2 more coming up in the next 2 weeks so I just don't have time to mess with this. I do have the mag strip reader which I'll be using until I can get the problem with the wireless chip reader worked out. Thanks everyone!