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Troubleshoot payment errors on Square Terminal

Square Terminal can accept tap, dip, and swipe payments. Learn how to Accept payments with Square Terminal.

This article provides troubleshooting steps for your Square Terminal if you are experiencing issues accepting card payments.

Before you begin troubleshooting

When to troubleshoot 

Troubleshooting payment issues involves steps that may take a bit of time, such as rebooting your hardware. If at all possible, try to troubleshoot your Square Terminal after hours. If you must troubleshoot during the workday, try to avoid peak busy hours so your customers will experience few delays.

If you have pending offline payments, do not restart or factory reset your Square Terminal. Pending offline payments will be permanently lost, and the funds won’t be captured. Learn how to Process offline payments.

To troubleshoot payments, you may need the following:

  • Your Square account login information (email address and password, or device code)

  • Wi-Fi network name and password

Step 1: Confirm card processing method

If you have Skip payment type selection enabled, tap Confirm & Pay to accept payments ―  you’ll see Tap, Insert, or Swipe on your screen.

Tap (Apple Pay, Google Pay, or contactless device)

Ask your customer to hold a contactless device or card near the contactless symbol in the center of the screen to start the payment.

Dip (chip cards)

The front of the card with the chip on it should face up. Insert the chip card into the chip card slot and leave it in place until prompted to remove the card.

Swipe (magnetic stripe cards)

Swipe magnetic stripe cards through the magstripe reader on the right side of Square Terminal. The magnetic stripe must face inward.

If a specific card processing method isn’t working, ask your customer to try a different form of payment.

Step 2: Verify your internet connection

Make sure that the antenna and swipe slit are not blocked on your Square Terminal. For example, placing your Square Terminal too close to a metal cash drawer can interfere with the signal to the internal antenna.

Check your Wi-Fi connection on Square Terminal

  1. Make sure you see the Wi-Fi status indicator on the top right corner of the status bar.
  2. Tap ≡ More > Settings > Hardware > Network and make sure you see a checkmark next to the network you are trying to connect to.
  3. Toggle Wi-Fi OFF and then back ON.

Check your Ethernet connection on Square Terminal

  1. Make sure your Ethernet cable is clicked all the way into the Hub for Square Terminal.
  2. Make sure your Hub for Square Terminal is plugged into power through the power adapter.
  3. Make sure you can see the Ethernet network status indicator on the top right corner of the status bar.

Step 3: Update Square Terminal software

  1. Tap ≡ More > Settings > Hardware > General. If you’re signed out, tap Change Settings > General.

  2. Tap About Square Terminal.

  3. From this page, you’ll see your software version. Tap Check for Update to see if a software update is available. If you see Software Up To Date then you are all set.

Step 4: Restart your Square Terminal

Restarting your Square Terminal does not erase important account settings like items, transaction histories, customer lists, or team permissions. It will all be there when you sign back in.
Factory resetting your Square Terminal will reset your general Square Terminal settings (date, time, language, etc.) and remove any assigned Device profiles or Printer profiles.
  1. Press and hold the power button and release as soon as you see the Restart option.

  2. Tap Restart. If you hold the power button down too long and see a black screen with a count-down timer, immediately release the power button before the timer goes to 0. If you don’t, this will Factory Reset your Square Terminal instead of restarting it.

  3. Try to process a payment before moving on to the steps below to factory reset your Square Terminal.

Step 5: Send a diagnostic report

Sending a diagnostic report helps Square further investigate your issue if you cannot resolve it on your own.

Diagnostic reports can take between 2-7 minutes to upload — make sure you have a strong internet connection and your device is powered on during this time.

  1. Sign in to the Square POS app on your Square Terminal.

  2. Tap ≡ More > Support > Troubleshooting.

  3. Tap Upload Support Ledger.

  4. Tap Send Diagnostic Report.

Once you tap Send Diagnostic Report, you can leave the screen and continue using your Square Terminal normally while the report is sent in the background.

Step 6: Factory reset your Square Terminal

The steps below require you to factory reset your Square Terminal. Make sure you have the login credentials for your network and your Square Terminal (device code or email address and password).

  1. Tap ≡ More > Settings > Hardware > General.

  2. Tap About Square Terminal > Factory Reset > Confirm Factory Reset.

  3. Tap Reset one last time. From here the countdown will begin and your Terminal will reset.

  4. You can also Factory Reset your Square Terminal by holding down the power button for 10 seconds until you see a black screen with a count-down timer.

  5. Keep holding down the power button until that timer goes to 0 and the screen says you can release the power button.

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