Swiped Credit Card Payments

Swipe transactions utilize magstripe data to capture encrypted card information to process a payment rather than manually entering it.

Use Cases

Merchant has the physical card and a swiper/magstripe reader as a stand-alone terminal or integrated with a virtual terminal.

If the card doesn't have a chip or the merchant is only set up to accept swipe transactions.

If the chip fails to read and falls back to asking the user to swipe.

Commonly used anywhere the card is physically present.

Equipment

Check out the Supported Hardware tab for a full list of card readers and equipment for available credit card readers.

Things to Keep in Mind

Swipe transactions are quick and easy from a customer experience standpoint. They typically result in lower processing fees since the merchant has the card in their presence. However, it does require integrating with at least one of the supported card readers and for the merchant to purchase this equipment.

Making a Swiped Transaction

Step 1

Set HTTP request method to POST and use /payment route

Step 2

Supply the request with your username and password. Make sure it's in base-64 encryption in the Authorization header field.
Set Content-Type to Application/JSON

Step 3

In the cardAccount object, we only provide magstripe as seen in this payload:

{
   "merchantId" :"4xxx0",
   "tenderType" :"Card",
   "amount" :"0.01",
   "cardAccount" :{
       "magstripe":"%B40xxxxxxxx02060^YOU/A GIFT
       FOR^23xxxxx00000000000?;4077140007002060=230xxxxxx000000000000000?
       |0600|CBD4049DD42DA0Axxxxxxxx6A3B293572F568CEFBB7554E09D11D25499DB9
       xxxxxxxxxxxxxAD74742C569BFDB|F7E12F8E98E49574E3A
       xxxxxxxxxxxxxC3CC5F85F904ED6CD9C12||61402200|AF530884B3
       xxxxxxxxxx29AA610CD460573A2F1F11EE80C9665CB94826E
       xxxxxxxxxxx668B2E613AE30A8C7A961680071771986B5F|B23011
       xxxx313AA|AB4F2xxxxB05C9|9013250xxxx11500011B|385D||0000"
       }
  }

If you would like to get the response object, you should supply echo=true as a URL parameter. This is useful as it keeps the user from having to use a GET call to see the response object information.

Step 4

Pick your test card to start with or you may use any test credit card for use. If this is a real credit card, it won't be charged since the Sandbox environment doesn't use a REAL payment gateway; it instead uses a FAKE simulator.

Step 5

You should expect to receive an HTTP 201 code for the response if the payment posted correctly, and the status field should set to Approved. Note that the Sandbox environment will approve all cards as long as they are in the correct credit card format. To get a Declined status, you would use our Testing Cards as specified.