PayPal 'Here' card reader battery life

[vikingtone]

hi.  I have had one experiment with the card reader, at a craft sale yesterday.  So far I have had a few issues with the reader, which I will investigate further via these pages.  My first queston is:  does anyone have any experience with the card reader battery life?  I charged the thing fully, but it went totally flat and turned off after three hours.  I feel this is quite poor. After all, I suppose a number of people will want to use this thing the way I have, at a craft fair where access to power was very limited.  I need the card reader to be alive a heck of a lot longer thatn 3 hours.  I could conceivably re-charge overnight, but 3 hours is just not enough.  Any other experiences would be very valuable, thanks

I do find it frustrating. The 'rules' about where to post are not accurate. This post has nothing to do with selling on eBay, selling from my website, or reversals.   OK, there has to be structure, but if there is to be structure it needs to encompass all the possibilities

[debrapearl]

I am so disappointed with the Paypal card reader and its extremely difficult to get assistance via the phone. I'm in my shop using my card reader and it constantly runs out of battery so much so that I've never had the chance even to use it with a customer! I feel I've wasted 49.99 at a time when I can ill afford it! I would never recommend this to anyone and I'd like a refund actually! If I charge it fully when I open the shop and its a few hours before a card customer comes in, the reader is dead! It's quicker for my customers to pop to the bank than faff about waiting for this CRAP device to charge! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON PAYPAL CARD READER FOLKS!

[vikingtone]

I fully agree with you   -   there's no way that I feel this is a 'fit for purpose' piece of kit.  It's interesting, in the early days on this little area of the forum we were geting responses from Conor at PP    -    but not heard anything for a while.   The disappointing thing is that I don't feel the bad performance is due to 'getting a dud'  I think it's a poor product, full stop.  I especially hate the on/off switch, which should be a simple hardware switch, so the user can be sure it's on or off.  I would also like some sort of hints on the various lights and buttons to show what it all means. We are flooded with different kinds of electronic gadgetry these days, and having to remember specific meanings of odd button presses doesn't help.  It seems to be complex just for the sake of it.   I guess PP can't simply admit this is a bad thing  -  because they would probably have to spend a lot on a large swap-out.   I wonder if there's a version 2 coming out at some point.  Other than that, I guess there are other systems out there which may be better.  This has not been a very satisfactory experience, for sure.

[Jeanné]

I'm on my 4th replacement in 3 weeks and with all the same problems. Infuriating!

[gordono]

hi vikintone,

 I was curious about the battery life as i have just bought the tap and go reader,as i have made only one sale recently i did not know how long it would last and so i may have a solution.recently i purchased a item called "lifesaver portable power device" i bought it because of a lot of friends had battery problems with their cars not starting and i thought it would be handy to have myself.Anyway the device which is very portable has usb points on it and also it has leads that are compatible with the card reader,so i guess you could keep it charged with the device for as long as you like. car starter device i.e. lifesaver will start cars and power laptops etc and stays charged for a very long time.i paid $88 australian for it.

Hope this has been some help,granted you have to fork out a bit more.

gordono

[Carnation]

I too bought a PP card reader a couple of months ago thinking it looked more professional to accept card payments with a machine. I am disgusted with the product. At today's craft event I took two payments using my mobile phone only (thank heavens the app works) as the battery was as dead as a dodo. I charged it last weekend overnight before the event, used it once and it died before I could take a second payment. This weekend it didn't even take the first payment. 100% shoddy product. I agree with earlier posts, the on/off button should be changed, there should be a battery life indicator to show what is left and when it's charging etc etc. My advice is don't waste £50 or whatever it cost, just use the mobile phone app. Paypay themselves told me you don't need a card reader!

This one is going back to Paypal, I don't want another one I will just use the mobile app. Wonder if they'llk refund...what this space.

[vikingtone]

I wish we could get feedback from PP    -    I mean, how many users are having a problem?  what proportion?  how many are delighted?  what proportion are deemed satisfactory??

I will be keen to know if you get your money back, for sure. Good luck with that.

[StephC]

In Kagan's post there was mention that the when you fully charge the device you have six yellow stars. The stars on my device doesn’t even appear when I am charging it. It only appears when the customer presses their pin number when making a transaction.  I do not even know when my device is fully charged or not at all. It is a guessing game for me. I charge it for a few hours and hope for the best when I attend markets/festivals.

I need to charge my device every Friday night before doing a weekend event as it will go flat week to week.

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@vikingtone wrote:

hi.  I have had one experiment with the card reader, at a craft sale yesterday.  So far I have had a few issues with the reader, which I will investigate further via these pages.  My first queston is:  does anyone have any experience with the card reader battery life?  I charged the thing fully, but it went totally flat and turned off after three hours.  I feel this is quite poor. After all, I suppose a number of people will want to use this thing the way I have, at a craft fair where access to power was very limited.  I need the card reader to be alive a heck of a lot longer thatn 3 hours.  I could conceivably re-charge overnight, but 3 hours is just not enough.  Any other experiences would be very valuable, thanks

I do find it frustrating. The 'rules' about where to post are not accurate. This post has nothing to do with selling on eBay, selling from my website, or reversals.   OK, there has to be structure, but if there is to be structure it needs to encompass all the possibilities

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[AJLA1]

I also have the same issues with my reader..  this is also my second one which I must admit was sent out to me very promptly, however it will not hold its charge even when idle (i am not entirely covinced it turns off completely) I charged fully the day prior to my Country Fair and the following day it was completey dead.  Fortunately my neighbours in the field had a genorator to charge it for me but after only processing 4 payments it was dead the following day too.

The weather has been fab for south UK so I can not blame the battery life on that!!

Coincidentally my neighbour at the show asked me to do a 'demo' for him as he had his new device to use and we could not get that to work either.  He is now the fourth person on my regular show circuit to have to return for a new one, how very odd!!!

I would be most grateful for any replies or if any one could shed any light on this matter.  I am unable to use this for the purpose which it was bought without a constant electric supply.  I dont seem to recall this being pointed out on the site.

Many thanks for any hints.

[Sashski]

My card reader randomly starts flashing I.e has turned itself on from 'off' & as a result the battery goes flat within hours. Is this a fault or is it the norm?

[MartRetro]

I am now on my second device having had a replacement because of the poor battery life of the first.  This second one is no better, it loses its charge quickly without being used, e.g., it was charged overnight on Saturday ready for an Antiques Fair on Sunday, when disconnecting from the power on Sunday morning, it had only charged up to 85% after 12 hours connected to the mains.   At the Fair it wasn't switched on until about 2pm and the app immediately reported 'Recharge Card Reader' , the battery level showing 24% so it had deteriorated this much in 7 hours without being switched on.  I charge it up overnight before every event it is taken to but the battery drain makes it unreliable.  The reason I chose to go with PayPal Here was because it looked to be a good Card Reader system to use at Fairs etc., where there isn't always a convenient power source but it has proved to be a disappointment.  It shouldn't be so difficult in this Mobile Age to produce a device with a reliable battery so I'm looking forward to receiving the next version of the device which solves these battery life problems and makes the system worth using, at the moment it isn't.