card reader faulty - "transaction canceled" imediately

[Anja_Voigt]

My card reader keeps canceling the transaction, before the customer can even insert the pin number.

First time it happened, I hoped it was only a one-off with this particular card.

Later though it did the same to one of my regular customers.

• Canceled the transaction before inserting the pin
• tried again, this time the pin was inserted carefully, hardly moving the card reader,
• said pin ok, customer gave me the card reader back - transaction canceled again,
• tried one more time, this time leaving the card reader on the counter, payment went through ok

This shows me that it is not a problem with the customers card, but the card reader. It seems to happen as soon as the card reader is moved, like lifted to insert pin etc. Have tried several times since then and when I tell customers to leave the card reader laying on the counter and to try not to move it at all, it works ok. (Makes me seem very unprofessional though.)

Must be that the reader looses contact with the cards chip, which then cancels the transaction.

[GlassFeet]

The official line form PP:

Apologies for this, it appears there is an issue on our side that has limited accounts in relation to confirming IRS status. This is being worked on as a priority, however, the quickest way to remove the limitation is to follow these steps in the account:

You should see a notification in the homepage so click into that and confirm the tax status

Then complete the questions posed.

Limits accounts until this is done.

[Anja_Voigt]

???

I do not think that this answer applies to my problem at all.

I can accept payments perfectly fine, as long as the card reader is not "moved or touched" too much, so definitely not a question of limitations that need to be removed from my account.

Have been using PayPal here for several years now without problems. Only bought this particular card reader a couple of months ago, so must be a faulty card reader.