Tell old from new chip reader

madison66 · ‎12-13-2018

How to tell old from new chip reader

VanKalkerFarms · ‎12-13-2018

could you explain a bit more what item you are talking about? there are multiple types of chip readers, though I don't know of any Generation 2 devices.

Bob Van Kalker
My Van Kalker Farms Garden Center website
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DaoDeJing · ‎12-13-2018

Can you clarify what you mean by the "old" chip reader? To my knowledge, all of the chip readers Square has produced are still available and widely used, and they are all quite different from each other physically.

If by chance you are refering to the magnetic stripe readers, and are concerned about the older readers that did not have built-in encryption, the easiest way to tell them apart is the old readers have Mexico stamped on them. The newer, encrypted readers say China. The older reader was also a bit thicker and a bit off-white compared to the new ones, though that may be hard to appreciate unless you have the two side-by-side.

VanKalkerFarms · ‎12-13-2018

yeah, the new magnetic swipe reader is only 8mm (.3") thick the old one was nearly 50% thicker and the back half had rounded edges.

old swipe reader that isn't usable anymore.

Bob Van Kalker
My Van Kalker Farms Garden Center website
My Rise'n Roll Bakery Schererville Indiana Facebook Page
My Rise'n Roll Bakery Cedar Lake Facebook Page

DaoDeJing · ‎12-13-2018

I would actually like to have one of the old readers, just to keep in a drawer so I can pull it out to demonstrate how clear the difference is.

Occassionally a customer will make a comment along the lines of "Oh, you use Square? That's not secure." because they heard something 7+ years ago. Often, these questioning customers are bank employees. Not surprising that their employer would warn them about the "evils" of Square...thereby encouraging use of the bank's own payment processing service, of course.

Explaining the details usually doesn't assuage their fears, but at least it demonstrates that I'm aware of the (non-) issue and am knowledgable on the facts.