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I want to build a checkout computer program for store owners. I'd like to be able to figure out the total price in the program, send that amount to a credit card reader, have the reader carry out the transaction, and then report to my application that the transaction was successful or failed.

Is there a standard for communicating that information with the credit card reader?

I have done a lot of googling and haven't found much any useful information. I know there are a bunch of processors that want to handle payment for you, but I don't want that. I just want to be able to send the amount to the reader from my computer program, and get back success or failure, and let the merchant set up their own payment stuff.

user3413723
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  • Communicate between what hardware - PC and reader? Each vendor most likely has their own, proprietary API with an SDK. Of course, the reader has to communicate with a payment vendor to approve/deny, so your statement, " I just want to be able to send the amount to the reader, and get back success or failure, and let the merchant set up their own payment stuff." makes no sense whatsoever. Is this some sort of school or hobby project? There are a zillion commercial vendors of this stuff. – OldProgrammer Jan 13 '17 at 16:38
  • I want to communicate between PC and card reader. I want to build a checkout system on the computer that allows the user to enter in what the customer will buy. When they hit checkout, it will send the total to the card reader, and wait for a response. If successful, it will know the sale passed through successfully, and keep a record. I just don't want to have to mess with the payment process itself. – user3413723 Jan 13 '17 at 16:43
  • Unless the card reader has a "test mode" where you can simulate a transaction response, it would need to still communicate to a payment vendor for CC approval. Again, there is no standard. – OldProgrammer Jan 13 '17 at 17:24
  • Ok, that is not good to hear. Do you have any recommendations as to where to start? From what I have gathered, there are 2 main players - ingenico and verifone. Should I sign up for their developer programs to try to get more info? – user3413723 Jan 13 '17 at 18:25
  • No. This is not a good question for SO: "Questions asking us to recommend or find a book, tool, software library, tutorial or other off-site resource are off-topic for Stack Overflow as they tend to attract opinionated answers and spam. Instead, describe the problem and what has been done so far to solve it." – OldProgrammer Jan 13 '17 at 18:30
  • Ok, well thank you for your time! – user3413723 Jan 13 '17 at 20:14

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Yes, there are standards. There is a ZVT protocol developed in germany, then the OPI protocol (Open Payment Initiative) developed by Wincor Nixdorf, and VEZ, a standard in Switzerland. All these protocols are documented and work with certain terminal manufacturors and in certain regions. There is also an upcoming SEPA standard for a POS-to-card terminal communication, but it is unclear if terminal manufacturors will implement it.

Marc Balmer
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