Can I accept a payment manually if there is a chip in card?

[tararesch]

I recently accepted a payment that I manually entered in on the app. Now, they are saying I might have problems getting paid bc the cards had chips in them .is this true

[VanKalkerFarms]

you can accept chip cards manually and will receive the payment.  The only issue come in if someone was to argue that the charge is invalid then you will have issues due to the liability shift in who is responsible for fraud payments.  here is a bit about that.  https://squareup.com/emv-liability-shift

[lovemychaos]

If you attempt the chip reader three times, and it continues to fail to read the chip... the POS will let you swipe the card.  This resolves the problem for a card that is physically present.  

[René · Accepted solution]

Hi @tararesch, thanks for that good question!

In essence, yes, if a chip card is not processed on a chip-reading device, banks can label any fraud-related dispute as an EMV Liability Shift dispute. According to this rule, if a chip card is not dipped in a chip card reader through the Point of Sale app, the payment is not compliant with the current credit card network rules that prevent counterfeit fraud. This will cause these disputes to be resolved the cardholder’s favor immediately.

If your transactions are not always processed in person, we recommend using your Virtual Terminal, as this indicates to the bank that your customer isn’t processing their payment in person with you.

That being said, @lovemychaos does have a good point. If do you attempt to insert a chip card into the reader three times without success, the POS will let you swipe the card after notifying you of "EMV liability fallback". This indicates the chip card itself is faulty and can then be swiped.

And of course, just as @VanKalkerFarms had helpfully put, to learn more about the transition to EMV payments; you can visit Square’s Liability Shift Guide.