Connection to an EFTPOS Terminal

[JohnS]

Emre,

I know there has been discussion on Credit Card integration and processing thru SambaPOS, but have you guys attempted connecting SambaPOS to an EFTPOS terminal?

Like the Ingenico 5100 terminal http://www.ingenico-us.com/i5100-us-i5100_28.html?lg=US&productId=123 - Not sure if these terminals are used in Turkey, but these are industry standard equipment in Australia for retail & banking.

There is PC EFTPOS software (Australian Company) that will let you connect to the terminals and send the order total to the terminal ready for the customer to swipe their card. It also allows you to use a HTTPS gateway to the merchant instead of the phone line.
http://www.pceftpos.com/
This software is used by supermarkets like IGA, Coles & Woolworths and also supports multi-lane EFTPOS solutions for venues.

[emre]

Yes this device widely used here too but I don't have much experience with automating these terminals. I'll be happy if you can help me on understanding it better.

Normally cashier swipes card, types amount, terminal asks pin code, customer enters pin code on terminal and the processing completes. Additionally cashier puts the printed CC slip inside cash drawer and clicks credit card button for closing ticket.

How we have to process that? Since entering customer pin code is mandatory in Turkey we need to implement something like that.

Cashier will click credit card button, SambaPOS will ask for confirmation code and send the amount to the terminal, cashier will swipe card, terminal asks pin code, customer enters pin code, cc processing completes and terminal displays the confirmation code, cashier enters confirmation code into SambaPOS and ticket closes.

Can we read confirmation code or the processing state from terminal?

OK I'll study it a little more for better understanding...

[JohnS]

The EFTPOS terminal is connected to the pc via a serial cable, and you run PC EFTPOS which acts as a merchant gateway and basically uses the EFTPOS terminal as a card reader and pin pad.

The bit I'm fuzzy on is how the POS software communicates with the gateway software.

Next week I'll approach PC EFTPOS and talk to them about the process and arrange an EFTPOS terminal thru my bank.

It may be as simple as creating a new port printer, and setting a print job button on the settlement screen. Hit the 'EFTPOS' button and the EFTPOS terminal gets the amount, swipe & enter pin, then click Credit Card once confirmation is received on terminal.

If it's a case of send data to a comm port and wait for a return code, then maybe that could be programed into SambaPOS easily. Hit the Credit Card button, send the amount and wait for a 'approved' code to come back, then open cash drawer and close ticket.

[emre]

Very good. Just let me know what we should do on SambaPOS

Maybe a constant port reader that works like triggers and executes actions on certain conditions solves that (and similar situations). That would be better if they have a documentation about  development.

[JohnS]

After a few phone calls I have the following information.

PC-EFTPOS
- Works only with Australian EFTPOS terminals and banks
- Uses direct call procedures, TCP/IP or file transfers between POS and EFTPOS interface software
- AUD$1000 for SDK and assistance with approval for banks

TYRO
- Australian only merchant who is actually a bank - you have your EFTPOS merchant account with them
- Uses direct call procedures (.Net and can support iOS, Linux) & HTTP requests
- They supply the PIN pads starting at AUD$25/mth
- Pin Pads variants - cabled, WIFI & GPRS solutions
- They also provide running Tabs, table closure on payment receipt, split billing (pass the terminal around the table until the bill is paid)
- They have plans of expanding worldwide, but not in the short term.

Ingenico
- Waiting for a call back from their development team
- Ingenico do not have connection kits/software for their EFTPOS terminals as the banks install their own firmwares which provide different functionality and depict the connection methods.
- They did however say that a generic connection tool is well overdue for our exact purpose.
- They also suggested that the Turkish Dev Team should contact Ingenico in Turkey to see if they have a local solution as each country may be working on a solution.


Australian EFTPOS Regulations
- In Australia retailers have to use an approved EFTPOS terminal for card transactions. Therefore POS terminal card swipes are not allowed due to security and fraud issues.


Target Objective
- To find an EFTPOS integration solution using EFTPOS terminals that are available worldwide.

[emre]

It will be awesome if we can find a worldwide alternative but if there is a solution only works for Australia implementing it will be a good idea too.

[aloupos]

If it communicates over a COM port, it should be pretty easy to load up some software that's integrated already, do a few test transactions while logging the port, then reverse engineer the API.  Unless of course there's some kind of encryption, which I seriously doubt. 

Seems so much easier to use the internet gateways though, and they tend to be cheaper atleast in the US. 

It would also be pretty cool to build a small iphone/ipad app that talks to sambapos and allows the customer to select the tip and sign, similiar to the wireless pinpads I see in europe.  It would also be much more user friendly.  I started playing with this idea a couple months ago, and exposed some services from sambapos via web services, so you could have the following workflow for in-house dining credit card settlement: 

1.  Customer wants to pay by credit card. Cashier grabs iphone, enters the sambapos ticket number, swipes the card and hands the iphone (or ipad or ipod touch) to the customer. 
2.  The iphone shows the bill and a scroll wheel for the customer to select the gratuity percentage.
3.  Customer clicks ok, enters pin-code and or signs with finger on the device. 
4.  iphone app updates the sambapos ticket to reflect payment and adds any gratuity. 

Interesting?

[emre]

Anthony these are great features. For V3 I planned creating a rest api for SambaPOS for easily implementing these. I think you thought the same thing. If you are interested you can take a look at http://www.servicestack.net/ for the framework I'm planing to use. I'll be happy if you can share your ideas about it. Thanks.

[jeni]

I have no experience with these terminals; can you please explain something about these terminals?