Troubleshooting Tips: Onboarding & Activation

You might encounter issues as you are on-boarding and activating merchants.  Below are the most common issues you might come across and how to trouble-shoot them.

Activation issues

• Make sure the terminal was properly added at your Mission control
• Confirm that the terminal is not on Demo Mode, if so, please hit Exit demo and wait for the activation flow to prompt
• During activation make sure terminal is powered on and connected to internet
• Make sure internet signal is secure: 
  • Wi-Fi should be password protected (WPA, WPA2) 
  • Hotspots are not recommended for this step
  • if connecting via ethernet, make sure that terminal is securely on the base

Common Boarding Issues (Error message/Symptom: Card Reader Declines)

• Confirm that the MID, TID and Vnumbers are correct
• Confirm information on the VAR sheets is entered in correctly
• Incorrect NetConnet User ID/Password (If Chase as acquirer/processor)
• Processor provided incorrect info on VAR to begin with

Card Decline:  Further steps

If the above information is correct, and the first transaction generates a card decline error, follow the below steps before contacting Poynt support.

1.  Call the processor to verify that they see the transaction/decline on their end:  Often if the processor sees the transaction on their end, they can give you the reason for the decline. If they cannot see transaction on their end it is highly likely that some on-boarding info was entered in incorrectly.

2.  If the processor does not see the transaction on their end, confirm information on VAR sheet is consistent with what the processor has and what was entered into Poynt while on-boarding 

- Verify all info on the VAR sheet is correct and matches with the information the processor has

- Verify with the processor that all the correct card types are turned on and account is set up correctly on their end

- Verify the data entered into Poynt HQ matches VAR correctly by looking at “View Boarding Info” Button

- Make sure device is running most updated software and card reader passes the diagnostics check.

3.  If all the on-boarded information is correct and consistent across the processor, VAR sheet and Poynt, and you are still unable to get the first transaction to run:  reach out to support@poynt.com or reseller@poynt.com for further trouble-shooting.