Card Present (Swipe) Transactions

A Card Present (CP) swipe transaction lets you process payments by reading card data from the magnetic stripe on the cardholder's card. The cardholder physically swipes their card through a compatible magstripe reader at the point of sale.

Unlike EMV chip transactions that generate a unique cryptogram per payment, swipe transactions read static card data from the magnetic stripe. Use swipe only when chip or contactless entry is unavailable — it carries a higher fraud risk and typically results in higher interchange rates.

Common use cases include:

Fallback Entry: EMV chip read fails and the terminal prompts a swipe as a fallback.
Cards Without a Chip: The cardholder's card does not have an embedded chip and only supports magnetic stripe.
Magstripe-Only Environments: The merchant's hardware supports magnetic stripe reading only.

How it Works

Swipe CP transactions require you to set cardPresent to true and populate the posData object with the correct swipe-specific values. Two configurations are supported depending on whether you intend to capture the payment immediately or at a later time.

Swipe Authorization (Preauthorization)

Use this configuration when performing an authorization-only transaction that will be captured later. Set authorizationIndicator to "Undefined" and transactionStatus to "Preauthorization".

{
  "cardPresent": true,
  "authorizationIndicator": "Undefined",
  "posData": {
    "cardholderPresence": "Present",
    "deviceAttendance": "Attended",
    "deviceInputCapability": "Swipe",
    "deviceLocation": "OnPremise",
    "panCaptureMethod": "Swipe",
    "partialApprovalSupport": "Supported",
    "transactionStatus": "Preauthorization"
  }
}

Swipe Sale

Use this configuration when the transaction is intended to be finalized immediately. Set authorizationIndicator to "Final" and transactionStatus to "Normal".

{
  "cardPresent": true,
  "authorizationIndicator": "Final",
  "posData": {
    "cardholderPresence": "Present",
    "deviceAttendance": "Attended",
    "deviceInputCapability": "Swipe",
    "deviceLocation": "OnPremise",
    "panCaptureMethod": "Swipe",
    "partialApprovalSupport": "Supported",
    "transactionStatus": "Normal"
  }
}

Understanding Partial Approvals

The partialApprovalSupport field determines whether the issuing bank can approve a portion of the requested amount when the card has insufficient funds for the full transaction.

Value	Description	When to use
`Supported`	The issuer can approve a partial amount. Your application collects the remaining balance using another payment method.	Use when your application supports split-tender payments.
`NotSupported`	The transaction is declined if insufficient funds are available. No partial approval is returned.	Use when your application does not support multiple payment methods for a single transaction.

Example: Purchase amount is $100. Available funds on the card are $60. The issuer approves $60, and the merchant collects the remaining $40 using another payment method.

Best Practices

Practice	Description
Use swipe only as a fallback	Swipe carries a higher fraud risk and higher interchange rates than chip or contactless. Always prefer EMV chip or NFC contactless when the card and hardware support it.
Set `panCaptureMethod` to `"Swipe"`	Passing an incorrect capture method will result in interchange downgrade or network decline.
Accurately reflect the transaction environment in `posData`	Each `posData` field must match the actual transaction context. Incorrect values cause interchange downgrades or network declines.
Handle partial approvals explicitly	If your application supports split-tender payments, set `partialApprovalSupport` to `"Supported"` and handle partial approval responses in your integration logic.