Keyed-in card sales: when to use them and what they risk

A keyed-in transaction is a card sale where you type the card number into your terminal instead of dipping, tapping, or swiping. It's useful when a chip won't read or a customer pays by phone. It also costs more and carries more fraud risk, so it should be your backup plan, not your habit.

Every store keys a card now and then. The trouble starts when it becomes routine.

When does keying in a card make sense?

There are a few honest reasons to key a sale.

The chip is damaged and won't read, tap isn't available, and the stripe is worn out. You've tried everything else and the customer is standing there.

A regular customer calls and wants to pay for an order they'll pick up later.

Your reader is having a problem and you need to finish one urgent sale while you sort it out.

Outside those cases, try the other methods first. Ask the customer to tap. Ask them to try the chip again, gently, with the card fully inserted. Often a quick wipe of the chip or the reader fixes it.

Why do keyed sales cost more?

When you key in a number, the networks can't confirm the card is physically there. A keyed sale looks a lot like a card-not-present transaction, and it's usually priced that way.

Say you key in ten sales a week because your reader's chip slot is acting up. Each of those might cost a bit more than a chip sale. Over a year, that's hundreds of sales at a higher cost. Fixing the reader would have been cheaper.

That's the practical case for keeping your equipment in good shape. A slow or flaky reader nudges cashiers toward keying, and keying adds cost.

What are the risks beyond cost?

The bigger risk is fraud. A keyed sale doesn't have the chip's one-time code. If someone hands your cashier a stolen card number, or a card that's been cloned, a keyed sale may go right through.

If that sale is later disputed as fraud, you'll likely have a harder time winning it. The chargeback, where the customer's bank takes the money back while the dispute is reviewed, often ends in the cardholder's favor when the card wasn't verified by chip or PIN.

There's also a handling risk. When cashiers key cards, some get into the habit of writing numbers down "just in case." Don't allow that. The PCI Security Standards Council sets the industry rules for protecting card data, and scraps of paper with card numbers are exactly what those rules warn against.

How to key a card more safely

If you do key a sale, take a few extra steps.

1. Ask for the card's security code, the three or four digits on the card.
2. Ask for the billing ZIP code if your terminal prompts for it.
3. Check the name on the card against the customer's ID for large sales.
4. Write nothing down. Enter the details directly into the terminal.
5. Keep the receipt and any order notes in case of a dispute later.

Train every cashier on when keying is allowed. A simple rule helps, like "chip, then tap, then swipe, then ask a manager before keying."

If your reader keeps failing, it might be time for a replacement. NRS Pay offers a free card reader with signup, and you can see the supported card readers or talk to the NRS Pay team about your setup.