Card terminal over ZVT: connect a Verifone to the till

Card terminal over ZVT

If you already have a card terminal with a contract at a payment network operator, for example a Verifone V660c through Payone, the till app drives it over ZVT, the till protocol of German card terminals. The till sends the amount to the terminal, the customer pays there, and the till books the result with a TSE signature. You never type the amount into the terminal again.

The money moves directly between your salon and your network operator. Terminz is not in between and charges no fee for it; settlement and payout come from your network operator as before. Terminz helps you set it up and when a payment gets stuck. You need neither Stripe nor a Terminz card reader for it.

What you need

• a ZVT terminal, for example Verifone V660c, with your own contract at your network operator;
• a LAN cable from the terminal to the router and a fixed IP address for the terminal in the router;
• the till tablet on the same network as the terminal;
• your own till password on the terminal (from the factory it is 000000, and the till does not accept the terminal with it);
• the terminal's automatic end-of-day closing switched off, or the till cannot match its closing against the bookings. Your network operator sets this.

On Settings → Devices & hardware → Devices & hardware (/manager/terminal/devices), the “Set up the till” card shows under “Card payments (optional)”: “Already have a ZVT card terminal, such as a Verifone V660c? Connect it in the till app under More → Connect devices. Then you need neither Stripe nor a card reader.” Once a terminal is connected, the Stripe steps drop out and the group shrinks to “Card payment set up: card terminal at the till (ZVT)”.

Connect the terminal in the till app

1. Sign in to the till app with your PIN and open More → Connect devices.
2. Tap Card terminal (ZVT). You only see it with the permission “Add/Configure Terminal Devices”.
3. Enter:
   • IP address: four numbers such as 192.168.178.50. The terminal shows its IP address and port under Administration > Merchant > System data > Till interface > ZVT till protocol > TCP/IP.
   • Port: a number from 1 to 65535, prefilled with 20007.
   • Till password: six digits, the password you set on the terminal. The till refuses 000000: “000000 is the factory password. Change it on the terminal first, or anyone on the network can start a refund there.”
4. Tap Test connection and save. The till signs in to the terminal, reads its terminal ID and software and saves everything. Then it says “Terminal connected and saved.” The first time, iOS asks whether the till may find devices on the local network. Allow it.

The till password is stored encrypted at Terminz; the till only keeps it in memory.

If the test fails, the till says why:

• “Card terminal not reachable”: the terminal is off, not on the same network, or the IP address is wrong.
• “No access to the local network”: the till app lacks the local network permission in the iOS settings.
• “The terminal refused the till”: usually the till password is wrong.

In the dashboard the terminal then shows under its till tablet as a connected device, with IP address, “TID”, software, “Last card payment” and the result of the last end-of-day closing.

Take payments with the terminal

At the till you choose card as usual. The till shows “Ready at the card terminal”, sends the amount, and the terminal displays it. The customer inserts, taps or swipes, all at the terminal, and types the PIN only there. The till shows what the terminal asks for (“Enter PIN”, “Payment approved”). Once the payment goes through, the till books it with a receipt and the TSE. The terminal prints the customer receipt as before.

If the terminal declines or the customer cancels, nothing is booked and you can charge again. Cancel at the till only asks the terminal whether it can still stop: “The terminal decides whether it can still cancel. Do not charge again.” The till waits for its answer.

Split payments (part cash, part card) and product sales at the counter run through the terminal the same way.

Payment unclear

If the connection drops in the middle of a payment, the till does not know whether money moved. It then asks the terminal for its last receipt itself (“Checking the payment…”) and books it if amount, terminal and time match. If anything does not match or the terminal does not answer, it shows Payment unclear with “Do not charge again.”

1. Look at the terminal or the customer receipt.
2. If it says the payment went through, tap Paid at the terminal. The till books the payment with a receipt.
3. If it shows nothing, a reversal or a cancellation, tap Not paid; a reversal means the money is already back. The payment is discarded and you can charge again.

While a payment is unclear, the till starts no second one for that appointment, or the next card would overwrite the evidence in the terminal. Whatever stays open at the till, a manager settles in the dashboard under Financials → Daily → Cash reconciliation in the “Card terminal” view (see “Count the cash, close the register, and print the Z-report”). While anything is open there, the dashboard home shows “Settle card payments” with the number of open payments; tapping it opens the view directly.

If the terminal took the money but the till could not sign the receipt, it shows “Paid, but not booked”. The till keeps trying. If that fails, return the payment on the terminal with Reverse payment and charge again, or a manager settles it in the dashboard.

Void and refund

A payment that ran through the terminal goes back to the card only at the till, under More → Refund with Pay back on the terminal. The till picks the way itself:

• Void: the whole payment, before the end-of-day closing. “The terminal voids the whole payment. If it asks, the customer holds the card to it.”
• Refund: part of the amount, or a payment after the end-of-day closing, if your network operator has enabled refunds. The customer holds the same card to the terminal.

The till books the refund only once the terminal has given the money back. If the terminal refuses, pay out in cash. If the connection drops during the payback, it shows “Payback unclear”: do not pay anything out again, a manager settles it in the dashboard.

In the dashboard under Financials → Daily → Payments you refund such a payment only in cash or by bank transfer, because the dashboard cannot reach the terminal in the salon (“Card only at the till”, see “View, refund, and display receipt QR codes”).

End-of-day closing

The end-of-day closing finishes the card payments on the terminal. Only then does your network operator settle them, and the terminal's memory frees up again. Run it every evening.

1. In the till app open More → Connect devices and tap End-of-day closing at the card terminal.
2. The terminal prints the report. The till compares its total with the card payments it booked since the last closing.
3. If everything matches, it says “Closing done: … on the terminal, same as booked.” If not, the till names both amounts, and a manager settles the difference in the dashboard.

When the memory is full, the terminal takes no more payments and the till shows “End-of-day closing needed on the terminal”.

Send diagnostics

If a payment gets stuck, tap Send diagnostics at the card terminal. The till sends Terminz support the exchange between till and terminal for the latest payments. Card numbers in it are masked, and Terminz deletes the logs after 90 days. Without that tap no log leaves the till.

Log

To see exactly what happened during a payment, open More → Connect devices in the till app and tap Log at the card terminal. You only see the entry with the permission “Add/Configure Terminal Devices”. The log lives on this till tablet only and never leaves it.

• The list shows every card payment, void and refund of this till, newest first: the outcome (for example “Approved”, “Declined”, “Unclear”), type and time, the amount and what the server knows: “Saved on the server”, “Not saved on the server yet”, “Waiting to be settled” or “Paid, not booked”.
• At the top you switch between All and Problems. Problems are payments that were neither approved nor declined, and every payment the server has not saved yet. When there are none, it says “No problems”.
• Tap a payment and four steps show how far it got: Sent, Result received, Confirmed, Completed. Below them are the result code and every message between till and terminal with its time and direction, for example “06 01 · Payment” or “04 0F · Result”. Card numbers are masked. Back returns to the list.
• Check status asks the terminal whether it is ready, without starting a payment. The answer shows at the top of the log, for example “Terminal ready”.
• Last receipt fetches the last receipt from the terminal and shows amount, receipt number, trace and code, or “The terminal has no last receipt.” That is how you check an unclear payment without charging again.

When the till is offline, it says “No connection to the server” and the list shows only what the till knows itself.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Stripe for my Verifone terminal? No. The money runs through your network operator. You only need Stripe for a Terminz card reader.

Does it cost extra? No, ZVT is part of the Komplett plan. You keep paying your network operator's fees to them.

The till cannot find the terminal. Check that terminal and tablet are on the same network, that the IP address is still right (a fixed IP in the router keeps it from changing) and that the till app may use the local network.

Can I pay a card payment back to the card from the dashboard? No. Back to the card only works in the till app. In the dashboard you refund in cash or by bank transfer.

What do I do when the till shows “Payment unclear”? Do not charge again. Check the terminal or the customer receipt and tap Paid at the terminal or Not paid.

Can I keep using my terminal without the till driving it? Yes, but then you tap “Card on your own terminal” at the till and type the amount on the terminal yourself (see “Set Up Till and Taxes”).