Help Topics

Castles Saturn Card Machine

We offer integration with this card machine in EaseSuite, meaning sales and refund amounts are sent to the machine, and payment information is retrieved back from it and stored (partial information to meet compliance).

The card machine has a built in receipt printer and deals with printing out specific receipts to be passed to the customer and optionally a duplicate to be stored in a till .

End of Day routines (yellow button > Start End of Day) facilitate end of day report print out.

The machine can be used in standalone mode also, mainly for emergencies. Note this will not store any data in EaseSuite as it only store data when EaseSuite when initiates using Receive Payment from the sales order or POS screen.

You can have as many or as few as these machines as you require. More than one desktop PC running EaseSuite can access the same device, each have it's own device, or you can choose from a pool of devices, as a device can be selected in Receipt Payment when card is chosen.

Initial Setup

When you receive the card machine:

  1. Switch on the machine by holding down the power button on the left for a couple of seconds.
  2. For EaseSuite, you will first need to get a note of a username & password from the card machine. Press the red button, type in the passcode (default is 1397139, you can set this to something else once in if desired), then choose API Credentials and take note of those on the page.
  3. On the card machine, press the yellow button and go to About This Device. It will list an IP address, e.g. 192.168.1.X or something similar. 
    • At this point to ensure the device never gets a different IP address (which would cause it not to be found), we recommend adjusting your router settings to ensure it doesn't change, as if this varies, it will mean reapplying it in settings outlined below in step 4. You may need your IT provider to do this. On the router there is generally a screen listing DHCP connected devices where you can find this device, note its MAC network address, then perminantly pair that with an IP address.
  4. In EaseSuite, go to Settings > General > Building Settings > Card Machines tab (ensure you are on the correct building for where the card machine is to go).
  5. Press the + button to add a new record and type in the IP address and the credentials in the format username:password (replacing username and password with those you obtained).
  6. There is a Test button on the right, press it to ensure EaseSuite can communicate sucessfully with the device. Note we have had situations where the card machine provider needs to be contacted to update the machine/switch on access first before the machine becomes accessible here.
  7.  Save the settings.
  8. Now go back to Settings > General > My Settings > This PCs Settings > POS Hardware where there is an option Default Card Machine, pick the machine you added. 
    • Note this is PC specific, so if you have another PC using the same card machine, do the same on that PC (and repeat for all).
    • If each PC has it's own card machine, you'd repeat steps 4-6 for the other card machine and select differently here.
    • In Receive Payment, this will be the default card machine selected when you go to take a payment on that PC, however, you can opt to switch to another card machine in Receive Payment should you need to ad-hoc switch to another card machine.

Taking Payments

  • When on the sales order screen press Receive Payment and choose card, next press Save & Process Payment and the amount stated will be sent to the machine for receiving the payment. On the POS screen, this same popup form appears after End of Sale is pressed.
  • Refunds are done similarly if you have started a refund or refunding an existing sales order, the terminal will start in refund mode instead.
  • All going well, the payment will now be taked or refund will be issued.

Remote Payments

  • Whilst on the sale or refund screen and it requesting an amount to be paid, press the yellow button bottom right and proceed to take the card number, start date and security code from the customer. This will process the payment the same way when the card is not present.

Notes

  • Ensure you have plenty of spare roll for the card machine. These are easy to fit but if you run out and can't supply receipts then you can't use the machine.
  • Please be cautious about remote refunding as you might be giving money to a scammer.
  • Similarly if someone is asking for a refund, you generally want to refund them in the same method they used to pay. For example, if they paid cash but want a refund on a credit card, or vice versa, this can facilitate money laundering to convert stolen card to legitimate cash for example.
  • Although EaseSuite facilitates split payments, it can be much simpler to stick to one payment method and take it in full where possible.
  • The Receive Payment dialog can be re-accessed on a sales order and shows you payments made to date (as well as the ability to add more).
  • In Reports, there is a daily (weekly or monthly) Payment Report to list out payments received if things get a bit more complex (partial deposit amounts) and to reconcile with an accounts system.
  • Note the approach of setting up two customers for payment types, e.g. "Card Customer" and "Cash Customer", and using these customers when an advance/real-time payment is taken (for non invoiced) can simplify things. 
    • If you do this, and always take a full payment, you don't need to payment track, as you can assume when these two customer accounts are used that they're always pay in full when it comes to accounts.
    • If an on-account customer comes in but wants to pay in advance with cash or card, it can be best just switching to one of these card/cash accounts and not selecting a customer (which you would if invoiced).
    • By keeping things as simple as possible like this to simplify payment rules and create pattern assumptions, you can reduce steps and time tracing/reconciling more complex payment set ups.

Troubleshooting

General 

  • The first thing to try if the machine isn't functioning as expected is to turn it off and on. Hold the power button on the left and choose Restart.
  • If the Android bottom menu is showing and obscuring the red/yellow/green icons at the bottom of the screen, press the square button on right then tap the screen to get rid of it.
  • For contactless, ensure customer swipes near the WIFI icon at the rear. Some cards may need to be swiped (contactless has a daily limit/provider dependant rules), and if so pull the card through the slider on right, ensuring the magnetic strip on the card is into the strip and facing inwards.
  • If a card swipe doesn't work you can try a remote payment/refund as a last resort as described above, i.e. enter in the the card's number and details to progress it. Many phone banking apps list these details too if the cardholder has lost their card.