EBT Card Payments

EBT Card Payments

Overview

U.S. customers using a paid software plan (starting with Essential Plus) with PAX, Valor (VP550 and VP800), or ChargeAnywhere terminals can accept EBT cards as a payment method in POS.  Please contact your payment processor to confirm whether EBT payments are supported.

 

Prerequisites

Must install the EBT Card app in Back Office by going to App Directory → Select EBT Card → Click Install.

Note 1: When the EBT Card app is installed, tips will no longer be enabled in POS. 

Note 2: EBT card payments can only be processed on PAX, Valor (VP550 and VP800), ChargeAnywhere terminals. In addition, some processors do not accept EBT payments so please contact your processor to confirm that they accept it.

 

2. Also in Back Office, go to Settings → Store Settings → select store that want EBT payments on → click on Payment Methods tab → select your terminal as Payment Gateway in drop-down menu (if not already selected) → check off the Enable EBT card payments box → click Done.




 

3.  Log in to POS and sync data. 

Note: EBT payments can only be processed when the POS is online and connected to the same network as the terminal.

4. Ensure that EBT-eligible items are correctly marked in the product catalog.
Notes
You can mark EBT at multiple levels in Products: Item and Category Levels.

4.1. On Product Level: go to the Product, and enable "EBT card" checkbox.

4.2. On Category Level: go to the category and enable the option "Category items can be paid with EBT card":

Info
If the "Override for all products in the category" option is selected, the setting will apply to all products within that category. 

POS Instructions

1. Confirm EBT Availability

The EBT payment method appears only if enterprise and store settings are correctly configured and the gateway supports it.

2. Perform the sale with EBT Payment

  1. Add EBT items to the shopping cart.

  2. Tap All Payments and select EBT.


  3. POS defaults the EBT amount to the eligible subtotal.

  4. Complete the transaction.

    Alert
    If the item added to the cart is not EBT-eligible, the EBT payment option will not be available:


3. Mixed Shopping Cart Behavior

Alert
EBT-eligible items can be paid by EBT or any other available Payment Methods, while non-eligible items require another tender. Tax handling is adjusted automatically.
3.1. Example of a mixed cart with EBT and non-EBT items:

3.2. The payment flow will be as follows:

Warning
If a non-EBT payment method is selected first, it will be applied to the entire cart, including EBT-eligible items.


Idea
If EBT-eligible items need to be paid using an EBT card, you should perform the EBT transaction first:

Once EBT payment is completed, you will be able to perform the payment for the rest of the items in the cart.

4. Voids and Refunds

Alert
Void is currently not supported on Valor devices. The Void option is replaced with Refund. 

Overview

Please note the following behavior when processing voids and refunds across supported terminals.

Important Notes

  1. PAX and Valor terminals support manual card entry for payments; however, refunds require the physical card to be swiped.
  2. Refunds can only be issued to the original card used for the transaction..

4.1. Void functionality is available on PAX and ChargeAnywhere terminals.

You may void a transaction in the following cases:
  1. EBT-only transaction:
The entire order can be voided.
  1. Mixed tender transaction:
The full order can also be voided, regardless of the payment types used.

4.2 Refund (all terminals)

Refund functionality is available on all supported terminals.

  1. Key Rules

Info
Refunds must be processed using the original card
Info
The physical card must be present and swiped
  1. Refund a Specific Item
You can process a refund for individual items within an order.


  1. Refund the Entire Order
You can process a refund for the full transaction amount.



5. Notes

1. The EBT cannot be used in conjunction with the Service fee. It can be used with Surcharge and Cash Discount. 

2. The First Data payment processor provides the customer's EBT balance, which is printed on the receipt:


Other processors may not provide this information, so the EBT balance may not appear on receipts.

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