knippy-terminal | Stripe Developers | Page 1

real panther Jan 28, 2022, 6:05 PM

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You should use our bluetooth readers in that case no?

tough osprey Jan 28, 2022, 6:09 PM

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Would the bluetooth be used for internet connectivity, which then communicates with Stripe?

So POS UI would exclusively communicate with Stripe API, not the terminal, and the terminal just receives updates from Stripe?

I'm not super familiar with Terminal yet, just in the beginning stages of exploring this as an option.

I know my primary client is also going to be using terminal soon as well, so either way I'm looking forward to getting hands on experience with Terminal.

real panther Jan 28, 2022, 6:16 PM

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no that's not how it works at all sorry

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You build a mobile app on your phone, that app talks to Stripe, and it talks to the reader directly over BT

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that's the best option for a "mobile" terminal integration

tough osprey Jan 28, 2022, 6:21 PM

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gotcha, so it has to be a native mobile app not a web app so it can use bluetooth connectivity

real panther Jan 28, 2022, 6:27 PM

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correct

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you can do the other path but it's a lot harder, and they have to be on the same network too which can be painful

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BT readers are a better fit. cc @robust spear who is an expert at Terminal and is taking over

robust spear Jan 28, 2022, 6:29 PM

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Hello!

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Yeah, for your use case it sounds like the bluetooth readers would be best. It's technically possible to get the smart readers to work with a mobile hotspot, but the bluetooth readers are going to work much better for you. Is building a mobile app a significant blocker for you?

tough osprey Jan 28, 2022, 6:50 PM

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Hey Rubeus; I'm not much of a native app dev and I'm volunteering my time and we don't have the finances to hire an app dev, it's just a local election. I tend to try to stick to web dev. Also, the turnaround time has to be pretty quick, so I don't have the timeline to brute force my way through Android Studio

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I wonder if there are bluetooth APIs in javascript that mobile phones can reliably use

real panther Jan 28, 2022, 6:53 PM

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We wouldn't support those so that just won't work

tough osprey Jan 28, 2022, 6:54 PM

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Well, then we might have to foreclose on door-to-door collection, and just have a web-based POS on a laptop for fundraiser events, etc.

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We have people that dont want to use cashapp or ActBlue, like they dont want to type in credit card information on someone's iPad. So i had the idea of using Stripe terminal for people to be able to swipe cards.

robust spear Jan 28, 2022, 6:56 PM

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Maybe you can use a third-party solution that's ready to go? We have some options here: https://stripe.com/partners/apps-and-extensions?q=terminal

tough osprey Jan 28, 2022, 6:58 PM

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I will look into that! Hopefully the costs are manageable. Like i said, our budget is super low due to the nature of the election. But I'll do some research and make a recommendation to the team.

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Hmm, it might be a little complex as we have a rather particular POS we'd need. We're not scanning SKUs or anything like that, we'd be manually entering prices as one-of-items (maybe they want to donate $55.32 for whatever reason).

Additionally what really kind of diversifies it from generic POS software is for every donation collected, we'd have to attach name and contact information as well as employment information with each donation to conform with campaign finance laws.

I suppose we could collect them separately. Maybe as one person is setting up the $55.32 order the other person is writing down the required information

robust spear Jan 28, 2022, 7:07 PM

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Gotcha. If you can't find an off-the-shelf solution that meets you needs you can get this all working with a mobile web app running on a mobile device, a smart reader, and a hotspot.

tough osprey Jan 28, 2022, 7:09 PM

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Thanks for the guidance, guys. As always, you guys rock.

#knippy-terminal