Business question - firefox not allowing credit card swipes to be processed
I work with a small business that processes point of sale transactions using an online browser. Specifically, we use MindBody Online in the firefox browser on PCs running Windows 10. We process most payments with a usb credit card swiper.
As of about 2 weeks ago, we are now no longer able to process swiped credit card payments in the firebox browser. However, we are able to process swiped payments using Microsoft Edge on the same computer.
Does anyone have any insight into this issue?
All Replies (3)
What's going wrong?
I started looking at their site, but I didn't immediately find the system requirements for the credit card swiper. I would think a plugin is required. Or does it simulate a keyboard and "type" the number into the page?
Multiprocess (e10s)
One of the headline changes in Firefox 48+ is e10s, which separates the browser interface process from the page content process. More and more users are gradually having this multiprocess feature switched on. Some add-ons may work differently or not at all with e10s active, so let's check.
Are you using e10s?
You can confirm you have this feature turned on as follows. Either:
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
- (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table on the page, check the row for "Multiprocess Windows" and see whether the number on the left side of the fraction is greater than zero. If so, you are using e10s.
If you are using e10s:
If you think Firefox is not performing correctly, you could evaluate whether e10s is causing this problem by turning it off as follows:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste autos and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click the browser.tabs.remote.autostart.2 preference to switch the value from true to false
Note: the exact name of the preference may vary, but it will start with browser.tabs.remote.autostart
At your next Firefox startup, it should run in the traditional way. Any difference?
Hi jscher,
Thank you for your response.
I checked to see if I'm using the e10's as you suggested, but that does not appear to be the case:
Multiprocess Windows 0/1 (Disabled by accessibility tools
The credit card swiper is read by the computer as a keyboard, and does not require any installed drivers or plugins.
I'm guessing the issue lies somewhere within some security interaction between MindBody and Firefox.
There is a circumstance where I am still able to have MindBody "process" a swiped card, but this is only to store billing information. On a customer's profile within MindBody, I can swipe a credit card to store their billing information for future transactions (but there is no charge at the point of swiping). The issue only occurs when attempting to swipe a credit card at a point of sale, which leads me to believe it's some security interaction.