COVID-19 Best Practices: How to Disinfect Your Payment Terminals

Your in-store payment terminals are handled by many different people every day, which makes them ideal homes for viruses and bacteria. That’s why regular sanitation of payment terminals and other frequently-touched surfaces in your store is always important, and particularly during flu season. Due to the recent spread of coronavirus, though, it’s become more important than ever for retailers to sanitize their terminals on a daily basis. 

Here’s a quick guide on how you can disinfect your terminals within minutes:

Step 1:

Obtain all of the necessary cleaning tools:

• A 60% or higher alcohol-based hand sanitizer
• Disinfecting wipes—either alcohol wipes with at least 70% alcohol OR a disinfecting wipe that’s on the Environmental Protection Agency’s approved list of disinfecting products for COVID-19, such as Clorox disinfecting wipes.
• A card reader cleaning card (can be purchased from leading retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Staples)

Step 2:

Wash your hands well with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and apply hand sanitizer.

Step 3:

Put on disposable gloves

Step 4:

Wipe the screen of the terminal with the disinfecting wipe or alcohol wipe.

Step 5:

Use a new wipe to clean the rest of the terminal

Step 6:

Swipe the card reader cleaner back and forth in the magstripe reader, and insert it and remove it from the EMV chip card slot.

Step 7:

Remove and dispose of gloves. Wash your hands well with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and apply hand sanitizer.

Step 8:

Let the terminal air dry.

Disinfecting terminals is just one way to maintain a thorough cleaning and hygiene routine to keep you and your customers safe from COVID-19. You’ll also want to regularly disinfect other frequently-touched areas of your store—such as the checkout countertop, doorknobs, light switches, and tables and chairs—and encourage employees to regularly wash their hands. For more information on COVDID-19 disinfecting and hygiene practices, visit cdc.gov.

For more detailed terminal cleaning instructions, check out these guidelines from leading terminal manufacturers:

Verifone | PAX | Ingenico| Clover | Poynt