Guides and reports

Cleaning and sanitizing your POS terminal

We show you how to keep one of the most important pieces of technology in your store clean

June 12, 2020

· 2 minutes

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Guides and reports Omnichannel experiences Retail

In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, governments are discouraging the use of cash in favour of contactless and cardpayments. This means your point of sale terminals will be seeing a lot more activity and could turn into bad hygiene hotspots if not carefully maintained. They require regular cleaning and in this current crisis additional precautions should be made. Here’s how to safely clean your POS terminals.

You will need:

Clean microfiber cloths
For cleaning: pH-neutral non-scrubbing soap
For disinfecting: alcohol-based cleaner (70-90% isopropyl alcohol)

Avoid triggering the tamper alert when cleaning

To protect against malicious attempts to alter the terminal's hardware or software, the terminal has a tamper alert. When this is triggered, the display shows TAMPER or TAMPERED. The terminal is put out of service and needs to be returned to Adyen.

To make sure you don't accidentally trigger the tamper alert when cleaning or disinfecting the terminal:

Check the label of your cleaning product: Never use bleach, hydrogen peroxide, thinner, trichloroethylene, or ketone-based solvents. These substances can cause rubber and plastic to deteriorate to such an extent that the tamper alert is triggered.
Don't vigorously scrub or shake the terminal.
Don't vigorously rub the terminal with a dry towel or similar. That can cause an electrostatic discharge (ESD), which can trigger the tamper alert.

Other warnings

Never pour or spray any liquid, sanitizer, or disinfectant directly onto the terminal.
Don't clean the smart card reader; that could void any warranty.
Avoid touching the battery contact points; that could lead to corrosion or poor connection.

Step-by-step cleaning of POS terminals

Before you begin cleaning, make sure the terminal is turned off.
Disconnect the terminal from power.
Slightly dampen a clean cloth with water.
Put a few drops of the cleaning solution on the dampened cloth. Do not apply cleaner directly to the terminal.
Gently wipe the damp cloth over the keyboard and display.
After cleaning, wipe the terminal with a clean dry cloth.
When the terminal is completely dry, reconnect it to power and switch it on.

Further advice

In addition to the above, we recommend that you encourage your staff to schedule regular cleaning of terminals throughout the day. If possible, choose a staff member to lead efforts around hygiene control so cleaning products are replenished, and scheduled cleaning is completed.

If you have any questions about yourterminaland how to clean POS terminals please feel free to contactour POS support team.

If you’d like more information or further reading to guide you through this time, our COVID-19 page is a good place to start.

COVID-19 information