Many businesses can reap the advantages of using magnetic stripe cards. They can store customer's information, employees' pass codes for entering doors or computer systems, ATM cards and employee time cards. You can see the advantages of incorporating them into your business.

You'll need to learn basic magnetic strip information before you can begin to use these cards in your business, and therefore, you'll need to have some magnetic stripe education and training.1. Find training materials on how magnetic strip technology works.

2. Find training materials on how to program magnetic stripe cards using magnetic stripe encoder software.

3. Find training materials on how to use a magnetic stripe reader writer.

Action Steps
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Find education about how magnetic strip technology works

Before you can begin to use magnetic stripe cards in your business, you can educate yourself about how they work. Train yourself to learn their designated use, where and how you can use them, and their advantages and disadvantages.

I recommend: Material Handling and Industrial Distribution Lab provides educational information on how magnetic strip technology works and what the advantages and disadvantages of the cards are. The Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility offers detailed answers to many frequently asked questions regarding magnetic strip technology.

Train yourself and your staff to use magnetic stripe encoder software

In order to program each magnetic stripe card, you need education on how to use the proper magnetic stripe software. There is specific magnetic stripe encoder software you'll use to program your magnetic stripe cards. Depending on the type of encoder you have, and what computer operating system you use, you'll want to make sure you use the proper encoder software.

I recommend: Tysso provides a user guide for their encoder that teaches you how to install encoder software on your computer. Alpha Card allows you to read about several different types of encoder software, and it offers customer support to help you learn more about the software.

Learn how to use a magnetic stripe reader writer

A magnetic stripe reader writer is the device that programs the information on magnetic stripe cards, and then reads and processes the information stored on them. You'll use these devices to program the magnetic stripe cards you'll use in your business, and for customers or employees to use their cards on later.

I recommend: EZW explains how its magnetic card writer works and what software operates it. Whatitis.com briefly describes what a magnetic stripe reader is, and the website teaches about the required computer components needed to use it.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  You can also learn how to use a portable magnetic stripe reader if your office is mobile.

Magnetic strip technology is often used to make credit cards, transportation tickets, employee badges, and ID cards. Clearly, we use magnetic strip information daily, but what do you know about it? How important is it to a business? And how can you decide what to look for in quality magnetic stripe readers?

Magnetic stripe cards store necessary data by changing the magnetism of magnetic particles made of iron on a strip of magnetic matter on a card. However, you do not need to know what a magnetic stripe card is made of to know that it is instrumental to having a popular business, be it a retail company or restaurant. Most people use credit cards daily to purchase products, along with ID cards to verify identity and buy age-restricted items. This signifies that having magnetic stripe software that is able to read such cards is crucial to a business's survival. If your business can benefit from such a product, here are the facts to know before buying one:

1. Know the difference between low-coercivity cards, which require a lower amount of magnetic energy to record information, and high-coercivity cards, which require more energy and are therefore harder to erase. An easy way to tell the difference is that low-coercivity stripes are light brown, while most high-coercivity stripes appear almost black. Card readers can read either type.

2. Figure out what you want the magnetic stripe reader to do. Do you desire one with a printer attached, or can it be separate? Do you need a portable magnetic stripe reader? How big do you need the screen and buttons to be? Deciding on the aspects that are important to you will allow you to stay within your budget.

3. Decide which type of card reader you need. Do you want one that requires you to simply swipe the card, or do you want one into which you insert the card and promptly remove?

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Purchase a portable magnetic stripe reader

If your business requires you to travel, or perhaps if you plan on attending different events to sell your products, you will need portable magnetic stripe equipment in order to accept credit cards.

I recommend: Tyner allows you to compare several different portable readers, listing each feature along with their prices. USA Merchant Solutions offers battery-powered card readers, as well.

Find magnetic stripe readers with large buttons or screens

If you or the majority of your customers might have trouble using small buttons or looking at a small screen, you can purchase a card reader with oversized features.

I recommend: The Lipman Nurit 8100 is an example of a reader with a large screen for optimal views of transactions, while Verifone offers a machine with large buttons.

Buy magnetic stripe equipment that allows you to verify age

If your business sells age-restricted products such as tobacco or alcohol, you will find that a magnetic card reader can be helpful in verifying the age of your customers.

I recommend: Semicron Systems offers a large selection of card readers. Scanmyid.com also features a wide array of magnetic stripe readers suitable for checking ID.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you are wary of the price of magnetic strip technology, realize that the ability to accept credit cards or quickly scan licenses will far outweigh the costs. You are simply missing out on a huge amount of potential customers if you cannot accept credit cards, and you are wasting precious time by manually checking IDs. You will find that the technology should pay for itself almost immediately.

A magnetic stripe (also known as a magstripe) refers to a small length of a tape containing magnetic material that is applied to a surface, such as a credit or ID card. The stripe can store a large amount of confidential data in an encoded format that can be read by swiping the card against a magnetic reader.

Read on to learn more about magnetic stripe key terms, such as magnetic stripe reader, coercivity, modified frequency modulation and magnetic encoding.

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Magnetic stripe reader

A magnetic stripe reader is a device that can read and process the data on a magnetic stripe using a computer program. These devices can be of two types: insertion readers and swipe readers. A typical application of magnetic stripe reader is the stripe reader in an ATM (automatic teller machine).

I recommend: You can get useful information on magnetic stripe readers at Tech Target, an online resource on technical subjects.

Coercivity

Coercivity is a measure of the strength of a magnetic field. Use of high intensity coercivity makes it harder to write data, but it also ensures that the data does not erase quickly from the stripe. Therefore, high coercivity is more useful for writing very important financial data.

I recommend: Read through the magstripe encoder questions at ABCO Office Solutions, a manufacturer of office supplies and equipment.

ISO/IEC 7811

ISO/IEC 7811 is a series of ISO standards that describes the characteristics of international identification cards. ISO/IEC 7811-7 specifically describes the encoding technique and requirements for a high coercivity magnetic stripe on a card.

I recommend: To learn more about ISO standards for magnetic stripes, read through the abstract for ISO/IEC 7811 standards at ISO (International Organization for Standardization).

Modified frequency modulation (MFM)

Modified frequency modulation is useful in encoding data on magnetic stripes. It uses a line-coding scheme and plastic card makers use it to write confidential data on the cards using magnetic materials.

I recommend: To get a better understanding of modified frequency modulation, read through the information at AIM Global, an association for automatic identification and mobility solutions providers.

Magnetic stripe card tracks

On a magnetic stripe card, you can store data in three different tracks. Especially in credit cards, Track 2 stores personal data such as account number and pin number. Airline companies make use of Track 1 while booking tickets against a credit card.

I recommend: At Acme Technologies, you can learn more about magnetic stripe card tracks.

Magnetic encoding

A magnetic stripe contains encoded data in a particular track depending on the industry it aims to serve. Different methods for encoding data have come up to serve specific purposes.

I recommend: If you want to learn more on magnetic encoding, read through basic information at InteractCard, a provider of identification systems.