I probably get 4-5 new Merchants every week contacting me and asking if I can help them get a used Debit Machine they bought online hooked up to a merchant account provider and the short answer is "No, I can not". Never ever buy a used Debit Machine in Canada hoping to find a provider who'll hook up the processing services. It doesn't work this way in Canada.
However in the US this is the way it works, you can just purchase hardware from anywhere for a couple hundred bucks and then shop around for your provider the same way you would with a cell phone provider and cell phone hardware, but when it comes to Debit Machines and Canada - no go. No Canadian company (that I am aware of) will take your used equipment and hook it up. You have to get it from the provider directly and yes it cost much more than a couple hundred dollars. Typically around $1000-1500 for a terminal with a good warranty.
The reason this is like this is most terminals will have digital locks on them, so even if the provider was willing to take it they may not be able to get their software on the terminal because they do not have the KEY that the last provider coded on it. The second reason providers won't take these used terminals is due to warranties, they will not give warranties on something that doesn't come from them directly. The third is they "don't have to" and there is still money to made in Canada on selling Debit Machines at retail pricing and on Debit Machine Leases. (Which is the main driving force - most likely) It will probably change at some point. I find we are usually behind the US standards by about a decade, by then we may have a completely different way we transact, but that's a whole other post.
The moral of the story is... if you have or are starting a Canadian business that will require a Debit Machine, don't purchase one online second hand. Make sure you get the hardware directly from the Merchant Account Provider.
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