Touch-Free Pay / Ticketing

William Summer
William Summer
Ninth Anniversary Kudos 1 Participant Loyalty Badge
in Blackbaud Altru® General Discussions
Hi,

It seems that Altru does not support any sort of touch-free ticketing or even a  terminal with a pin pad. Looking ahead at a projected reopening, does anyone have a good alternative to swiping CC's on the employee's keyboard? Thanks for any help with this. I'm basing this on the hardware reqs that were sent to me when I asked them about this. Maybe I'm missing something? I'm hoping to gather info on what others are doing for a safe and mindful visitor experience that also takes into account the health and safety of our front of house team.

https://www.blackbaud.com/docs/default-source/system-requirements/altrureqs.pdf

Comments

  • Crystal Bruce
    Crystal Bruce admin
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 February 2026 Monthly Challenge First Reply
    This is a great question and it is Covid related, but since it is about functionality for Altru, so I'm moving it to the Altru Community. Thanks!
  • Derek Schartung
    Derek Schartung
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant
    Hey Ya'll,


    Blackbaud has teamed up with Bluefin to use P2PE not EMV/chip/PIN for Altru.  P2PE stands for point to point encryption. The hardware solution is IDTech's SDREDKEY device that supports swiping or keying in cards using a hardware 10key pad. The device is encrypted by Bluefin and shipped to you directly. So it is true point to point hardware encryption, but does not support touchless payments or chip reading. 


    The costs: $210 per device, $35 per device/one-time programming charge, $25/m per device for a maintenance/device mgmt fee, $0.10 fee per transaction


    Bluefin offers a true EMV terminal that can be used with BBMS, but it does not integrate with Altru and must be used as an external non-depositing tender type. The hardware costs are higher (~$350 per device), but all other fees are the same. 


    My thoughts, Bluefin is positioned to make a significant amount of revenue from this solution and it is only a half measure in terms of become a modern payment solution since it does not support chip or contactless payments. With our org - 20 devices and looking at total CC transactions that are on premises via advance, group, or daily: we're talking $10K going to Bluefin. $6K alone in hardware maintenance fees which is crazy. The Bluefin argument boils down to "it is cheaper than being PCI-SAQ-C compliant."


    Links:
    https://idtechproducts.com/products/countertop/sredkey/
    https://www.blackbaud.com/training-support/support/howto/blackbaud-merchant-and-payment-services/p2pe/
    https://www.blackbaud.com/files/support/guides/renxt/Bluefin-Blackbaud_Integration_Guide_2019.pdf
    https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/assessors_and_solutions/point_to_point_encryption_assessors


     
  • Breanne Leach
    Breanne Leach
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant
    Derek, thank you for sharing. I also wanted to add that Blackbaud has only rolled out P2PE (which doesn't help with touchless) for BBMS. Our institution doesn't use BBMS, so all of the recent checkout updates don't work for us. 


    Our current magswipe readers are embedded in our computer keyboards. Does anyone have recommendations for smaller readers than work well with Altru and could be customer-facing for them to swipe their own cards?
  • John Ryan
    John Ryan
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 2 Participant Facilitator 1
     We started with very simple USB card readers expecting chip readers to come along in short order. 


    Any plug and play version ($15-20 each) should work, but there's some suggestions in the hardware recommendations from BB.
  • Breanne Leach
    Breanne Leach
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant
    Thank you John! What brand did you go with? Are they working well?
  • John Ryan
    John Ryan
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 2 Participant Facilitator 1
    This is ours. We have 3 and they work quite well.
    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Qiilu-MSR90-USB-Swipe-Hi-Co-Magnetic-Strip-Card-Reader-Credit-Card-Reader-3-Tracks-Mini-Smart-Card-Reader-Magstripe-Scanner-Swipe/582561731
  • Maggie Peck
    Maggie Peck
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant
    We are currently looking to set up GA as an event program in Altru to 1) limit the number of visitors per set period of time and 2) show how many tickets or spots are available for each time slot in real-time. We will likely be encouraging people to purchase tickets on their phones even if they are walk-ups. Altru does have Apple Pay, Visa, and Mastercard fast pay available for online sales, which will hopefully make it easier for people to pay on their phones. 
  • Jimi DeKett
    Jimi DeKett
    Fifth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1
    Ashley Clarke‍ - How do we get on the Early Adopter Program list? Thank you!

     
  • Maria Sainz
    Maria Sainz
    Ninth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1 Blackbaud Champion
    Ashley Clarke I would also be interested in the possibility of participating in the EAP in June.
  • Derek Schartung
    Derek Schartung
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Ashley Clarke:
    The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on much of normal life over the last several weeks. Your Blackbaud Arts and Cultural team has been listening and working diligently to provide the resources and information you need throughout this crisis. 
     
    We’ve heard from several organizations that folks are beginning to consider re-opening, and what that endeavor might involve. Our plan is to deliver as much as possible to help in these considerations, at least from a technology perspective, on an ongoing basis. To that end, we wanted to share some thoughts about a topic we know is on everyone’s minds right now: contactless payments.
     
    For our Altru clients, there are options available for contactless payments today. These include timed entry, online payments, and e-ticketing. Online ticketing is the safest and most “socially distant” way to purchase a ticket. Luckily, this functionality is built out and robust on the Altru platform. You can consider encouraging online transactions with your visitors, as well as your members and donors.
     
    In addition to the current set of contactless payment options, we are continuing to make progress on integrating an EMV-certified card reader option into Altru and BBMS. As a reminder, EMV is the payment option that supports chip cards as well as contactless payment options such as tap-to-pay cards and mobile payments with Apple and Google Pay.

    We will be entering an EAP (Early Adopter Program) for this functionality in June, and we are adding organizations to that program at this time. We intend to launch EMV capabilities more broadly in the fall.
     
    Our goal is to keep our entire Altru community updated on our progress towards General Availability of EMV; in the interim, we feel confident that our other contactless options will help mitigate the demands on re-opening in the current environment.

     

    Any pricing info regarding you can share regarding the EAP? The numbers for the SDRED solution were pretty high - especially for those of us caught mid-budget cycle. Hardware costs and transaction rates would be good info to start with.

  • Juli Atherton
    Juli Atherton
    Seventh Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Breanne Leach:

    Derek, thank you for sharing. I also wanted to add that Blackbaud has only rolled out P2PE (which doesn't help with touchless) for BBMS. Our institution doesn't use BBMS, so all of the recent checkout updates don't work for us. 


    Our current magswipe readers are embedded in our computer keyboards. Does anyone have recommendations for smaller readers than work well with Altru and could be customer-facing for them to swipe their own cards?

     

    We are using  MagTek Dynamag that our merchant service purchased for us but I don't recall the price on those.

  • John Ryan
    John Ryan
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 2 Participant Facilitator 1
    This is our USB card swipe. We have 3 and they work quite well.
    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Qiilu-MSR90-USB-Swipe-Hi-Co-Magnetic-Strip-Card-Reader-Credit-Card-Reader-3-Tracks-Mini-Smart-Card-Reader-Magstripe-Scanner-Swipe/582561731
  • Pat Stewart
    Pat Stewart
    Ninth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1 Blackbaud Champion
    Ashley Clarke‍ - We at SDMA would also love to hear more about being part of the EAP!
  • Erick Fortiz
    Erick Fortiz
    Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1
    Ashley Clarke‍ How do we get on the list for the Early Adopter Program in June? I would love to enlist my organization or get more information. Thanks!
  • Patricia Borgardt
    Patricia Borgardt
    Sixth Anniversary Facilitator 1
    I would definitely like to be on the early adopter list.

    My understanding is that credit card companies and banks are requiring that chip readers be used and can refuse payment for swiped cards. Does Blackbaud have an arrangement with those companies that supersedes that requirement and protects us as the point of sale?
  • Derek Schartung
    Derek Schartung
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Patricia Borgardt:

    I would definitely like to be on the early adopter list.

    My understanding is that credit card companies and banks are requiring that chip readers be used and can refuse payment for swiped cards. Does Blackbaud have an arrangement with those companies that supersedes that requirement and protects us as the point of sale?


  • John Ryan
    John Ryan
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 2 Participant Facilitator 1
    Only Visa is tieing EMV to dropping signature requirements. 
  • Steven Cheung
    Steven Cheung
    Ninth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1
    Please include us in the Early Adopters Program.
  • Ashley Clarke
    Ashley Clarke
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 1 Participant Facilitator 1
    Hello all!


    For those of you interested in becoming a part of the Early Adopters Program (EAP), please register here: https://www.blackbaud.com/info/discovery


    In the first check box area, select Altru.

    In the second check box area, select "Other", and type in "Altru EMV" in the text box.


    Addtionally, there are a few threads in the Community that my colleague Anah McRae‍ has compiled into one place that address many of the questions above. That discussion is here: https://community.blackbaud.com/forums/viewtopic/402/50617?post_id=196555#p196555



     

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