Keyed-In Transactions: What Every Business Should Know

Thomas Troyer
Jun 23
2 min read

Whether you're running phone orders, processing sales at events, or handling invoices manually, keyed-in transactions are a vital part of doing business in many industries.

But if you’re not careful, they can also be a major red flag — especially with processors like Stripe, Square, or PayPal. Here’s what every business owner needs to know.

💡 What Are Keyed-In Transactions?

A keyed-in transaction happens when a card number is manually entered into a terminal or virtual terminal, rather than swiped, tapped, or inserted.

Common use cases include:

Phone or catalog orders
Invoice payments
Recurring billing setups
Backup sales when the card isn’t present

They’re convenient — but also carry higher fraud risk in the eyes of processors.

⚠️ Why Processors Flag Keyed Transactions

Many big-name processors automatically flag or restrict accounts with high volumes of keyed-in transactions because:

They can’t verify the cardholder is present
The risk of fraud and chargebacks is higher
They’re outside typical consumer behavior patterns

For high-risk industries like firearms, coaching, supplements, or political fundraising — this scrutiny is even more intense.

❌ Stripe, Square, and PayPal Don’t Like It

We've seen merchants get suspended or shut down just for using too many keyed-in transactions.

Why? These Big Tech processors don’t take time to understand your business model. If it looks “unusual” in their algorithm, they freeze first and ask questions later.