Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for transmitting, as part of a polling loop, a value added services (VAS) command that includes capability data corresponding to a payment terminal. For example, the payment terminal can transmit a VAS command that advertises the payment terminal's capabilities as part of a polling loop. The payment terminal can listen for a response to the VAS command and, after receiving a response, the payment terminal may initiate a VAS protocol. The VAS command can also specify a mode in which the payment terminal is operating, such as a payment-only mode, a VAS mode, a payment-plus-VAS mode, etc.