I've tried to input  data into excel  using a keyboard wedge and a barcode
reader. Excel does not seem to want to accept the output from this sort of
device. Excel especially rejected such ASCII generated things such as "TAB"
"ENTER".

I don't have any experience using card  readers with Excel, but I have interfaced
with various lab instruments. How does the card reader  interface with the
computer?

I suspect you will need VBA code to parse the data correctly into Excel. If
the device uses an RS232 serial interface, then I suspect you will need the
MSCOMM dll to do this, unless the card reader came with its own driver.

Do you have an online link for documentation? If so, I'd be glad to take a
look.