NFC Contactless

NFC contactless payments — commonly called "tap to pay" — let customers pay by holding a contactless card or mobile wallet near an NFC-enabled reader. The reader captures the same dynamic cryptogram an EMV chip produces, so NFC and EMV share the same security level and the same submission shape on Priority's Checkout API. The only difference is how the customer physically presents the card.

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Who this is for — ISVs whose deployment captures NFC data from a reader — via a vendor SDK, a custom NFC-capable device, or an integrated terminal — and submits it to Priority for authorization.

What Defines an NFC Transaction

Because NFC produces the same dynamic cryptogram and TLV envelope as a chip read, the submission to Priority looks identical to an EMV transaction. Differentiating EMV vs NFC at the API level is not required for authorization — both flow through the same fields.

When to Use NFC

For card-handling scenarios (counters, restaurants, bars where staff process the card), see Swiped Card or EMV Chip.

Required Equipment

How to Submit an NFC Payment

The submission shape is identical to EMV. The reader supplies the encrypted TLV; you forward it to /payment.

Endpoint

POST /payment (Checkout API)

Authentication

Basic auth — Base64-encoded username:password in the Authorization header.

Authorization: Basic {base64(username:password)}
Content-Type: application/json

Request body

{
  "merchantId": "4xxx0",
  "tenderType": "Card",
  "amount": "0.01",
  "cardAccount": {
    "emvData": "Xym9TXlYqOusxG1JrdlDqThnzBVZHnTziDjptEdBsv0MasvWV8IOF75Ld0OlntfIxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/...",
    "emvDataKsn": "8033xxxxxxx000011"
  }
}

Field reference

Optional: return the full response with echo=true

To receive the complete payment object in the response (instead of issuing a follow-up GET), append echo=true as a URL parameter:

POST /payment?echo=true

Successful response

HTTP 201 Created with the payment object's status set to Approved when the transaction is authorized.

Extracting Data from the TLV Payload

NFC readers return data in TLV (Tag-Length-Value) format — the same format as EMV. From the payload:

[verify — confirm TLV tag conventions are universal across all PPS-injected readers used with Priority]

Mobile Wallets

NFC supports mobile wallets out of the box — Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and any wallet implementing standard contactless EMV protocols. From the API's perspective there is no distinction between a contactless plastic card and a tokenized mobile wallet — the reader returns TLV data in both cases, and you submit it the same way.

Where NFC Data Comes From — by Integration Path

Trade-Offs vs Other Entry Methods

Sandbox Testing

Best Practices

Where to Go Next