NFC Cards — Order, Activate & Link Your Smart Card

An NFC card is the physical ScaanMe smart card — a sleek plastic or metal card with a tiny NFC chip embedded inside. When someone holds their phone near it, the phone reads the chip and instantly opens your digital vCard or store in the browser. No app to install, no QR to scan, no typing a URL — just a tap. Think of it as a real-world business card that comes alive: hand it over, they tap, your full profile (photo, links, WhatsApp, booking, products) is on their screen in under a second.

Why a tap beats everything else. Paper cards get lost, QR codes need a clear camera and good lighting, and telling someone "search for me on Instagram" loses half your prospects. A tap works in a noisy restaurant, in the dark, with one hand. It also makes you look modern and prepared — the moment of tapping is itself memorable. And because the card points to your *live* profile, you can change your phone number, add a new product, or swap your booking link any time, and every card you ever handed out updates automatically. The plastic never goes stale.

Who is it for, and the one requirement. NFC cards suit anyone who meets people face to face — sales reps, doctors, real-estate agents, café owners, freelancers at events. Every modern iPhone and almost every Android made in the last several years reads NFC with no setup. The single requirement on your side is a plan that includes the NFC feature; if your plan does not, ScaanMe will send you to the Plans page to upgrade before you can order or activate a card. Everything in this guide — ordering, activating, linking — lives under your dashboard once that feature is on.

The lifecycle in one breath. Here is the whole journey so the rest of this guide makes sense: you order a card design and pay → ScaanMe prints and ships it with a unique activation code → when it arrives you activate it by entering that code and choosing which of your vCards or stores it should open → from then on every tap opens that profile. Later you can relink the same physical card to a different profile any time without reordering. We'll walk through each stage in detail below.

What happens under the hood / why it matters. Each NFC card carries a unique, hidden web address of the form …/nfc/{key}, where {key} is a long random code printed into the chip at the factory. When a phone taps the card, it opens that address. ScaanMe looks the key up, finds which of your profiles it is linked to, and redirects the visitor straight to your live vCard or store. The visitor never sees the raw /nfc/ link — they just land on your beautiful profile. This indirection is the magic that lets you relink later: the key stays the same, but where it points can change.

The CRM tag — every tap is labelled "NFC". When ScaanMe redirects a tap to your profile, it quietly appends ?s=nfc to the destination address. That tiny stamp tells your CRM the visit came from a physical card tap, not from a QR code, an Instagram link or a Google search. The payoff: in your CRM's *Traffic sources* you'll see exactly how many people your handed-out cards are bringing in, separate from every other channel. If you give cards out at a conference, you can literally measure the event's return. This happens automatically — you do nothing.

The "not linked yet" safety page. If someone taps a card whose key has not been activated and linked to a profile, they don't hit a broken error. Instead they see a clean page titled "NFC Card Not Linked!" explaining the card isn't connected to any active link yet, with a "Login & Link" button. This matters in two ways: first, a brand-new card you haven't activated still behaves gracefully if accidentally tapped; second, if you ever unlink a card, anyone tapping the old card lands here instead of on stale information. The page is also marked *noindex* so it never shows up in search engines.

Custom domains and tap behaviour. If the vCard a card points to uses your own custom domain, the tap sends visitors to https://www.yourdomain.com/ instead of the standard ScaanMe profile URL — your branding stays front and center. For everyone else, the tap opens your normal ScaanMe profile (or subdomain) address. Either way the visitor reaches the same content; only the address bar differs. You don't configure any of this on the card — it follows whatever the linked vCard is set up to use.

What this is / why. Before you can tap anything, you need a physical card. ScaanMe sells the cards directly inside your dashboard: you browse the available designs, pick one, fill in shipping details, pay, and the team prints and ships it to you. Each design is a real product with its own look, price and stock level. You order the *blank* card here; activating and linking it to a profile happens later, after it arrives.

Step 1 — Open the card store. From your user dashboard go to NFC Card Orders (the "Order Now" / order cards screen). You'll see a gallery of card designs, each shown as a card tile with its image, a name, a short description, and the price in your store's currency. This page only loads if your plan includes the NFC feature and the order system is switched on by the site; otherwise you're redirected to upgrade. Take a moment to compare designs — the look of the card is the first impression you'll hand someone.

Step 2 — Pick a design (mind the stock). Each tile has an Order Now button. If a design has run out, that button is replaced with a greyed-out Out of Stock label and you can't proceed with it — choose another design or check back later. Clicking Order Now opens the Checkout page for that specific design. Note the system re-checks stock at checkout too, so on the rare chance a card sells out between your click and your payment, it will send you back with an "out of stock" message rather than take an order it can't fulfil.

Step 3 — Read the Order Details summary. At the top of checkout, the Order Details table lists the NFC Card Name, Quantity, the Price, the tax line (named after your store's tax setting and calculated as a percentage of the price), and the Total. This is your itemised receipt-in-progress — confirm the design name and the total match what you expect before going further. The tax shown follows the site's configured rate, so the total may be a little above the sticker price.

Step 4 — Apply a coupon (optional). Below the summary is a Coupon Code box with an Apply button. Enter a valid NFC coupon and click Apply; if it's accepted, a discount row appears in the table and the Total recalculates instantly without reloading the page. Coupons are matched specifically to NFC orders, so a coupon meant for store products or plan upgrades won't work here. If the code is wrong or expired you'll get a clear error and the total stays unchanged — no harm done, just try another.

Step 5 — Fill the Shipping Details. This is where the card gets sent, so be precise. The fields are Name, Email and Phone (required — how the team reaches you about delivery), Address, City and State/Province (required — the destination), Zip Code (optional but recommended for couriers), a Type dropdown of Personal or Business (for the invoice), and an optional Tax Number if you need it on the invoice. Several fields pre-fill from your account's billing info to save typing — double-check them, because an old saved address is the most common reason a card goes to the wrong place.

Step 6 — Choose a payment method and pay. Under Payment method you'll see the gateways the site has enabled (cards, PayPal, Stripe, and so on — the exact list depends on your region). Pick one and click Continue for payment to be taken to that gateway. There's also an Offline / Bank Transfer option: choose it, transfer the amount to the bank details shown, and enter your bank's Transaction ID to submit the order. Offline orders start as *pending* and are confirmed manually once the team verifies your payment — you'll see a message telling you the details were sent for verification.

Edge case — duplicate transaction IDs. For bank-transfer orders, each Transaction ID must be unique. If you accidentally submit the same bank reference twice, ScaanMe blocks it with a "this transaction ID is already processed" message so you're never charged or counted twice. Likewise, the Transaction ID field is required for offline payment — leaving it blank returns you to checkout with a clear prompt. Online gateway payments don't need this; the gateway handles the reference for you.

What it is / why. Every card ships with a unique activation code — a string tied to the chip inside it. The card arrives *blank*: it has a chip and a code, but it isn't yet pointing to any of your profiles. Activation is the one-time act of telling ScaanMe "this physical card belongs to me, and it should open *this* vCard or store." Until you activate, a tap shows the "not linked" page. After activation, every tap opens the profile you chose. You only do this once per card; relinking later is a separate, lighter action.

Step 1 — Find your activation code. Your code is printed on or shipped with the card, and it's also stored in your account: open My NFC Cards Orders (the orders list) and the activation code appears next to your order — it's even a clickable link that carries the code straight into the activation form. Having it in your dashboard means that even if you misplace the printed insert, you can always recover the code online. Keep it private; anyone with the code could link the card if it's still unactivated.

Step 2 — Open the Activate screen. Go to Activate NFC Card in your dashboard (there's a quick link from the *My NFC Cards* page). You'll see a short form with two fields: NFC Card Activation Code and Business Cards & Stores. If you arrived via the clickable code link from your orders list, the code field may already be filled for you. This screen only lists profiles that are eligible to be linked, so it keeps the choice clean.

Step 3 — Enter the code and pick a profile. Type or paste your activation code into the first field. Then open the Business Cards & Stores dropdown and choose which profile this card should open — it lists only your activated (published) vCards and stores, because a tap must land on something live. If the list reads *No business cards found*, you have no published profile yet; create and publish one first, then come back. Choosing the right profile here matters because the tap will always open exactly this one until you relink.

Step 4 — Click Activate. Press Activate. ScaanMe validates everything: the chosen profile must be one of *your* published cards, and the code must exist and be not already linked. On success you get "Business card activated!" and your card is live — go tap it on your phone to confirm it opens the right profile. The very first test tap is worth doing immediately so you catch any mistake while the card is still in your hand.

Edge cases the form guards against. If the code doesn't exist you'll see "Activation code not found!" — re-check for typos (codes are case-sensitive and easy to mistype). If the code is already linked, you'll get "Activation code already linked to a business card/store"; that means the card is in use, and to point it elsewhere you should use relinking (next section) rather than activation. And if the profile you picked isn't found or isn't yours, you'll see "Business card not found!" These guards exist so one person can never hijack another's card by guessing a code.

What it is / why. Activation pointed your card at a profile once. Relinking lets you change that target — or link a card that's currently blank — at any time, as many times as you like, all from the My NFC Cards screen. This is the feature that makes ScaanMe cards reusable for life: change jobs, rebrand, or switch a card from your personal vCard to your shop's store, and you never reorder plastic. The same physical card simply starts opening a different profile.

Step 1 — Open My NFC Cards. In your dashboard go to My NFC Cards. You'll see a table of every card you own with these columns: Date (when the order was created), NFC Card Name (the design, clickable to view the order), Linked Card (the profile it currently opens, or a dash if none), and Linked Status — a green Linked badge or a red Unlinked badge so you can tell each card's state at a glance. This table is your master list for managing where each card points.

Step 2 — Open the actions menu. On the right of each row is a three-dot (⋮) menu. Click it to reveal the available action, which depends on the card's current state: a currently Unlinked card shows Link to NFC Card, while a Linked card shows Unlink from NFC Card. This single menu is where every link change starts. The action you see is always the one that makes sense for that row, so you can't accidentally do the wrong thing.

Step 3 — Link to a profile. Choosing Link to NFC Card opens the Link Card to NFC Card Key screen. It has one control — a Business Cards & Stores dropdown listing all your active vCards and stores. Pick the profile you want this card to open and click Link. You're returned to the table with a "Vcard Linked Successfully" confirmation and the row now shows a green Linked badge pointing at your chosen profile. From that second, taps go to the new destination.

Step 4 — Relink (change the target). To move a card to a *different* profile, you first Unlink it from the ⋮ menu (this clears its current target and turns the badge red), then Link it again to the new profile. There's no separate "swap" button — unlink then link is the deliberate two-step so you never silently redirect a card you forgot was in circulation. The whole round-trip takes seconds and needs no new order or payment.

Step 5 — Unlink and what happens to old taps. Choosing Unlink from NFC Card asks you to confirm ("Are you sure?"), then on Yes, proceed it detaches the profile and you'll see "Vcard Unlinked Successfully". Important: while a card is unlinked, anyone who taps it lands on the "NFC Card Not Linked!" page — not on your old profile. So unlinking is a safe way to instantly "deactivate" a lost card until you decide where to point it next.

Security note — you can only touch your own cards. Every link, relink and unlink is ownership-checked behind the scenes: the card key must belong to one of *your* orders, and the target profile must be one of *your* cards. If either check fails you simply get a "not found" message and nothing changes. This means even if someone learned one of your card's internal IDs, they couldn't relink it from their account — your cards are yours alone.

What it is / why. The NFC Card Orders screen is the home for everything you've bought: it tracks payment, tells you where your card is in the printing-and-shipping journey, holds your invoice, and — for personalised designs — lets you upload the logo to be printed. Check it whenever you're wondering "where's my card?" or need a receipt.

Step 1 — Read the two status columns. Each order row carries two separate badges. Payment status is one of Paid (green), Pending (orange, e.g. an unverified bank transfer), Failed (red) or Cancelled. Delivery status tracks the physical journey through Pending → Processing → Printing Process Begun → Out for delivery → Shipped → Delivered, plus Hold (something needs attention) and Cancelled. Reading both together tells the full story — e.g. *Paid + Processing* means your money's in and the card is being prepared.

Step 2 — View an order and its invoice. Click an order's ID or use the View action in its ⋮ menu to open the full order page: design, quantity, totals, shipping address and the timeline. From here you can reach the invoice for that transaction — handy for expenses or reimbursement. The order page is also where the activation key for that specific card is shown, with a link straight into the activation form.

Step 3 — Upload your logo (personalised cards). If your design needs your branding, the orders table shows an Upload button while the order is in Printing Process Begun, Processing or Hold state. Click it, choose your image file, and submit — the logo is attached to the order so the team prints it onto your card. Once uploaded, you'll see a thumbnail with a Re-upload option (available while the order is still Processing or Hold) in case you sent the wrong file.

Edge case — the upload window closes. You can only upload or re-upload a logo while the order is in an early enough stage (Processing or Hold for re-uploads). Once the card has shipped or been delivered, the logo is locked in and the system will tell you it can't re-upload because the status isn't "Processing" or "Holding". The lesson: if your design needs a logo, upload it promptly after ordering so it's in before printing begins — don't wait.

Test every card with a tap before you give it away. The instant a card is activated or relinked, tap it with your own phone to confirm it opens the right profile. This 5-second check catches a wrong-profile selection or a typo'd code while the card is still in your hand, instead of after you've handed a stack of them out at an event.

Point cards at a vCard, not a single dead link. Because your card opens a live profile, keep that profile rich and current — a good photo, working WhatsApp, an up-to-date booking link. Update the vCard, not the card. One profile edit instantly improves every card you've ever distributed.

Use the ?s=nfc stamp to prove ROI. After a networking event, open your CRM's Traffic sources and look at the NFC channel. Those are the people your physical cards brought in. If a batch of cards generates real leads, that's hard evidence the print cost paid off — and a reason to order more for the next event.

Treat unlink as your "kill switch" for lost cards. If a card goes missing, don't panic — open My NFC Cards and Unlink it. Anyone who finds and taps it then sees the harmless "not linked" page instead of your information, and you can relink the same key to a replacement card later if it turns up.

Double-check the shipping address every single time. The most common ordering mistake is shipping to an old, pre-filled billing address. Before you pay, re-read the Name, Address, City and State fields — a wrong address means a lost card and a re-order, which costs far more than the ten seconds it takes to verify.

Order in batches and keep a couple blank. If you hand out cards often, order several at once — and leave one or two unlinked as spares. A blank card lets you activate a fresh one on the spot for a new contact or a colleague, without waiting for shipping.

Does the person I tap need a special app to read my card? No. NFC reading is built into the phone's operating system. On iPhone and modern Android, they simply hold the phone near your card and a notification opens your profile in their normal browser. There's nothing for them to install and nothing for you to configure — that frictionlessness is the whole point of an NFC card.

Can I change which vCard or store my card opens after I've used it? Yes, any time and as often as you like. Go to My NFC Cards, unlink the card, then link it to the new profile — no reorder, no new payment. This is the single biggest advantage over a printed card: the plastic is permanent, but its destination is yours to change forever.

What happens if someone taps a card I haven't activated yet? They see a clean page titled "NFC Card Not Linked!" telling them the card isn't connected to anything yet, with a Login & Link button — no error, no broken page. The same friendly page appears if you've deliberately unlinked a card. So a brand-new or deactivated card always behaves gracefully.

I lost the paper with my activation code — can I still activate the card? Yes. Your activation code is stored in your account. Open your NFC Card Orders list and you'll find the code beside the matching order, displayed as a link that drops it straight into the activation form. The printed insert is a convenience, not your only copy.

Why is my order's payment status "Pending"? That almost always means you chose bank transfer / offline payment. Offline orders wait until the team manually verifies your bank Transaction ID, then flip to Paid — you'll have seen a message saying your details were sent for verification. Online gateway payments (cards, PayPal, etc.) confirm instantly, so they rarely sit at Pending.

Can one NFC card open more than one profile at the same time? No — each card points to exactly one vCard or store at a time, which keeps the tap experience predictable. If you need a card for your personal profile and another for your shop, link two separate cards. You can, of course, relink a single card back and forth whenever your situation changes.

Why can't I see the order or activate pages at all? Two reasons. Either your current plan doesn't include the NFC feature — in which case ScaanMe sends you to the Plans page to upgrade — or the NFC ordering system is switched off site-wide by the administrator. If you believe you should have access and still hit a wall, check your plan first, then contact support.

A ScaanMe NFC card ships pre-encoded, so you normally never touch the chip — you just activate and link. But if you bring your own blank NFC sticker or chip, you can write it yourself: program the chip to point at your card's public URL, and a tap opens your profile exactly like a factory card. The destination is just a web link, so any blank NTAG-style chip works.

The flow is simple: copy your card's public URL from your dashboard, open any standard NFC-writer app on your phone, choose to write a URL/link record, paste the address, and hold the blank chip to your phone to encode it. Test it with a second phone before you hand it out. This is the same self-encode idea ScaanMe uses for restaurant table stickers — see the table block below.

If you run Restaurant OS (or Cafe), each table can carry its own NFC tap alongside its QR. On the Tables & QR screen, every table row has a Link NFC action: tap it to mint a fresh NFC key bound to that exact table and store. A table that already has a key shows Unlink NFC instead — unlink first if you want to release the key or move it elsewhere. See Restaurant OS — Setup for the full table workflow.

Once a table is linked, the screen shows an "Encode the NFC chip with this URL:" hint with the table's own /t/{token} address spelled out. Write that exact URL onto the blank chip (using the self-write flow above), stick it on the table, and a guest's tap opens that table's live menu — the very same page its printed QR opens. Deleting the table or unlinking the key releases it cleanly, so a stray chip never points at a dead table.

When you buy physical NFC cards, every purchase is recorded so you can track and account for it. The NFC Card Orders list shows each order with its design, status and the activation key beside it; the NFC Card Transactions list is the financial side — each payment row links to a full, printable/downloadable invoice (with your details, the card name, quantity and totals) you can save as a PDF for your records.

At checkout you can set a quantity — order several cards in one go (handy for a sales team) rather than placing an order per card. Note the chip-encoding/write step you may have seen in screenshots is on the platform's fulfillment side; on your account you simply order, then activate each card with its key once it arrives.

If your account uses the Modern Dashboard, opening the NFC ordering area automatically takes you to its dedicated NFC orders view there, keeping everything in the modern layout. Either way the orders, transactions and invoices are the same underlying records — only the surface differs.