Tap to Pay uses your phone's own NFC chip as a contactless card reader — no separate hardware to carry or charge. It accepts tap cards and digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay).
Before you start
Tap to Pay needs the venue to have a card-reader location registered with Stripe. Noctern creates that on its own the first time a door device asks to take a card — but only if the venue's name, street address, city, state and zip code are all filled in on AdminVenues[venue]Edit.
If card payments fail on the device with a message about the venue's Terminal location, that's almost always a blank address field. A Venue Admin can fix it in the venue's details and try again — there's nothing to turn on, and nothing you can do from the door.
Taking a Tap to Pay sale
In the Sale tab, select seats or enter a general-admission quantity for the patron.
Tap Charge card. The app calculates the total — including the Noctern fee, the card fee, your venue's own box office fee if it charges one, and tax — from the venue's live pricing. You can't type an amount.
Hold the patron's card or phone to the back of your device where indicated on screen.
Wait for the success screen, which confirms the amount charged.
Unlike a cash sale at the door, a Tap to Pay sale is processed by Noctern, so the usual fees apply and the money reaches the venue through its normal payout — not the till.
The ticket's QR code appears right on the success screen — that's the guest's ticket. If they want it emailed too, tap Send Receipt and enter their email address; nothing is emailed automatically.
Refunds
Tap to Pay sales cannot be refunded from the POS app. To refund one, a venue admin uses the web at AdminEvents[event]Attendees → Refund Ticket. Card refunds are venue-admin only — Box Office staff can't process them on any surface.
Gotchas
- Tap to Pay is US-only, and requires a phone with NFC hardware — very old or budget Android devices may not support it.
- If the connection drops mid-charge, don't tap Charge card again right away — check the sale history first so you don't double-charge the patron.