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Know Your Customer, From a Single Tap
Identification

Know Your Customer, From a Single Tap

With Identification, any card tap turns into a real-time identity signal without processing a payment. Just trigger a call to the terminal → the customer taps their card → Surfboard instantly returns a webhook → and from there, you decide what should happen next.

Pre-payment Identity Layer

Today, card-present rails can do far more than payments. Identification introduces a new pre-payment identity layer, letting your platform answer questions such as: Who is this customer?

Match the tap token against your CRM, loyalty system, journal, or booking database. What are they entitled to? Discounted meal? Corporate lunch? Staff meal? Prepaid ticket? Subscription access? Free service? Should we create an order — and for what amount?

Your checkout. Your logic. Our infrastructure.

Your system calculates the final price (full, discounted, zero) and sends the payment trigger only if needed. Identify ticket purchases, online reservations, pre-orders, click-and-collect orders, subscriptions, or memberships.

How It Works — 3 Steps

1

Identification API call

The terminal enters “identify mode.”
                          POST /terminals/:id/identify
{
  "prompt": "Tap to Identify",
  "timeout": 60
}
2

Customer taps card or wallet

Surfboard reads card data, tokenizes it, and sends a persistent, anonymized token.
3

Webhook returns secure token

You match the token to any known customer. Decide what to do next: allow access, create order, trigger discount, mark attendance, etc. No payment is created unless you choose to. Just instant identity.
                          {
  "event": "card_identified",
  "data": {
    "token": "tok_12345...",
    "card": { "last4": "4242", "brand": "visa" }
  }
}

Unlock powerful new use-cases

This simple flow unlocks powerful new use-cases for check-in, entitlements, loyalty, access control, discount logic, meal benefits, ticket validation, free purchases, and much more. All without friction for the customer.

1. Corporate Lunch / Subsidized Meals

The customer taps their card; your system checks their entitlements:

  • Free meal today?
  • Discounted amount?
  • Paid full yesterday?

You then create an order with the correct price and send the payment request.

Perfect for:

  • Employer-subsidized canteens
  • School cafeterias
  • Staff dining programs

2. Ticket Redemption (Online → Venue)

A user buys a ticket online using a card, then taps the same card at the door.

Identification recognizes the token and confirms:

  • Ticket purchased
  • Ticket still valid
  • Event entry allowed

No QR codes. No apps. No searching emails. Just tap and enter.

This is powered by Surfboard’s unified tokenization across online and in-store channels.

3. Loyalty Check-In Without an App

Using Surfboard’s wallet-native loyalty platform, Identification enables:

  • App-free loyalty check-in
  • Auto-recognition of returning customers
  • Personalized benefits triggered in real time
  • One-tap enrollment through Apple/Google Wallet

The tap becomes the moment of identification and loyalty activation.

4. Access Control & Membership Verification

Ideal for gyms, coworking spaces, private clubs, manufacturing sites, or employee zones.

Tap card =

  • Recognize the user
  • Check membership validity
  • Open gate / deny access
  • Log the visit

5. Kiosk & Self-Checkout Entitlements

In unattended flows (kiosks, vending, EV chargers, ticketing), Identification can:

  • Apply discounts
  • Validate prepayment
  • Verify user type (student, member, staff, VIP)
  • Trigger custom pricing or restriction logic

Surfboard’s unattended architecture already supports this natively.

6. High-Speed Check-In for Journal & Booking ISVs

For verticals like hair/beauty, dental, veterinary, sports, wellness, the tap can:

  • Confirm appointment arrival
  • Bring up their profile automatically in the system
  • Trigger loyalty or prepayment logic
  • Start the service flow instantly

Reduces manual search time and improves throughput.

Works on all Surfboard devices

Identification works across our entire hardware ecosystem. Whether you are using our payment terminals, SurfXpress self-checkout, SoftPOS on Android, Tap to Pay on iPhone, kiosks, or unattended devices.

One API. One integration. Any device.

Ready to identify?

Start identifying customers today. Our API makes it easy to initiate identification calls and handle the response tokens securely and fast.

Read the Developer docs »
                            POST /terminals/:terminalId/identify
{
  "prompt": "Tap to Identify",
  "timeout": 60
}