Result Help

Valid Tag is the green band. It means the one-time code your tag produced was checked against that tag's counter and redeemed as fresh. The chip that made the code holds keys written at our facility and never readable back out, so a copied link cannot produce one.

The link you opened was already used. Every read writes a new single-use code into the link, so an old link fails by design. Tap the tag again and open the new link that appears. Replay is common when a link is shared, bookmarked, or reopened later, and it does not mean the tag is bad.

We switch a tag off only for a report of fraud or theft, a legal order, or a security problem, such as signs its codes were copied. The band reads Validation Disabled, IC Status reads Contact Support, and the Validation row reads Disabled. Older pages called the same state UID Disabled. No browser or app, NFC Proof included, can complete the check. Keep the item and email support@nfcmint.com with the UID shown on the result. A person will answer.

Green is a check that completed and passed, which is Valid Tag. Amber is an informational state with a next step, which is Replay Detected. Red is a blocked or unfinished state, such as Validation Disabled or Validation Failed. The color describes the check, never the item carrying the tag.

The colored band is the tag-level verdict. The Validation row underneath reports the scan result. Valid means the scan passed, both in the browser and in NFC Proof. Verification of the physical chip is a separate check, reported in IC Status.

IC Status reports the chip, and its three values are three different facts. ECC means the NXP factory originality signature was verified on your device. Secure means a Secure tag proved itself with its live key on that scan. Not Evaluated means the chip check has not run, which is normal for a browser tap. The chip check needs to pass once per tag, not once per scan.

The counter is the chip's own read counter, and it only goes up. Every read increments it and produces the one-time code that belongs to that value. This service redeems a code against the counter, which is what makes an old link fail. The result shows the value in decimal and in hex.

Some tags we mint use the NTAG 424 DNA TagTamper (TT) chip, which carries a physical detection wire. A sealed package holds that wire in a closed loop. Cutting the wire, which is what opening the package does, is recorded permanently in the chip. The Tamper Seal field reports the wire's current state, read live off the chip on every scan.

Opened means the tamper wire has been severed and cannot be restored. Usually the package was opened at some point, which a previous owner or a quality check can explain. Opened is not a counterfeit finding. If you are buying something sold as sealed and the result reads Opened, treat that as a reason to ask questions before paying.

An OnceMark tag carries a record its maker wrote once, and the result renders it inside a box labeled Third-Party Metadata. We check that the record has not changed since it was written, and that is the whole of what we check. We do not review the claims in it and we do not vouch for them. Read the box as the maker's statement, not ours.

Unknown tag UID means the tag is not registered with this service. Check that you tapped a tag we minted, since plenty of other NFC tags open links that look similar. If you believe the tag is one of ours, write to support@nfcmint.com and include the UID shown on the result page.

Invalid validation parameters means the link is missing fields or the fields are malformed. It usually happens when a link is typed by hand, edited, or copied out of a message and truncated on the way. Tap the tag again and open the fresh link your phone offers. Never edit a validation link.

We rate limit requests per device and per network to keep replay floods off the service. Wait a moment, tap the tag again for a fresh link, and open it. If the limit keeps firing on a normal number of scans, tell us at support@nfcmint.com and name the network in use at the time.

The service could not complete the request just then, which a brief connection problem can cause. Wait a moment and tap the tag again. Service Status shows whether our validators are answering their monitoring pings. A request that does not complete says nothing about the tag itself.

Validation Failed means the check could not be completed. A link that was altered, opened long after the tap, or opened from a different context lands here, and so does an unstable connection. Tap the tag again, open the new link right away, and let the page finish. A failed check is not a counterfeit finding.

A genuine result proves the tag is genuine and live. It does not prove the tag is still on the item it was applied to, and nothing in the check inspects the item. A tag is a bearer instrument, so whoever holds it can tap it. Seals, counters, and records are how we make misuse visible.

No. A check that does not complete tells you the check did not complete. Replays, edited links, rate limits, and connection problems all end a scan early, and each one has a plain fix. Tap the tag again for a fresh link. If the same result keeps coming back, send us the UID and we will look into it.

No. Service Status reports one thing, whether our validators answered their last monitoring ping. Normal, Degraded, Down, and Unknown describe that monitoring and never describe a tag. A tag's outcome is the band on its own result page. A monitoring outage means status could not be retrieved, and a failed request means a check could not be completed.

The Tamper Seal reading comes from the TagTamper (TT) chip and its physical wire. A tag built on any other chip has no wire to report, so no seal field appears. NFC Proof also suppresses the seal chip on TamperKit tags, whose record and tamper history belong to the activator and stay inside the TamperKit app.