Payments Terminology
Like most things, payments have a vocabulary all of their own.This section will help you understand the brochures, documents and forms you are likely to see, and sign, when you are finding out more about the way payments are processed. We have included some of the most common terms here but you can find a full list in our white paper "Accepting Online Internet Payments ".
Acquiring bank - a bank that has a business relationship with a Merchant and receives Credit Card transactions from that merchant.
Authorisation - an approval of a Credit Card transaction provided to a Merchant by the Card Issuing bank.
Card Issuing Bank - a bank that issues a Credit (Visa or MasterCard) or Debit card to a cardholder.
Cardholder - the Customer who is purchasing an item online via a valid payment method (Credit Card).
Chargeback - a Credit Card transaction that is billed back to the Merchant who made the sale. This happens when a credit Cardholder disputes a charge on their statement by claiming the product they purchased online was never delivered or they were dissatisfied with it.
Merchant Account - a special account you set up with your Acquiring Bank that lays out the terms and conditions for you to accept credit cards as payment for goods and services.
Merchant Service Fee - sometimes called the Merchant Discount. A percentage of the retail sale the merchant pays as a fee to their Acquiring Bank for processing the credit card transaction.
So now that you understand some of the language it's time to get started.