Acquirer
The financial institution that processes credit or debit card payments on behalf of a merchant.
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The definitive glossary for modern payment infrastructure. Decode acronyms, understand fee structures, and master the technical jargon.
The financial institution that processes credit or debit card payments on behalf of a merchant.
A financial institution authorized by card networks to process merchant transactions and settle funds.
A system used to verify the identity of the person claiming to own the credit card.
Payment methods other than major credit cards, such as digital wallets, bank transfers, or BNPL.
The process of confirming a customer has sufficient funds and approving the transaction amount.
The first 4 to 8 digits of a payment card number identifying the issuing bank.
A routing strategy that retries declined transactions through alternative acquiring paths based on BIN data.
The process of finalizing an authorized payment, triggering the actual transfer of funds.
A transaction where the physical card is not present, such as online, phone, or mail-order purchases.
A payment dispute initiated by the cardholder directly with their issuing bank, forcing a reversal of funds.
A transaction where the merchant and cardholder are in different countries, involving currency conversion.
Card Verification Value or Code, a 3 or 4-digit security number printed on the card.
A numeric response code from the issuer indicating why a transaction was not approved.
A service allowing customers to pay in their home currency rather than the merchant's local currency.
Automatic redirection of payment traffic to a backup processor when the primary provider is unavailable.
A risk assessment system assigning a numerical score to each transaction based on fraud likelihood.
An API principle ensuring that safely retrying a request produces the same result without double-charging.
The fee paid by the acquiring bank to the issuing bank each time a card transaction is processed.
A highly transparent pricing model separating interchange fees, scheme fees, and acquirer markups.
The bank or institution that provides the credit or debit card to the consumer.
A transaction rejection by the card-issuing bank, often due to insufficient funds, fraud suspicion, or card restrictions.
A four-digit code assigned by card networks to classify the type of business a merchant operates.
Presenting prices in the customer's local currency while settling in the merchant's preferred currency.
Card network-level tokenization (by Visa/Mastercard) that replaces PANs with tokens for higher approval rates.
A master merchant that onboards sub-merchants under its own acquiring relationship, simplifying payments for platforms.
The technology that captures and transfers payment data from the customer to the acquirer.
A software layer that integrates and manages multiple payment gateways and services through a single API.
A holistic third-party company that helps merchants accept payments by bundling gateway and acquiring services.
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, a set of security standards for handling card data.
Revised Payment Services Directive, European regulation standardizing payment security and open banking.
Automatic, scheduled charging of a stored payment method for subscription or installment payments.
A merchant-initiated reversal of a completed payment back to the customer's card.
The process of moving captured funds from the acquirer to the merchant's bank account.
AI-driven transaction routing that selects the optimal acquirer based on real-time approval rates and costs.
Software Point of Sale, turning a standard smartphone into a payment terminal without extra hardware.
A European regulatory requirement necessitating two-factor authentication for online payments.
Replacing sensitive card data (PAN) with a unique, randomly generated placeholder (token).
The cancellation of an authorized transaction before it has been captured or settled.
An automated HTTP callback triggered by an event to push real-time data to another server.
An additional security layer for online credit and debit card transactions.