Glossary
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- ACH
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ACH payments are Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT) that occur when individuals use money in their personal banking accounts to make secure transactions online. ACH stands for Automated Clearing House and is a national transfer system that securely links all US financial and banking institutions. These are direct deposit, fund transfers and eCheck payments.
- Acquiring bank
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A bank that has a direct relationship with a merchant account provider. Acquiring banks allow merchants to accept payments by receiving and processing all credit card transactions. There are also known as merchant banks.
- Address Verification Service (AVS)
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Fraud prevention mechanism used for card-not-present transactions. All transactions lodged via phone, internet or mail are subject to AVC screening which compares the billing address provided by the customers with the billing address on file at the bank/association which issued their card.
- Authorization
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The process whereby the merchant makes a request to the customers credit card issuers to ensure there are sufficient funds in their account for the purchase. If the customer has sufficient funds, the issuing bank responds with an authorization code and automatically separates the customer's funds in preparation for the transaction to be processed. This process is carried out in 'real-time' and allows the customer to know immediately if their transaction has been 'successful' although the funds are not removed from their account at this time.
- Authorization code
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A code sent to the merchant by the customer's credit card issuer which verifies they have enough funds for the transaction. The merchant uses this code after authorization is complete to transfer the funds from the customer's credit card into their merchant account.
- B Open Section
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- Buyer
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The name given to a customer who is purchasing a merchant's products or services.
- C Open Section
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- Cardholder
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The customer who is using their credit or debit card to make a transaction is referred to as the 'cardholder'.
- Card-not-present transactions
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Any transaction where the customer is unable to physically show their card to the merchant is considered a card-not-present transaction. This includes all online transactions, over the phone purchases and mail orders. In these cases the credit card information is sent to the merchant, but the merchant cannot see the card, therefore making it a card-not-present transaction.
- Card-present transactions
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Any transaction where a customer physically shows a merchant their card, swipes it through a terminal or sends an acceptable capture of the imprint and signature.
- Chargeback
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A chargeback occurs when a customer disputes the validity of a transaction that appear on their credit card statement. The customer informs their credit card provider who investigates the unaccepted charge with the merchant or retailer where the transaction occurred. If found to be a valid chargeback, the transaction amount is billed back to the merchant who must pay the credit card provider.
- Credit Card Association
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An association which issues credit cards. Examples of credit card associations include Visa, MasterCard International, Diners Club, Amex, Discover etc.
- Credit Verification Value (CVV)
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This is a security number found on the reverse side of a customer's credit card. There is a 7 digit number in the signature panel of a credit card; the CVV is comprised of the last 3 digits of this 7 digit number. CVV identification is used as an effective security mechanism as it requires the paying party to physically posses the card they are using for purchase, in order to enter the number on the back. This number is also known as CVV2.
- D Open Section
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- Deposit
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The final payment received by a merchant after a customer has made a purchase.
- Deposit options
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The varying payment options offered to customers for purchasing a merchant's products. Deposit options allow the customer choice when paying for goods and services. Various depositing options include credit card, ACH processing, direct deposit, eCheck and more.
- Discounted rate
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A discounted rate can be offered to merchants based on their volume and transaction history.
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- e-Commerce
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A term used to describe any online site, company or industry that uses an online destination in order to sell their good or services.
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- Fraud Scoring Systems (FSS)
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A security system which generates a fraud likelihood score on a customer transaction by assessing data such as; cardholder address vs. shipping address, IP address, location time, contact details and many other factors. This is an advanced version of the AVS system.
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- Gateway
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Also knows as an Online Payment Gateway. This is an application which connects the shopping cart on a merchant's site to the payment processor, allowing the transference of transaction information in order for real time processing to occur.
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- Hosted sales page
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See Gateway
- I Open Section
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- IP Address
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Internet Protocol Address. Every computer connected to the internet has its own unique IP address which distinguishes it from all other computers. The IP address acts as a locator (much like a street address) so that other computers can find and interact with it across networks.
- Issuing Bank
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The bank or association which has issued a customer's credit card and maintains their credit card account.
- K Open Section
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- Keyed
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A 'keyed' transaction is any transaction that has been made by manually entering credit card details into an online payment gateway or hosted sales page.
- M Open Section
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- Merchant (eCommerce)
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A merchant is any company that uses the internet to sell goods or services
- Merchant Account
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A merchant account is a specialist account provided by a payment processing company that allows eCommerce merchants to accept transactions online. When a merchant signs up for an account they are provided with payment processing services for a variety of payment methods (including credit card and ACH) along with varying levels of other products; such as customer support and fraud services. A merchant must set up a merchant account if they wish to process large quantities of sales or open their business to an international market.
- Merchant Account Provider
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Merchant account providers are payment processors that facilitate a merchants ability to process transactions online. Depending on the level of service, merchant account providers can offer a wide range of eCommerce services to their merchants than can include customer support, fraud protection services and more. Merchant account providers use their banking relationships to offer merchants secure, efficient and protected transaction processing services for their customers.
- MOTO transactions
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Mail order or telephone order transactions (MOTO). Customers ring a merchant with their credit card details or send them via mail in order to make a purchase. These types of transactions require merchants to enter payment details in via a virtual terminal.
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- Offline processing
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All transactions that take place through physically swiping or imprinting a credit or debit card.
- Online processing
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The authorization and completion of online transactions through a third party processor by use of a hosted sales page or payment gateway.
- P Open Section
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- Payment Card Industry Standards (PCIS)
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All payment processing companies must adhere to the PCI data security standards or similar industry standards guides. Adhering to such standards forces the payment processing company to ensure their virtual payment environment meets the standards of protection and security. This set of guidelines provide all payment processing companies with global security standards, guides on best practice techniques and ways to securely deal with card details and transaction data.
- Payment options
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The varying payment options offered to customers for purchasing a merchant's products. Payment options allow the customer choice when paying for goods and services. Various payment options include credit card, ACH processing, Direct Deposit and eCheck.
- Payment gateway
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See Gateway
- R Open Section
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- Retrieval request
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If a customer applies for a chargeback, their credit card issuer will send a retrieval request to the merchant who runs the site with the disputed charge. The merchant will then be expected to provide all available details of this transaction, including date, relevant shipping and authorization information.
- Rolling Reserve
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This is a transitory fee of 10% on merchant's weekly earnings, held by the payment processor and released to the merchant at the end of each weekly period. Temporarily holding this amount allows for payment processor security in cases of excessive chargebacks. This amount is released immediately at the end of each payment week, where 10% for the next payment week will then be held in its place.
- S Open Section
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- Settlement
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The final stage in transaction processing between the payment processor and the issuing credit/bank association. This stage of the process results in the customer's funds being fully deposited into the merchant account, signally the end of the transaction process.
- SSL Certificate
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Due to the sensitive nature of online payment processing, all merchants must acquire a Secure Socket Layer Encryption (SsL) Server Certificate. Having a SSL certificate ensures a secure and private connection between the customer's browser and the web server. This server certificate provides a range of important tools and mechanisms to ensure the safety of both the business and customer's information by providing server authentication and data connection privacy.
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- Transaction fees
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The minimal percentage fee charged per transaction by the payment processor. Information on transaction fees can be found on the rates page.
- Transaction fees
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The minimal percentage fee charged per transaction by the payment processor. Information on transaction fees can be found on the rates page.
- Tickets
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Tickets are an internal communication mechanism developed by intabill. Merchants and customers can lodge tickets which are sent online to the customer support centre. Here, the customer support representative either replies via a ticket or forwards to ticket to the merchant manager or other relevant representatives.
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- Virtual terminal
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A browser based interface that provides merchants with the connectivity to manually process credit card, debit card and e-check transactions. As a fully integrated account feature, a merchant can access their virtual terminal from any computer in the world that is connected to the internet, allowing for fast, convenient and immediate access when required. Virtual terminals are used primarily for the manual processing of MOTO transactions (phone and mail orders).
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- Wire payments
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All wire payments are sent on a weekly basis, covering the pay for the period ending 3 weeks earlier. Merchants are paid each weeks pay three weeks after the weekly payment period. More information can be found on the Payment Schedule page of this website.