Glossary

Common payment processing terms and definitions.

A

ACH - Automated Clearing House. Electronic network for financial transactions in the US.

API Key - Authentication credential for API access.

Authorization - Hold funds on a card without capturing them.

AVS - Address Verification Service. Verifies cardholder billing address.

B

Batch - Group of transactions settled together.

Bearer Token - Authentication token passed in API requests.

Billing Cycle - Period between recurring charges.

C

Capture - Process an authorized transaction and transfer funds.

Chargeback - Customer disputes a charge with their bank.

CVV - Card Verification Value. 3-4 digit security code on cards.

D

Decline - Transaction rejected by card issuer or processor.

Dunning - Process of recovering failed recurring payments.

E

ECI - E-commerce Indicator. 3DS transaction security level.

F

Fraud Prevention - Tools and rules to detect/prevent fraudulent transactions.

G

Gateway - Service that processes card transactions.

I

Idempotency - Ability to safely retry requests without duplicate processing.

Invoice - Bill sent to customer for payment.

M

Merchant - Business accepting payments.

MCC - Merchant Category Code. Business type classification.

P

PCI DSS - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

Proration - Proportional charge/credit for partial billing periods.

R

Refund - Return funds to customer.

Retry - Attempt failed operation again.

S

Sandbox - Test environment for development.

Settlement - Transfer of funds from processor to merchant.

Subscription - Recurring payment agreement.

T

Tenant - Isolated account in multi-tenant system.

Token - Secure reference to sensitive payment data.

Transaction - Payment processing operation.

V

Void - Cancel transaction before settlement.

W

Webhook - HTTP callback for real-time event notifications.

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