Account
number
A unique sequence of
numbers assigned to a Cardholder account, which identifies the
Credit Card issuer and type of financial transaction
Card.
Acquire
The act of a
bank receiving payment transaction information from a merchant and
passing it on to the issuer of the Credit Card.
Acquirer
A financial
institution that supports merchants by providing services for
processing payment Card transactions.
Acquiring financial
institution
A financial
institution enables you to accept Credit Card transactions. You must
maintain an account with an acquiring financial institution to be
able to process credit for Credit Card transactions. The acquiring
financial institution deposits the daily Credit Card sales into your
account, minus applicable fees.
Active Server
Pages
See ASP.
Address Verification
Service
See AVS.
Agreement
A contract
set forth to explain terms of business between a company and its
customers.
American
Express
An organization that
issues Cards and acquires transactions (unlike Visa and MasterCard,
which are bank associations).
API (Application
Programming Interface)
An API
is a program code used by Programmers to write applications that can
interact with other applications.
Application Programming
Interface
See API.
Approval
An acceptance
of payment-a code is issued by a Card-issuing bank allowing a sale
to be charged against a Cardholder's account. The amount is within
the Cardholder's remaining credit limit and that the Card has not
been reported lost or stolen. Approvals are requested via an
authorization.
Arbitration
The
procedure used to determine the responsibility for a chargeback
related dispute between two members.
Archive
A collection of
files that contains documents and other information of
value.
ASP (Active Server
Pages)
An open application
environment that does not require compiling. ASP allows you to
combine scripts, HTML pages, and ActiveX server components to build
web pages.
Asynchronous
A
method of transmitting data in which the data elements are
identified with special start and stop characters. An asynchronous
modem cannot communicate with a synchronous modem.
Balance
Used as a noun,
it's the adjusted total of differences between debits and credits
within an account.
Used as a verb, it's to adjust the total of
differences between debits and credits within an account.
Bank
An institution that handles savings and current
accounts, issues loans and credit, and deals in government- and
corporation-issued securities.
Bank
account
An account that holds
funds within a bank and is subject to additional deposits and
withdrawals.
Bank Identification
Number (BIN)
The digits of a
Credit Card that identify the issuing bank. The first six digits of
a Card number are often referred to as a BIN.
Banner
An
advertisement, usually in the form of a clickable image, that is
placed within a web page.
Batch
An accumulation
of Credit Card transactions that are awaiting settlement.
Batch
processing
A type of data processing
where related transactions are transmitted as a group for
processing.
Bit
A binary digit. This is the smallest unit of
information and is valued at either zero or one.
Browser
A
graphical-based software application that is used by computers and
allows users to point and click to access information on the Web.
Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator are examples of
commonly-used browsers.
C/C++
A programming
language developed in the late '70s, C became popular due to the
development of UNIX, which was written almost entirely in C. C++ is
an extension of the C programming language that adds object-oriented
concepts.
Capture
A process in
which a Credit Card sale or return transaction is submitted for
financial settlement.
Authorized Credit Card sales must be
captured and settled for you to receive the funds.
Card
issuer
See issuing
financial institution.
Chargeback
The act of
taking back funds (for a disputed or improper Credit Card
transaction) that have been paid to a merchant. The issuer initiates
this procedure after the acquirer has begun the clearing
process.
Chargeback
period
The number of calendar
days in which an issuer may charge sales back to the merchant,
beginning the day after the date the record is first received by the
merchant or bank, and continuing until the end of the day on which
it is dispatched as a chargeback item.
Chargeback reason
code
A two-digit code
identifying the specific reason for the chargeback.
Clearing
The process of
exchanging financial details between an acquirer and an issuer to
facilitate posting of a Cardholder's account and reconciliation of a
customer's settlement position.
Configuration
The
specification of physical and/or functional items in the software or
service. This can include the look of the user interface and the way
information is processed and/or displayed.
Consumer
One who
purchases goods and services.
Cookie
A general
mechanism (token) that allows a web site to "recognize" and
"remember" individual visitors by storing files on the visitor's
computer with a record of the last visit. Cookies cannot be used to
"see" any other data on the user's computer, nor can they determine
the user's email address or identity. If you want to view your
cookies, look for a file called "cookie.txt" on your hard
drive.
Credit
The extension
of funds issued by a bank that allows a consumer to buy goods or
services. The consumer then pays back the bank either in full or in
installments, at an interest rate determined by the bank.
Also
referred to as the return of funds to a consumer for a Credit Card
purchase. A credit transfers money from the merchant's account back
to the customer. It is used to return funds to the customer's
account after a transaction has been settled. A void does not work
in this type of situation because it is designed to nullify an
unsettled transaction (that is, a transaction that is still in the
open batch awaiting settlement).
Credit
Card
A bank-issued Card that
allows consumers to purchase goods or services on credit.
Database
A structured
set of data where information is stored in records.
Debit
To subtract from
the balance of an account.
Debit
Card
An ATM bankCard used to
purchase goods and services and to obtain cash, which debits the
Cardholder's personal deposit account. Requires a PIN (Personal
Identification Number) for use.
Decline
A response
to a transaction request meaning that the issuing bank will not
authorize the transaction.
Decrypt
To convert
encrypted data or text back to plain data or text.
Denial
When permission
to perform a particular action is declined.
Deposit
The aggregate
of sales records and refunds submitted to a bank processor for
processing.
DES (Data Encryption
Standard)
A U.S. Government
approved encryption method that has a 64-bit block size and uses a
56-bit key during encryption. DES has been extensively studied since
its publication and is one of the best known and widely used
secret-key crypto systems in the world.
Digital
signature
A way to ensure that
a message was actually sent by the person who claims to have sent
it. The sender's private key encrypts the signature, and the
recipient decrypts the signature with the sender's public
key.
Discount
rate
The percentage of Credit
Card sales amounts the acquiring financial institution charges the
merchant for the settlement of the transaction.
Domain name
The
name of the location you are visiting on the Web (for example
www.payseal.com). The domain names are issued by the National
Science Foundation and come with different extensions, based on
whether the domain belongs to a commercial enterprise (.com or.cc),
an educational establishment (.edu), a government body (.gov), the
military (.mil), a network (.net) or a nonprofit organization
(.org). Some domains use a geographical notation too.
Download
The retrieval
of files over a network from a remote computer to your local hard
drive.
Draft
capture
Refers to
settlement.
E-commerce (electronic
commerce)
The conducting of
business transactions via remote electronic means.
EFT (Electronic Funds
Transfer)
A method of
incrementing or decrementing an account through electronic means,
eliminating the need for paper checks or withdrawal
slips.
Electronic
Refers to
actions that take place over, or items that can be transferred
through, networks and computers.
Electronic
commerce
See e-commerce.
Electronic Funds
Transfer
See EFT.
Electronic
mail
See email.
Email (electronic
mail)
Messages generated and
received by computers connected by networks. Using the example
"yourname@Cardservice.com," an email address consists of three
parts:
yourname your user
name on the server hosting your email address
@Cardservice the
name of the institution hosting your email address
.com the type of
institution hosting your email address (.net, .edu, .gov, and so
on).
Enable
To allow or give
authorization to perform an action.
Encrypt
To scramble a
message so that a key, held only by authorized recipients, is needed
to unscramble and read the message. When the encrypted data is
routed through a gateway, it is decrypted and processed. All
processed information (approved/declined transactions) is then
re-encrypted and sent securely back to the merchant's web site. Once
at the web server, it is decrypted and displayed to the consumer.
Expire
To become
void after a specified period of time.
Export
To back up a
file or a group of files to another database.
Failed
transaction
A transaction that
has been denied approval for completion.
File
An item used to store, transmit, or group
data.
Financial
institution
An institution
that obtains capital from individuals, businesses, and other
organizations and invests it in various financial assets.
Firewall
A software
program set up between networks, such as between the Internet and a
private or corporate network, that keeps unauthorized users from
gaining access to the private network that filters Internet and
intranet traffic, protecting against hackers, bad code, and computer
viruses.
Future
fulfillment
The sale of
physical goods that do not always ship on the same day the order was
received. Also referred to as delayed fulfillment. Contrast immediate fulfillment.
Gateway
An interface
that links the Internet shopper, the online merchant and banking
systems in a secure environment.
The Gateway contains the
bulk of the logic for handling processor business rules, processor
time-outs, and so on.
Hard
goods
Tangible products that
are distributed through the postal or other delivery service. Contrast soft goods.
Hardware
The
physical parts of a computer system, such as a monitor, a keyboard,
and electronic cables.
Home
page
The first page displayed
when a web site is accessed, it usually contains introductory text
and a site directory.
Host
A computer connected to a network that can act as
either a client or a server.
Host
computer
The computer at the
processor that is accessed for authorization and
settlement.
HTML (HyperText Markup
Language)
A collection of
formatting commands that create hypertext documents (web pages).
When you point your browser to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the
browser interprets the HTML commands embedded in the page and uses
them to format the text and graphic elements on the page.
HTTP (HyperText Transfer
Protocol)
A protocol used to
transmit and receive data over the Web. When you type a URL into
your browser, you are actually sending an HTTP request to a web
server for a page of information. This is why most URLs begin with
"http://." The protocol "HTTPS" indicates that an SSL connection is
being used.
HTTP proxy
server
A server that forwards
client requests over the Internet using HTTP.
Hyperlink
The
underlined words or phrases you click in web documents to jump to
another screen or page.
Hyper Text Markup
Language
See HTML.
Hyper Text Transfer
Protocol
See HTTP.
Immediate
fulfillment
The sale of
digital goods, such as software, that is delivered to the consumer
on the same day as the purchase. Contrast delayed fulfillment or future fulfillment.
Import
To restore
files to their original or backed up states and bring them back into
a current database.
Imprint
A form of proof
that the Credit Card was present for the transaction. It can be
electronic (by swiping a Card through a Card reader) or manual (by
obtaining a physical imprint using an imprinter), but one of the two
is always required.
Incentive
A
reduction in price given to customers after a purchase has been
made.
Installation
The act of
putting software onto a computer.
Insufficient
funds
The available and/or
cash reserve balance is not sufficient to cover the debit
entry.
Interchange
The flow of
information between issuers and acquirers (for example,
transactions, retrieval requests, and chargebacks).
Interchange
fee
The fee that your bank
pays the consumer's bank for each Credit Card transaction that is
settled.
Internet
A global
network of networks. The Internet supports many services such as
email, updated news, remote login, and file transfers.
Internet
merchant
A business owner who
sells products or services over the Internet.
Internet Service
Provider
See ISP.
Intranet
A
restricted-access network that works like the Web, but is not a
physical presence on the Web. Intranets are usually owned and
managed by a corporation, enabling a company to share its resources
with its employees without confidential information being made
available to anyone with Internet access.
ISP (Internet Service
Provider)
An organization that
allows users to dial into its computers to connect to an Internet
link for a fee. ISPs generally provide only an Internet connection,
an email address, and perhaps web browsing software.
Issuing
Providing a
bank Card to a Cardholder and authorizing that person to use it to
complete financial transactions.
Issuing financial
institution
The financial
institution that extends credit to a consumer through Credit Card
accounts. The financial institution issues a Credit Card and bills
the consumer for purchases against the Credit Card account. Also
referred to as the Cardholder's financial institution or issuer.
Keyed
entry
See manual
entry.
Live
(1) To be present and responsive.
(2) To have your business
present and responsive online.
Login
The process of
identifying yourself, usually with a valid user name (or user ID)
and password, to gain access to a system as a legitimate
user.
Logout
The process
for formally ending a session with a system. Physically
disconnecting or turning off a terminal without logging out does not
necessarily result in a logout.
Logs
Records of network activities. Activities can
include access records, errors, and financial
transactions.
Magnetic
stripe
A stripe on the back of
a bankCard that contains magnetically encoded Cardholder account
information. The name of the Cardholder is stored on Track I, the
account number and expiry date are stored on Track II. Also
referred to as MAG stripe.
MAG
stripe
See magnetic
stripe.
MasterCard
An
association of banks that governs the issuing and acquiring of
MasterCard Credit Card transactions and Maestro debit
transactions.
Member
A financial
institution that is a member of Visa and/or MasterCard
International. A member is licensed to issue Cards to holders and/or
accept merchant drafts.
Merchant
A retailer, or
any other entity (pursuant to a merchant agreement), that agrees to
accept Credit Cards, debits Cards, or both, when properly
presented.
Merchant
account
An account that you
have with an acquiring bank to enable you to accept Credit Cards.
The account facilitates financial settlement of Credit Card
transactions.
Merchant
agreement
A written agreement
between a merchant and a bank containing their respective rights,
duties, and warranties with respect to acceptance of Credit Card and
matters related to bank Card activity.
Merchant
bank
A bank that has entered
into an agreement with a merchant to process bank Card transactions.
Message
Information
sent and received that communicates various parts of a
transaction.
Modem
An electronic
telecommunications hardware device that is used by the terminal or
PC POS to dial-up the processor.
MOTO (Mail
order/Telephone order)
An
order placed over the telephone or through a mail order
catalog.
Network
The setup of
hardware and software that allows multiple computers to connect and
communicate with each other electronically or through the use of
fiber optics. Glossary 18
Node
One of the many points connected together to form
a network. The terminal dials the closest node and becomes connected
to a nationwide telecommunications network.
Offline
An operating
mode in which the software or service is not connected to the
processor in real time. This mode is often used when a merchant is
batch-processing transactions.
Offline
capture
A payment capture
method used by merchants who ship an order one or more days after
they receive it. The payment is captured when the merchant ships the
order and sends a post-authorization message.
Online
A computer or
user is online when connected to a network or server that allows
communication flow between computers.
Online
capture
A payment capture
method used by merchants who ship an order on the same day that they
receive it. The payment is captured when the Credit Card is
authorized.
order
ID
A unique identifier that
you assign to each order for tracking purposes. An order represents
one sale and all of the actions (transactions) associated with that
sale.
Password
A sequence of
characters paired with a username that assures that only the user
with that password can log on with the particular username
associated with it. Passwords should be difficult to guess and kept
secret by the user.
Pending
transaction
A transaction that
has not yet been settled.
PIN
A personal identification number, typically a
short alphanumeric character string, used as a password to gain
access to bank or credit accounts. A PIN is usually required when
performing financial transactions using a debit or Credit
Card.
Platform
A system's
architecture. This can refer to hardware or an operating
system.
Point-of-sale
(POS)
The place and time at
which a transaction occurs. This term also refers to the devices or
software used to capture transactions.
Port
(1) A computer or network device
interface.
(2) In TCP/IP, a 16-bit
address that identifies an application level service so that data
can pass between the transport layer of the protocol stack and the
application.
Port
number
The number that
specifies the port on which a server should listen for communication
from a client.
PostAuth
A
transaction that has been submitted for completion and has completed
a payment.
Posting
The process of
recording debits and credits to individual Cardholder account
balances.
Prior authorized
sale
A transaction for which
authorization was obtained at an earlier time (for example, a
merchant had to call for authorization or a merchant authorized the
Card before services were rendered).
See also Terminal
Capture.
Private label
Card
A bankCard that can be
used only in a specific merchant's store. Typically, this is not a
bankCard.
Processing
The act of
completing a particular method or course of action, or preparing
something for use, to reach a desired result.
Program
Coded
instructions that a computer executes. See also
software.
Protocols
Rules and
guidelines that determine how computers and other network devices
communicate.
Provider
See Internet
Service Provider.
Purchase
To provide
payment to receive a product or service.
Queries
Inquiries about
transactions, databases, or other records.
Receipt
A hard copy
description of the transaction that occurred at the point of sale.
The minimum information contained on a receipt is as follows: date,
merchant name and location, account number, type of account used
(for example, Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, and so on), amount, reference
number and/or authorization number, and action code.
Reconciliation
Balancing debits, credits, and totals between two
systems.
Recurring
transaction
A transaction, for
which permission has been granted by a Cardholder to a merchant,
that is charged at a specified interval to the Cardholder's account.
Refund
A return of
funds to a consumer for a returned product.
Reseller
One who is
authorized to sell someone else's goods and/or services.
Response
A reply,
answer, or additional message returned to a sender.
Retrieval
request
A request to a
merchant for documentation concerning a transaction, usually a
Cardholder dispute or suspicious sale or return. A retrieval request
can lead to a chargeback.
Return
A transaction in which a consumer
wants to return a purchase and receive his or her money back. Contrast void.
Sale
The most commonly used transaction in a retail
format, a sale charges a purchase to a customer's credit account. It
places a "hold" on the customer's open-to-buy (or available credit)
for the amount of the sale. Once a sale has been approved, the hold
on the customer's credit will be valid for a limited time (three to
30 days, depending on the issuing bank) before expiring and
releasing the hold on the funds in the customer's credit account.
Funds from an approved sale
transaction will not be deposited into the merchant's account until
they have been settled. This will occur automatically if the
merchant is using a Terminal Capture processor which Auto-Settles
transactions.
Script
A command
that runs several commands (for example, a CGI script).
Secure
Protected or
safe from viewing, destruction, or manipulation.
Secure
HTTP
See SHHTP
Secure Sockets
Layer
See SSL.
Security
Measures taken
to keep something secure.
Security
Certificate
Data (often stored
as a text file) that is used by the SSL protocol to establish a
secure connection. Security certificates contain information about
who the certificate belongs to, who it was issued by, a unique
serial number or other unique identification, valid dates, and an
encrypted "fingerprint," which can be used to verify the contents of
the certificate. In order for an SSL connection to be created, both
sides must have a valid Security Certificate.
Server
A computer or
software program that provides services such as email and web access
to clients on a network.
Session
In terms of the
payment system, a session manages the exchange of money.
Settlement
A process in
which a Credit Card transaction is settled financially between your
acquiring financial institution and the consumer's Credit Card
issuing financial institution. The acquiring Bank credits the
merchant's account for the Credit Card sale and the sale is posted
to the consumer's Credit Card account. See also capture.
Set
up
To make ready for
use.
Ship
A transaction used to complete a book transaction.
Once a book transaction has been shipped, it is eligible for
settlement. See also book.
SHTTP (Secure
HTTP)
An Enterprise
Integration Technologies development that enables spontaneous,
flexible, and secure commercial transactions on the Web by
supporting encapsulated messages and the negotiation of encrypted
algorithms and other parameters between clients and
servers.
SIC (Standard Industry
Classification) code
A
four-digit code assigned to a merchant to identify the merchant's
principle line of business.
Slid
entry
See swiped Card. Compare manual entry.
Soft
goods
Products that can be
distributed electronically, such as a text file or a graphic. Contrast hard goods.
Software
Coded
instructions that run a computer system or program.
Software
license
A document that
verifies permission to use a software program.
SSL (Secure Sockets
Layer)
A protocol designed by
Netscape to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across
the Internet. URLs that begin with "https" indicate that an SSL
connection will be used. Since most browsers are SSL capable,
Cardholders simply need to look for the "key" or "closed lock" on
the bottom left-hand corner of their browsers to see that they are
on a secure page before making a Credit Card transaction.
Standards
The
protocols, rules, and/or specifications that govern the way an
activity is completed.
Status
A transaction's
position or standing. A transaction can be rated a success, a
failure, or a pending transaction. See also successful
transaction, failed transaction, and pending
transaction.
Storefront
The web
page on the "merchant's" site where the consumer shopping experience
begins.
Stripe
read
See swiped
Card.
Successful
transaction
A transaction that
has been authorized, submitted, and cleared without
problems.
Support
desk
Provides technical
support for users of a good or service.
Surcharges
Any
additional charges to a merchant's standard processing fees. They
are a result of non-qualified transactions of different
communications methods.
Swiped
entry
Credit Card information
that is read into the software directly as a result of swiping (or
sliding) the Credit Card through a Card reader. The information
magnetically encoded in the magnetic stripe is transmitted. This
information includes secret data that helps validate the Card. See also manual entry.
Synchronous
A method of
transmitting data in which the data elements are sent at a specific
rate so that start and stop characters are not needed. This is used
by older modems, AMEX PIP terminals etc. on. Contrast asynchronous.
TCP/IP (Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
A suite of protocols that connects networks and lets them
communicate with each other. TCP verifies data transmission between
a client and a server. IP moves data to the appropriate node on a
network. A network communication protocol, which is used as a
standard for the Internet, wide area networks (WANs) or local area
networks (LANs).
Test
A process to verify that a procedure, device, or
software application works correctly.
Transaction
fee
A "per transaction" charge
incurred by merchants who are on scale pricing. This is in addition
to the percentage discount fees.
Transaction
flow
The process of completing
a transaction.
Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol
See TCP/IP.
Uniform Resource
Locator
See URL.
UNIX
A computer operating system which is compatible
with a wide range of computer systems, and allows multiple users and
multiple tasks on the same network.
Unzip
To expand a
compressed file. Contrast zip.
Upload
To send files
from your local hard drive to another computer over a
network.
URL (Uniform Resource
Locator)
The Internet
equivalent of addresses. In the example
Visa
An association of banks that governs the issuing
and acquiring of Visa Card transactions.
Void
A correction transaction used by a merchant. There
is only a small period of time in which a purchase can be canceled.
Voids are typically handled by issuing credit to the consumer's
account.
Web
server
A computer or software
program that provides services to clients over a network upon
request. A server delivers interactive text, graphics, digital
audio, or video over the Web.
Web
site
A group of web pages that
are linked to a home page and are controlled by an individual or an
organization.
World Wide
Web
A global group of servers
that use HTTP to distribute text, graphics, and other media over the
Internet to clients running web browsers.
Written
authorization
The
authorization provided to the merchant by a consumer to
electronically debit his or her account.
WWW
See World Wide Web.
Zip
To compress a file to take up less disk space and
allow for faster electronic transmission. |
