Understand how payment acceptance works from authorization to refunds and platform risk.
Browse all topic termsThis cluster explains how merchant-facing payments move through authorization, authentication, routing, retries, settlement, refunds, and liability shifts. It covers the vocabulary product, risk, and operations teams need when they diagnose conversion loss or payment failures.
Cards and payments infrastructure is not only a checkout topic. Terms such as merchant of record, payment facilitator, network token, and payment orchestration also determine compliance posture, retry logic, recovery from declines, and the economics of cross-border scale.
The same payment term can behave differently across BIST, MOEX, and global rails because issuer behavior, scheme rules, merchant risk tolerance, and fraud tooling vary by market. This hub is designed to connect the shared term vocabulary with those execution differences.
Stripe
Stripe: Payment tokenization 101
Used for payment tokenization, network token, and account updater context.
Visa Developer
Visa Developer: Glossary
Primary network terminology source for acquirer, issuer, API, and authorization definitions.
Bank for International Settlements
BIS CPMI-IOSCO: Principles for financial market infrastructures
International standards for payment systems, settlement systems, central counterparties, and trade repositories.
Stripe
Stripe: What is a payment facilitator?
Primary source for payfac models and platform payments.
EMVCo
EMVCo: EMV 3-D Secure
Primary source for 3DS protocol terminology.
3D Secure
Security protocol for online cards.
Payment Gateway
Service processing credit card transactions.
Authorization
The card-network approval step that checks whether a payment can be accepted before funds are captured.
Capture
The step where a previously authorized payment is finalized and submitted for settlement.
Chargeback
Reversal of a card payment.
Acquirer
Bank processing payments for merchant.
Issuer
Bank that issues the credit card.
Merchant of Record
The legal entity that sells to the customer and assumes payment, tax, and compliance responsibility.
Payment Facilitator
A provider that enables sub-merchants to accept card payments under a master merchant account.
Network Token
A payment credential token issued by a card network to replace the original card number in transactions.
Account Updater
A service that refreshes expired or reissued card details for recurring billing merchants.
Payment Orchestration
The coordination layer that routes, retries, and optimizes transactions across multiple payment providers.
Contactless Payment
Payment without physical contact using NFC technology.
QR Code Payment
Payment method using scannable QR codes.
Buy Now Pay Later
Payment option allowing purchases with deferred payments.
Embedded Finance
Integration of financial services into non-financial platforms.
Digital Banking
Banking services delivered digitally without physical branches.
Peer-to-Peer Lending
Direct lending between individuals without banks.
Interchange Fee
Fee paid between banks.
Claim
Formal request for payment under insurance policy.
Golden Parachute
Large payment to executive if dismissed.
Direct Debit
Automatic payment from bank account.
Merchant
Business that sells goods/services.
Coupon
Interest payment on a bond.