Acquirer
A member of a card association, for example MasterCard and/or Visa, which maintains merchant banking relationships and receives/settles all bankcard transactions from a merchant.

Automated Clearing House (ACH)
An electronic network for financial transactions in the United States. ACH processes large volumes of credit and debit entries to bank accounts between participating financial institutions in batches and settles the associated funds.

Card-Not-Present (CNP)
Transactions where neither the card nor its holder are present at the point of sale, e.g. orders by eCommerce, mail order or telephone order.

Contactless Payments
Payment devices which use radio frequency identification (RFID) for making secure payments. The embedded chip and antenna enable consumers to wave their card or fob over a reader at the point of sale to initiate a transaction.

Electronic Point of Sale (EPoS)
Computerized equipment that performs all tasks of a store checkout counter. It allows payments by bank or credit cards, verifying transactions, providing sales reports and coordinating inventory data.

End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)
Encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. E2EE solutions encrypt data and transport it safely to a recipient who has the ability to decrypt the information via specific keys.

Independent Sales/Service Organization (ISO)
Also called a Member Service Provider (MSP), an ISO is an outside company (not a MasterCard or Visa member) that is contracted by merchants to administer merchant and/or cardholder servicing.

Mail Order / Telephone Order (MOTO)
Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery, and telephone orders purchased over the telephone.

Network Operating Center (NOC)
One or more locations from which control is exercised over a network. Organizations may operate multiple NOCs, either to manage different networks or to provide geographic redundancy in the event of one site being unavailable or offline. 

Online Payment Service Providers (PSP)
Offers merchants online services for accepting electronic payments for a variety of payment methods.

Payment Application Digital Security Standard (PA DSS)
PA DSS is a worldwide industry standard, created to help organizations that process card payments prevent credit card fraud through increased controls around data and its exposure to compromise.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
A worldwide information security standard created to help payment card industry organizations, prevent credit card fraud through increased controls around data and its exposure to compromise.

Payment Gateway
To be able to run an eCommerce or mail order business you need a payment gateway. Payment gateways provide the tools to authorize and settle payment transactions between customers, businesses, and banks. Read more - What is a Payment Gateway?

Point of Sale / Point of Purchase (PoS/PoP)
The location where a transaction occurs. Typically refers to the terminal or computer used for a card present purchase.

Processor
A payment processor is a company (often a third party) appointed by a merchant to handle payment  card transaction processing for the merchant, including managing settlement of funds to the merchant’s account with the acquiring bank.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
Protocols that enhance security, including capabilities such as encryption, during communication over networks like the Internet.

Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)
A zone for the Euro in which all electronic payments are considered domestic. Aims to improve the efficiency of cross border payments and turn the fragmented national markets for Euro payments into a single domestic one.

Tokenization
Tokenization is the process of replacing sensitive data with unique identification symbols that retain all the essential information without compromising its security. Tokenization has become popular as a means of bolstering the security of credit card and e-commerce transactions while minimizing the cost and complexity of compliance with industry standards and government regulations.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)
A private network that is configured within a public network (the public telecommunication infrastructure or the Internet) to securely connect and transmit data between multiple locations.