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This document is the unified glossary used by all Web Payments Interest Groups and Working Groups operating under the W3C Web Payments Activity.
This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at http://www.w3.org/TR/.
This document is a work in progress and is being released early and often using an agile process; it is incomplete.
The group continues to actively align the Web Payments terminology with definitions produced by other standardization bodies around the world.
This document was published by the Web Payments Interest Group as an Editor's Draft. If you wish to make comments regarding this document, please send them to public-webpayments-comments@w3.org (subscribe, archives). All comments are welcome.
Publication as an Editor's Draft does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.
This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.
This document is governed by the 1 August 2014 W3C Process Document.
This document is the unified glossary used by all Web Payments Interest Groups and Working Groups operating under the W3C Web Payments Activity.
The cross reference section is highly experimental and may change drastically or disappear entirely over the course of the next several weeks or months.
This section contains cross references from terminology defined in this document to industry terminology defined in other specifications.
An entity that provides a source of funds as required by a transaction.
| Related Term | Definition | Scheme | Relation | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| acceptor | An entity accepting payment related cards | Credit/Debit | Synonym | [[ISO-20022-CAPE]] |
| merchant | An entity which provides goods and/or services at one or several sites (physical or virtual). The merchant signs a contract with one or several acquirers. The merchant can perform the role of an acceptor or delegate it to another party (agent). | General | Specialization | [[ISO-20022-CAPE]] |
An entity that receives funds as required by a transaction.
| Related Term | Definition | Scheme | Relation | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| customer | A party purchasing goods or services at a merchant | General | Specialization | [[ISO-20022-CAPE]] |
An instance of an exchange of value such as buying or selling something.
| Related Term | Definition | Scheme | Relation | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| transaction | An economic transaction is the whole of transfer of products, the rendering of services and transfers of money which are needed to complete a purchase or any other economic trade. An economic transaction can be seen as the complete economic session from start to finish between two or more parties. | General | Synonym | UETP |
| financial transaction | The act of a cardholder and a merchant or acquirer that results in the exchange of goods or services against payment. | Credit/Debit | Synonym | EMVCO_TOKEN |
Activities surrounding and including a transaction (e.g., discovery of an offer, negotiation of terms, selection of payment instrument, delivery, etc.).
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| Related Term | Definition | Scheme | Relation | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| payment | A payment is the transfer of an item of value from one party (such as a person or company) to another in exchange for the provision of goods, services or both, or to fulfill a legal obligation. Thus, a payment is a transfer of one form of good, service or monetary unit in exchange for another form of good, service or monetary unit in proportions that have been previously agreed upon by all parties involved. payment can be made in the form of funds (including cryptocurrencies) or assets. | General | Synonym | UETP |
| payment | The basic service which allows the cardholder to pay for the purchase of goods and services from a card acceptor using their card applications or credentials | Credit/Debit | Synonym | EPC_Vol_1 |
Sets of rules and technical standards for the execution of payment transactions that have to be followed by adhering entities (payment processors, payers and payees).
| Related Term | Definition | Scheme | Relation | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| payment network | An electronic payment system used to accept, transmit, or process transactions made by payment cards for money, goods, or services, and to transfer information and funds among Issuers, Acquirers, Payment Processors, Merchants, and Cardholders. | Credit/Debit | Synonym | EMVCO_TOKEN |
| four party scheme | A Card Scheme which includes the following stakeholders: The Cardholder, the Issuer (who has a relationship with the Cardholder), the Acceptor and the Acquirer (which has a relationship with the Acceptor). The Scheme defines the rules which apply to all parties; there are no limitations as to who may join the scheme, as long as the requirements of the scheme are met. | Credit | Specialization | EPC_Vol_1 |
| three party scheme | A Card Scheme including the following Stakeholders: the Cardholder, the Issuer (who has a relationship with the Cardholder), the Acceptor and the Acquirer (who has a relationship with the Acceptor), but the Issuer and the Acquirer are the same entity. | Debit | Specialization | EPC_Vol_1 |
A mechanism used to transfer value from a payer to a payee (payment method).
| Related Term | Definition | Scheme | Relation | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| debit card | A card enabling its holder to make purchases and/or withdraw cash and have these transactions directly and immediately debited from the accounts | Debit | Specialization | EPC_Vol_1 |
| credit card | A card enabling its holder to make purchases and/or withdraw cash and have these transactions directly and immediately debited from the accounts | Credit | Specialization | EPC_Vol_1 |
| user account | In Web-based payment providers, payers are identified to the payment processor via user accounts. | General | Specialization | None |
| virtual currency | Virtual Currency is a digital representation of value, not issued by a central bank, credit institution or e-money institution, which, in some circumstances, can be used as an alternative to money. | Digital Currency | Specialization | ECB |
Submits and processes payments using a particular payment instrument to a payment network.
| Related Term | Definition | Scheme | Relation | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| payment processor | An entity that provides payment processing services for Acquirers and / or Issuers. A Payment Processor may in addition to processing provide operational, reporting and other services for the Acquirer or Card Issuer. | Credit/Debit | Synonym | EMVCO_TOKEN |
The editors wish to thank the participants of the Web Payments Interest Group for discussions about and contributions to this document, as well as the Web Payments Community Group for earlier work that informed this document.