Acquiring
Acquiring covers accepting and processing card payments on the merchant side. The acquirer has a different role from the card issuer.
What is acquiring?
Acquiring is the service that enables merchants to accept and process card payments. The acquirer is the institution on the merchant side and participates in financial settlement. The issuer is the institution that issued the payer’s card. A technical payment gateway performs a different function. A payment service provider can bundle several of these services in one offering.
A fictional table-linen shop plans to accept card payments through an integrated provider. Its operating plan identifies responsibility for the technical payment integration, acquiring and tracing payouts, even if the same contact covers several tasks. When a payout query arises, this makes clear which contractual partner can trace the associated payment. Successful card authorisation and a payout to the merchant account are different steps.
Sources
Related terms
- Payment service providerA PSP supports businesses with electronic payments. Payment methods, processing and additional services depend on the offering.
- Payment gatewayA payment gateway transmits payment data between a shop and payment processing, returning the responses to the shop.
- Delivery capabilityDelivery capability describes whether a specific request can be fulfilled. A stock value alone does not fully answer questions of quantity, destination and time.
- Order historyOrder history shows previous orders within an agreed account scope. Old prices, current availability and current processing remain separate information.
- Dealer portalA dealer portal gives affiliated dealers digital access to agreed information and workflows. Its scope and company assignment need to be clear.
- Billing addressThe billing address is a separate address in an order or invoicing process. It must not be accidentally swapped with the delivery address.
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