When the acquirer initiates a debit to correct a processing error, such as a duplicate transaction or a cardholder dispute.

An electronic authorization is when the merchant uses a touch-tone telephone to process transactions.

The process of confirming that a credit card has enough available credit to cover the transaction amount. It is required for every sale.

A code that a credit card issuing bank returns in an electronic message to the merchant’s payment processing system that indicates approval of the transaction. 

An issuing financial institution’s electronic message reply to an authorization request, which may include:

Approval — transaction was approved

Decline — transaction was declined

Call Center — response pending more information; the merchant must call the authorization phone number.

Service Not Allowed – You have entered a credit card number from a card type you are not authorized to process.

A feature that allows an end-of-day batch closing to occur automatically at a specified time without having to be initiated by the merchant.

(ACH) A file with instructions for the exchange and settlement of electronic payments passed between financial institutions. It represents debits and credits to be deducted from an account automatically as they occur.

The average dollar amount of a merchant’s typical sale. The average ticket amount is calculated by dividing the total sales volume by the total number of sales for the specified time period.

The Address Verification System (AVS) validates the card owner’s address. Cardholders can also add multiple shipping addresses to ensure the merchant has an authorized address to ship to. Full AVS or Partial AVS auto void can be added to prevent fraudulent transactions.

Also referred to as a VAR sheet, a document given to a gateway provider that provides merchant account information, bank account information, processor information, etc., to aid in setting up communication between the payment gateway and the credit card processor.

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