Credit Card Processing
Credit card processing covers authorization, clearing, settlement, and fee flows between merchants, acquirers, card networks, and issuers.
Point-of-sale processing terms for terminals, gateways, processors, card acceptance, mobile POS, and manual card-imprinter evidence.
Point-of-sale processing and terminal terms describe how merchants capture payment credentials, send transactions for authorization, batch or settle sales, and reconcile card or wallet payments. This branch covers POS terminals, mPOS, payment gateways, payment processors, credit card processing, point of sale, and manual card imprinters.
Use these pages when a merchant statement, checkout record, terminal log, gateway response, processor report, or chargeback file depends on how the point-of-sale transaction was captured and routed.
| Term | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Point of Sale | The checkout moment or place where a customer pays a merchant. |
| POS Terminal | Hardware or software endpoints that capture payment credentials and send transactions for authorization. |
| mPOS | Mobile point-of-sale setups using phones, tablets, or portable readers. |
| Payment Gateway | Secure transmission of card or digital-payment data between merchant systems and processors. |
| Payment Processor | Transaction handling between merchants, acquirers, card networks, and issuers. |
| Credit Card Processing | Authorization, clearing, settlement, and fee flow for card payments. |
| Knuckle-Buster | Manual card-imprinter evidence and legacy fallback processing. |
Start with the transaction record. Determine whether the evidence comes from the terminal, mobile reader, gateway, processor, acquirer, card network, issuer, or merchant system, then match the term to that control point.
Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.
Credit card processing covers authorization, clearing, settlement, and fee flows between merchants, acquirers, card networks, and issuers.
A knuckle-buster is a manual card imprinter formerly used to capture embossed card details when electronic authorization was unavailable.
Mobile point of sale lets merchants accept card or wallet payments through a phone, tablet, or portable reader instead of a fixed terminal.
A payment gateway securely transmits card or digital-payment data between a merchant, processor, network, and issuer for authorization.
A payment processor is a company that handles transactions between businesses and financial institutions, ensuring the smooth flow of payment information and funds.
Point of Sale is a financial technology concept used in data, payments, banking access, or market infrastructure.
A POS terminal is the hardware or software endpoint that captures payment credentials, sends transactions for authorization, and supports merchant checkout.