Alipay, China's leading third-party online payment solutionAlipay, China's leading third-party online payment solution

Alipay glossary

  • Address verification system (AVS)

    The Address Verification Service (AVS) checks the billing address submitted by the card user with the cardholder's billing address on record at the issuing bank to detect suspicious card transactions and prevent card fraud.

  • Alipay+

    Alipay+ is a global mobile payment and marketing solution suite.

  • Alipay+ Mobile Payment Partner

    A Partner in its capacity as a payment service provider where it issues a Mobile Payment Partner Product to a User, enters into a User Agreement with a User or processes a Transaction for a User.

  • Alipay+ Mobile Payment Provider (Alipay+ MPP)

    A Mobile Payment Partner participating in Alipay+ Core or other user- or issuer-facing payment service provider cooperating with a member of Ant Group to enable payments.

  • Alipay+ payment method

    Alipay+ payment methods are the payment methods that have a partnership with Alipay+.

  • Alipay Merchant Services (AMS)

    Comprehensive acquiring services provided by Alipay for global merchants and institutions.

  • app

    Application installed on user or merchant terminals, such as mobile phones.

  • application programming interface (API)

    An application programming interface (API) is a computing interface that defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries.

  • articles of incorporation

    Articles of incorporation is a set of formal documents filed with a government body to legally document the creation of a corporation.

  • asynchronous notification

    Refers to an asynchronous notification from the Alipay server to a merchant. The Alipay server initiates the notification and feeds the processed result back to the merchant's website after the data received has been processed by Alipay.

  • authentication

    Check and verify merchant and acquirer information including company name, license number, and copy of business license.

  • authorisation

    Authorise (including its correlative meanings, authorised, authorisation or authorising) means the process whereby a participant, whose end user is seeking to make a payment, confirms and authorises Alipay to issue a payment confirmed message to the participant whose end user is to receive the payment and to settle the relevant transaction in accordance with the rules.

  • Auto Debit

    Pre-authorised payment, initiated by the beneficiary, to debit a payer's account in favour of the beneficiary.

  • Bank transfer

    Bank transfer payment methods are the payment methods that allow a user to pay via online transfer or ATM transfer with a reference code obtained on Alipay's checkout page.

  • business register

    All commercial organizations (whether a limited company, sole proprietorship, or partnership) must apply for business register with the Business Registration Office under the Inland Revenue Department. Registered businesses must pay registration fees to obtain business registration certificates.

  • Capture

    Capture is the process by which payments are secured once authorized. For a payment process to be complete when a credit or debit card is used as the method of payment, the card must first be authorized.

  • Card

    Cards carry the payment capabilities of card payment methods. A card can either be a debit card that is issued by a local settlement network or an international card that is issued by a card scheme.

  • Card-not-present transaction (CNP transaction)

    A card-not-present (CNP) transaction occurs when neither the cardholder nor the credit card is physically present at the time of the transaction. It’s most common for orders that happen remotely — over the phone or by fax, the internet, or mail.

  • Card present transaction (CP transaction)

    A card-present transaction happens when the physical card is read with a point-of-sale (POS) terminal. A card-present merchant is often referred to as a brick-and-mortar store.

  • Card scheme

    Card schemes are also referred to as card networks, which set rules and maintain their settlement networks. Card schemes authorize members (including cardholders, issuing banks, merchants, and acquiring banks) to issue cards and process card transactions made by members.

  • Cashier Payment

    It refers to the payment scenario that the merchant or marketplace guides the user to redirect to the payment method provider's page to confirm the payment according to the URL address returned by the acquirer.

  • certificate of incorporation

    A certificate of incorporation is a legal document/license relating to the formation of a company or corporation. It is a license to form a corporation issued by the state government or, in some jurisdictions, by non-governmental entity/corporation.

  • Chargeback

    A chargeback occurs when a cardholder disputes a payment and contacts their issuer to ask their funds back from a merchant. when a chargeback occurs, Alipay provides you with the following services: Alipay notifies you of necessary information and freezes the funds related to the chargeback. Alipay provides a card association with dispute materials. Alipay notifies you of the liability judgment of the chargeback.

  • Chargeback reversal

    A chargeback reversal is the acknowledgment by an issuing bank that a transaction was valid, and that the cardholder's chargeback claim was invalid. When a merchant wins a chargeback reversal, the bank returns the disputed funds.

  • clearing

    To provide clearing data to the participant institutions for reconciliation.

  • Deep link

    Deep links are a type of link that send users directly to an app instead of a website or a store.

  • digital signature

    The result of a cryptographic transformation of data that, when properly implemented with a supporting infrastructure, provides the services of: 1. Origin authentication 2. Data integrity, and 3. Signer non-repudiation.

  • director/legal person

    In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on.

  • dynamic code

    One code value can only be used for one transaction. For example, the order code displayed on the merchant's terminal screen or printed on the cashier's receipt. After the user scans the code, the user usually does not need to enter the transaction amount to initiate the payment.

  • encryption

    The process of changing plaintext into ciphertext that is unreadable.

  • endpoint

    The touchpoint of the communication between an API and another system.

  • entry code

    After the user scans the code, the app redirects to the page that is not provided by a payment method provider, and then the payment request is submitted to the payment method provider after completing some corresponding operations.

  • Entry Code Payment

    One type of In-store Payment, which is initiated by the user scanning the entry code presented by the merchant.

  • equity structure chart

    A chart that graphically represents the share ratio of an organization and its corresponding relationships.

  • fee rate

    The rate of the service fee. It can be referred to as fixed rate, percentage rate, fixed max rate, and fixed min rate. The fee rates can be applied individually or combined.

  • H5

    A type of webpage that can be opened in browsers of mobile devices such as phones and tablets. H5 pages are also often referred to as mobile websites.

  • ID

    The identifier for a particular user or application

  • idempotency

    In computer science, indempotency is a property of an operation that enables it to be applied multiple times without changing the result beyond the initial application.

  • In-store Payment

    Payment made in person made by the payer to the merchant.

  • independent sales organization (ISO)

    An organization that sells services or marketing activities to merchants on behalf of acquirers.

  • independent software vendor (ISV)

    An institution that produces and sells software.

  • Individual Taxpayer Registration(Cadastro Pessoal de Pessoa Física ) (CPF)

    The Individual Taxpayer Registration (CPF, Cadastro Pessoal de Pessoa Física) is the registry maintained by the Federal Revenue of Brazil, where any natural person must register once, regardless of age or nationality.

  • inquiry

    The process of payment method provider and acquirer submitting transaction verification request to the network when they have questions about the original transaction.

  • integration

    Online testing according to the integration file under the testing environment to confirm contracted functions are valid.

  • Interchange++

    Interchange++ is a pricing model that consists of the fees charged by the relevant issuing bank, card scheme, and acquirer for processing every transaction.

  • ISO code

    The ISO country codes are internationally recognized codes that designate every country and most of the dependent areas a two-letter combination or a three-letter combination; it is like an acronym, that stands for a country or a state.

  • key

    A key is a unique, generated electronic string of bits used for encrypting, decrypting, creating digital signatures, or validating digital signatures. The key can be the public/private key used in asymmetric cryptography, or the private key used in symmetric cryptography.

  • Know Your Business  (KYB)

    Know Your Business

  • Know Your Customer (KYC)

    KYC is the mandatory process of identifying and verifying the client's identity. The intensive examination of account holders in KYC policy is the institutional basis for anti-money laundering to prevent corruption.

  • Liability shift

    Liability shift generally refers to responsibility for covering fraudulent transaction losses moving from the merchant to the issuing bank when the merchant authenticates the transaction using any of the 3D Secure (3DS) protocols. If the merchant does not authenticate the credit card transaction with a 3D Secure method, the merchant remains liable for chargebacks and fraud losses.

  • Merchant-Presented Mode (C-scan-B Mode) (MPM)

    The user scans the merchant presented code with digital devices, such as a mobile phone, to initiate payment.

  • merchant category code (MCC)

    A code that represents the category of a merchant.

  • Mobile banking app

    Mobile banking app payment methods are payment methods that allow a user to pay in a bank app by entering a payment password.

  • onboarding

    The process of merchant and acquirer becoming Alipay participant through KYC, KYB authentication, and contract signing.

  • Online banking

    Online banking payment methods are the payment methods that allow a user to pay by authorizing the payment on a bank page.

  • Online Payment

    Payer completes payment through merchant online service page.

  • order code

    The code presented by the merchant for the user to scan and identify the order, and make payment.

  • Order Code Payment

    One type of In-store Payment, which is initiated by the user scanning the order code presented by the merchant.

  • payment code

    The code presented by the user on a user terminal for the merchant to scan and complete payment.

  • private key

    The secret part of an asymmetric key pair that is used to digitally sign or decrypt data.

  • proof of Concept  (POC)

    A realization of a certain method or idea in order to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle with the aim of verifying that a concept or theory has practical potential.

  • public key

    The public part of an asymmetric key pair that is typically used to verify signatures or encrypt data.

  • publicly listed company

    A publicly listed company, public company, publicly traded company, publicly held company, or public limited company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock that are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets.

  • QR code

    Quick response code as defined in ISO/IEC 18004.

  • reconciliation

    The process of ensuring that two sets of records (usually the balances of two accounts) are in agreement.

  • request

    A communication process to transmit data and send information by using the JSON programming language for an API.

  • response

    An HTTP response returned for an API, which generally includes the result of the request invocation.

  • RSA digital signature mechanism (RSA)

    RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman) is a public-key cryptosystem that is widely used for secure data transmission.

  • sandbox

    A sandbox is a security mechanism for separating running programs, usually in an effort to mitigate system failures and/or software vulnerabilities from spreading.

  • secret key

    A cryptographic key that is used with a secret-key (symmetric) cryptographic algorithm that is uniquely associated with one or more entities and is not made public. The use of the term “secret” in this context does not imply a classification level, but rather implies the need to protect the key from disclosure.

  • Secure File Transfer Protocol/SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)

    A network protocol that provides file access, file transfer, and file management over any reliable data stream.

  • settlement

    To provide the result of settlement to the participant institutions.

  • settlement currency

    The currency in which Alipay and a partner settle their respective obligations, which is set out in the relevant agreement.

  • shareholder

    A shareholder (also known as a stockholder) is an individual or institution (including a corporation) that legally owns one or more shares of the share capital of a public or private corporation. Shareholders may be referred to as members of a corporation.

  • signature

    An irreversible cipher (signature) that is generated by the information sender, which is sent to the receiver together with the original information.

  • signature validation

    The information receiver verifies whether the original information and signature received are matched.

  • software

    Software generally refers to system software (e.g. operating system, utilities, and firmware) and application software (e.g. Microsoft Office) which the computer is able to execute.

  • software development kit (SDK)

    A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools contained in one installable package.

  • static code

    The same code value is used for multiple transactions. For example, the store code printed on the merchant's materials, after the user scans the code, it is usually necessary to enter the transaction amount before the payment can be initiated.

  • stock symbol

    A stock symbol is an arrangement of characters—usually letters—representing publicly traded securities on an exchange. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available symbol for its shares, often related to the company name. Investors and traders use the symbol to place trade orders.

  • store

    Each operation place of a merchant.

  • store code

    The code presented by merchant for user to scan and identify the merchant, and make payment.

  • system integrator

    A company that markets commercial integrated software and hardware systems.

  • Tokenization

    Tokenization is a process of replacing sensitive data with ciphertext to prevent data leakage.

  • Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO)

    A UBO or Ultimate Beneficial Owner is the person or entity that is the ultimate beneficiary when an institution initiates a transaction. A UBO of a legal entity is a person who holds an interest of minimum 25% capital of the legal entity and has a minimum of 25% voting rights at the general meeting of shareholders.

  • Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

    A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it

  • URL scheme

    URL Scheme allows users to open the merchant's app from other apps by tapping a custom URL, which is not recommended by iOS and Android anymore.

  • User-Presented Mode (B-scan-C Mode)

    Merchant scans the user presented code with devices to initiate payment.

  • User-Presented Mode Payment

    One type of In-store Payment, which is initiated by the merchant scanning the consumer presented code with devices.

  • Wallet

    Wallet payment methods are also referred to as digital wallets. Wallets own a system of independent accounts. Users can complete online or in-store payments by using their accounts.

  • Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)

    A protocol designed for micro-browsers, that enables the access of internet in the mobile devices.

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