Payment Glossary: 70+ Payment Terms and Definitions for 2026

Payment authorization is the issuer decision that approves or declines a card transaction before capture. Strong authorization performance helps merchants reduce failed payments and protect revenue.

card authorization, auth, authorization request

A payment decline happens when an issuer refuses an authorization request. For merchants, understanding soft vs hard declines helps recover revenue, reduce false declines, and improve checkout performance.

declined payment, transaction decline, authorization decline

A merchant is the business that starts a card or digital payment by capturing customer details and sending an authorization request. How it manages declines, retries, and routing can directly affect recovered revenue.

seller, business merchant, merchant of record