Glossary

A merchant's glossary of chargeback and fraud prevention terms – clear definitions for disputes, reason codes, and payment industry jargon

B
- BIN (Bank Identification Number)
  
  A bank identification number, or BIN, sits at the very start of a card’s primary account number (PAN), running either six or eight digits long. To get at the meaning of BIN, think about what happens the moment you tap or swipe: Those opening digits tell the network which bank issued the card and where to route it next.
D
- Decline Recovery (Decline Salvage)
  
  Decline recovery, sometimes called decline salvage, describes the work of turning a failed card payment into one that goes through. A decline is not automatically the end of a sale or renewal. Sometimes the issue is temporary, sometimes the customer must take action, and sometimes the payment details on file simply need updating before anything can move forward.
M
- MID (Merchant Identification Number / Merchant ID)
  
  A merchant identification number (MID) is the code used to recognize a merchant account. The acquiring bank or payment processor usually assigns it when the account opens. Think of it as the account’s address inside card processing. It tells banks and card networks which merchant a sale belongs to. In simple terms, that is the merchant identification number definition.
P
- PAN (Primary Account Number)
  
  A primary account number (PAN) is what most people call a “card number.” It identifies a credit, debit, or prepaid card account and may appear on the card itself. The number is also stored in the card’s magnetic stripe or EMV chip. In payment processing, the term primary account number means the identifier used to connect a transaction to the correct issuer and card account.
- Processing
  
  Processing is everything that happens to move money from a customer’s card to a seller’s account after a purchase. At checkout, the customer sees only a brief pause. Behind it, the payment gateway sends the request to the payment processor. From there, it moves through the acquiring bank and card network to the issuing bank, which returns a response.

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