Glossary
Glossary of Acronyms
CNP – Chip and PIN
CVM - Card Verification Method
DUKPT – Derived Unique Key Per Transaction
EFT - Electronic Funds Transfer
EMV - Europay, Mastercard, Visa. See EMV below.
ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning
FW - Firmware
HSM - Hardware Security Module. See HSM below.
mPOS - mobile Point of Sale
MFI – Made for iPhone.
PCI DSS – Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
REST – Representational State Transfer
SEPA - Single Euro Payments Area
UUID – Unique User Identifier
Glossary of Terminology
A
Acquiring Platform – This is the primary payment facilitation component in the overall payment processing architecture. The Acquiring Platform is operated by the Acquirer and handles the interchange with the card schemes so that, ultimately, the transaction is debited from the account of the Cardholder. For Wirecard ePOS SDK, a merchant requires a contract with an Acquiring Platform so that they have an account through which to route transactions. Wirecard's Payment & Risk division provides its own Acquiring Platform with the Wirecard Acquiring and Processing unit.
Acquirer - Entities that collect card payments that have been accepted by merchants, and then aggregate and separate those payments and forward them on to Issuers for processing. Also known as Merchant Acquirers.
Acquiring and Processing - Unit of Wirecard that provides an Acquiring Platform.
Alipay – The largest mobile and online payment platform in the world, with 400 million users in China alone. Individual users receive a unique QR code which they use when making a payment to a merchant. The Wirecard ePOS SDK supports payments made through Alipay.
authorize - One type of sale request. To allocate a certain amount on a credit card prior to completion of a sale.
B
back-end - Refers to the new Switch back-end. With Wirecard ePOS SDK, you create a front-end payment acceptance app and Switch is the corresponding back-end. The Switch back-end itself forwards transactions on to the Gateway, which in turn, forwards the transaction on to the Acquirer and, ultimately, to the Issuer so that the consumer can pay the Issuer. In addition, many merchants also have an ERP system connected which augments the back-end functionality provided by Switch.
barcode - One of two possible types of codes that can be scanned with a pistol scanner. The other type is a QR code.
basket - A user-defined collection of items for purchase, also referred to as a cart or shopping cart.
Business ByDesign - See SAP Business ByDesign.
C
cardholder - Consumer who uses a debit or credit card as their method of payment.
Card Issuer - See Issuer.
card reader - See terminal.
cart - See basket.
cash - Physical money in the form of bank notes or coins.
cash in/out - See pay in/out.
cash payments - Payment with bank notes or coins. The opposite of cashless payments.
cash register - Refers to an actual piece of hardware that provides cash register functionality. Cash Register (i.e. spelled with a capital C and a capital R) refers to the object in the SDK code.
Cash Register - Object in the SDK code that represents a real-life cash register. Each merchant may have one or more Cash Registers, each of which is identified by a unique identifier. Each Cashier must be associated with a Cash Register. Cash Registers are part of the Cash Manager component.
Cashier - User of a cash register. Each Cashier must be associated with a Cash Register.
cashless payment - Payment that involves a card, and does not involve bank notes or coins. The opposite of cash payments.
Chip and PIN cards - See EMV cards.
Chip and Signature cards - See EMV cards.
consumer - Person involved in a sale with a merchant. For example, a customer dining in a restaurant. If the consumer uses a card to pay, they are also referred to as a cardholder.
customer - Identifier in a back-end ERP system. Also referred to as a member in some ERP systems, including SAP Business By Design. See member.
D
device - The physical hardware used by the merchant who has the payment acceptance app installed.
E
electronic payments - Same as cashless payments. Contrast with cash payments.
EMV - A global standard for credit cards that use chips to authenticate and secure chip-card transactions. Currently, EMV is managed by EMVCo which includes American Express, China UnionPay, Discover and others.
EMV Cards – Smart cards, chip cards and IC cards, which include magnetic stripes for backward compatibility. Also includes contactless cards, which can be read over a short distance. EMV-compliant cards are often called Chip and PIN or Chip and Signature cards.
F
Firmware – Permanent software that resides in memory of a hardware device. In terms of the SDK, firmware is significant because you can, and should, provide users with the ability to update their firmware from within the payment acceptance app that you create.
front-end - The payment acceptance app that is created by partners using the Wirecard ePOS SDK is typically referred to as the front-end to distinguish it from the Switch back-end, which handles the processing and routing of transactions.
full refund - A return to the consumer of the full amount that they paid in the original sale.
G
Gateway - Wirecard component that is responsible for the initial processing of the transaction and then routing to the Acquirer. Initial processing includes handling the secure decryption of MagStripe, EMV and both offline and online PIN transactions. An HSM is hosted to support decryption of card holder data. The Gateway is fully PCI DSS certified. For our partners developing with the Wirecard ePOS SDK, there is a Test Gateway to help with initial development and testing. It allows you to simulate the full end-to-end payment process during development.
gift card – Physical or online card that provides the consumer with a discount on a purchase.
H
HSM - A physical device that helps with the decryption of PIN and other card holder data.
I
Inventory Manager - Component of the SDK that enables the set up and maintenance of product catalogues, product categories and sub-categories, and products (including product images).
Issuing Bank - See Card Issuer.
Issuer - See Card Issuer.
M
merchant - A seller of products, typically with a physical location, which is known as a store or shop. The Wirecard ePOS SDK is used by our partners to create payment acceptance apps for merchants.
Merchant Acquirer - See Acquirer.
member - A term that is sometimes used by ERP back-end systems to refer to customers. See customer.
mobile device – Hardware on which apps created with the Wirecard ePOS SDK run. Currently, iOS and Android devices are supported and Windows Mobile is coming soon.
Switch Portal - Graphical User Interface provided to merchants that can be used to maintain their data that is stored in the Switch back-end.
O
Objective-C - One of the programming languages that is available on the iOS platform. It is also available in the Swift language.
P
partial refund - A return to the consumer of a portion of the amount they paid in the original sale.
partner - Refers to companies that collaborate with Wirecard to create payment acceptance apps for merchants using the Wirecard ePOS SDK.
partner team - One or more persons at a partner company responsible for creating a payment acceptance app using the Wirecard ePOS SDK. Typically, a partner team consists of a project manager and one or more developers. This Wirecard ePOS SDK documentation was created for our partner teams.
pay in/out – Cash that is either put in or taken out of a cash register. Also referred to as cash in and cash out, or cash in/out.
payment gateway - See Gateway.
payment method - Form of payment used in a sale. With the Wirecard ePOS SDK, the form can be cash, card, SEPA, Alipay or WeChat Pay.
Payment & Risk - Division of Wirecard that handles Acquiring and Processing services.
payment acceptance app - App that Wirecard partners create with the Wirecard ePOS SDK. This may be a fully-standalone app, or it could be a sub-component of a larger app. For example, a logistics company would already have an app that handles logistics, such as deliveries, storage and so forth, but they may want to add payment acceptance functionality so that their drivers can accept cards and cash. So, in this case, the Wirecard ePOS SDK would be used to create a sub-component of the logistics app. For simplicity though, throughout this documentation, the app created with the Wirecard ePOS SDK is always referred to as the payment acceptance app.
payment gateway – Transaction processing and routing. See Gateway.
pistol scanner - Handheld scanner used to scan barcodes and QR codes.
platform - Refers to the operating system on which the Wirecard ePOS SDK is used. Also refers to the operating system on which the application functionality created with the SDK will run. For example, iOS is one of the platforms that is supported by the SDK.
product catalogue - A set of products. Also commonly referred to as inventory. See Inventory Manager.
Public Test – Switch back-end testing environment provided by Wirecard that is ideal for testing and validation of application functionality that you build with the SDK.
purchase - The most common transaction type. A purchase involves the consumer buying something from a merchant. Other types of transactions include return, authorize, pre-authorize.
Q
QR code - Commonly used abbreviation for Quick Response (QR) code. A matrix-type barcode consisting of black and white squares. Most mobile devices have free QR code reader apps. A QR code is one of two types of codes that can be scanned using a pistol scanner. See also barcode.
R
return - Can be a reverse or a refund.
reverse - A cancellation of a sale, which can be performed if the sale has not yet been processed by the Acquiring Platform.
refund - A cancellation of a sale and a return of the payment to the consumer. The SDK supports both full and partial refunds.
S
sale - The initial interaction between the merchant user and a consumer. In terms of the SDK code, sales begin with a Sale Request and completes with a Sale Response.
Sale Response - SDK object that has the results of the sale after processing by the back-end.
Sale Request - SDK object that is used in the initial phase of a sale to a consumer. This object has the particulars of a sale, including price, quantity and tax rate. Note that a Sale Request is typically a purchase, but it can also be a return, an authorize, or a pre-authorize.
SAP Business ByDesign - A cloud-based ERP solution for small to medium-sized businesses. This software can be used to augment the Switch back-end which is provided as part of the SDK.
scanner - See pistol scanner.
SEPA – The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a payment-integration initiative of the European Union for simplification of bank transfers denominated in euros.
shift – Working time of a merchant user. Starts with the open and ends with the close.
shop - The physical location of a merchant. In terms of the SDK, this is significant if the merchant has more than one physical location.
shopping cart - See basket.
Shift Report - Detailed information about transaction activity between the opening of a shift and its closing. Also known as a Z-Report.
Shift Activity – Pay in/out activity between the open and close of a shift.
Star Micronics - Vendor of payment acceptance hardware.
StarIO - See Star Micronics.
store - See shop.
Swift - One of the programming languages that is available on the iOS platform. See also Objective-C.
Switch - The back-end of the Wirecard ePOS SDK front-end. Transactions are processed through the Switch back-end. As part of the setup process for a merchant, they will need to set up the appropriate users, products, product catalogues, terminals and so forth. Consult your Wirecard representative for more information. Also, note that some customers may also have an ERP system connected to Switch, which provides more back-end functionality, such as Price list management and Stock level management. Once again, consult your Wirecard representative for complete information.
T
terminal – Card reading hardware device that enables the acceptance of cashless payments using credit and debit cards. Also known as a card reader.
transaction - The financial and payment details related to a sale. A sale may have more than one transaction if, for example, the consumer pays with two methods, such as cash and credit.
transaction type - Indicates the nature of a transaction, such as a purchase or an authorize.
U
user - The end-user of the payment acceptance app that you will create for a merchant with the SDK. Merchants usually have one or more users. Users are typically staff at a merchant's place of business, for example, sales staff in a retail store or drivers in a transportation/logistics company. Users who deal with cash are typically referred to as Cashiers.
V
vendor – Refers to hardware vendors who make terminals (i.e. card readers), scanner pistols, cash registers and printers that can be used with the SDK. The most popular vendors of these hardware devices include Spire, PAX, Star, Socket and Datecs.
W
WeChat Pay - One of the most popular alternative payment methods available in China, this is a digital wallet service.
Z
Z-Report – See Shift Report.