E-Commerce Glossary

ACH
Automated Clearing House. Processes routine payments electronically, replacing the less efficient paper cheque system.

Authentication Certificate
This contains information about who it belongs to, who issued it, a unique serial number (or other unique identification), valid dates, and an encrypted "fingerprint" for verifying the certificate's contents. The certificate is issued by a trusted third-party organisation. The "Certification Authority" guarantees that the individual granted the certificate is really who he or she claims to be. So normally the Certification Authority needs an arrangement with a financial institution (e.g. a credit card company) which gives it information to confirm an individual's claimed identity. Certification Authorities are a critical component in e-commerce because they guarantee that the two parties exchanging information are really who they claim to be

Bandwidth
This is generally used to describe a network connection's data-carrying capacity. It can refer to phone or computer networks, radio frequency signals and even monitors. The more bandwidth, the more users it can support and the more data those users can transmit and receive. Bandwidth is often measured in cycles per second, or hertz (Hz), which is the difference between the lowest and highest frequencies transmitted. But it's also common to use bits or bytes per second. 

Banner Ad
An advert on a Web page, usually a horizontal graphic. These types of ads can gobble up bandwidth, making Web users frustrated

Batch
A collection of captures and credits accumulated over a particular period (usually a day or less), which are waiting to be settled with the merchant's acquiring financial institution. "Batch close" is the process of sending the batch to the financial institution for settlement. "Batching" or organising many files into a single group for transmitting tends to increase the efficiency of the data transmission

Batch Processing
A type of data processing and data communications transmission in which related transactions are grouped together and transmitted for processing, usually by the same computer and under the same application.

Bricks and Mortar
Phrase used to describe a company that was well established in the retail market prior to the development of E-commerce. Examples in the UK would be Marks and Spencer and Argos.

Checkout
The secure area of a website where you go to pay once you have selected the items you want.

Complaint 
General public inform the company that the good or service purchased is not up to the standard expected

Consolidator
A bill service provider (BSP) that consolidates bills from other BSPs or billers and delivers them for presentment to the customer service provider. Also referred to as a Bill Consolidator

Cookie
A small chunk of information, stored on your computer by a Web site you have visited, that's used to remind that site about you the next time you visit it.

Credit Note
A type of refund that is handed to a customer if a proof of purchase has not been handed in, or even offered instead of money. Allows the customer to buy something else that costs to the amount of that credit note. Customers can still refuse to accept the credit note as a suitable refund

Cyberspace
A term coined by the science-fiction novelist, William Gibson, in his fantasy novel, Neuromancer. Used to describe the 'world' of computers. Used as a reference to the 'Internet.'

Data Capture
The collection, formatting, and storage of information in computer memory. Some point-of-sale terminals perform data capture functions.

DEK 
Data Encryption Key Used for the encryption of message text and for the computation of message integrity checks (signatures)

Database
A collection of data organized and designed for easy access i.e., a collection of customer names and addresses.

Debit Transaction 
A bankcard used to purchase goods and services and to obtain cash, which debits the cardholder's personal deposit account

Decryption 
The process of making a secure, encrypted file readable as plain text

DDA
Demand Deposit Account Usually abbreviated as DDA, it refers to the merchant bank account First Data credits or debits for deposits, fees and adjustments.

EDI
ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE Exchanging documents in a structured form between computers via networks for business use. It is being increasingly used to great effect for purchasing and distribution - orders, confirmations, shipping papers, payments and invoices - but also in the distribution of anything from exam results to legal documents. The international standard for EDI messages is Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport (EDIFACT), also known as UN/EDIFACT


Encryption
Is a way of encoding data and documents in such a way that they cannot be read without knowledge of the key to be used for decoding the data. It also allows the recipient to know that the data has not been tampered with en route

Electronic Bill Delivery
A system offered by Visa Interactive that lets banks send customers their bills through their PCs or via telephone lines, letting the customers transfer funds through their bank to the billing agent itself

EBPP
Electronic bill presentment and payment involves the online delivery of bills to customers, with electronic payment

E-Commerce
The concept of shopping online.

E-Pay
Electronic Bill Payment An alternative to paper checks for paying bills. Consumers can use PCs, telephones, screen phones or ATMs to send electronic instructions to their bank or bill payment provider to withdraw funds from their accounts and pay merchants. Payments may be made either electronically or by a paper check issued by the bill payment provider

E-tailer
An online retailer.

EDC Terminal
Electronic Draft Capture Also referred to as Electronic Data Capture terminal. A point-of-sale device, which reads information, encoded in the bankcard's magnetic stripe, performs authorization functions, stores transaction data, and batches, and transmits that data to the acquirer for processing. The stored transactions are used to create settlement files and transaction reports.

Extranet
A Web site that links businesses to consumers, suppliers, etc., for electronic commerce. These sites usually provide more consumer-specific information than public sites and may have security devices such as passwords for a user to gain access to more sensitive information

Fiber Optic Cable
A transmission medium composed of small strands of glass, providing a path for light rays that act as a carrier

File Transfer
The copying of a file from one computer to another over a computer network.

Goods
A term used for goods or services purchased

Host Computer
The central computer in a data communications system that provides the primary data processing functions, such as computation and database access.

Hyperlink
A hypertext connection that can take you to another document or another part of the same document. On the World Wide Web, hyperlinks appear as text or pictures that are highlighted. To follow a hyperlink, click the highlighted material

Hypertext 
A system of writing and displaying text that enables the text to be linked in multiple ways, be available at several levels of detail, and contain links to related documents.

Hypertext Mark-Up Language
HTML, The language used to write pages for the World Wide Web. This language lets the text include codes that define fonts, layout, embedded graphics, and hypertext links.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol
HTTP, The way in which World Wide Web pages are transferred over the Internet

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secured
HTTPS A variant of HTTP that encrypts messages for security.


Internet Service Provider
A commercial provider of a connection to the Internet, i.e., AOL, CompuServe, etc.

JavaScript
A scripting language for webpages. Not the same thing as Java, which was built as a general-purpose object language, JavaScript is intended to provide a quick and simple language for enhancing webpages (and servers) and increasing their functionality. Scripts written in JavaScript can be embedded directly into HTML documents. One disadvantage of using "client-side" JavaScript for key sections of your online store is that some customers might be using browsers which can't handle JavaScript, or which have JavaScript turned off.

Legal Rights
A rule or law protecting the general public from companies. These rights protect us when buying products or services from a company

Mainframe
A high-level computer designed for intensive computing tasks, and generally used only by large organisations. For example, a corporation might have a large amount of stock inventory and other product and customer information stored on its mainframes. A mainframe is often shared by multiple users, connected to it via terminals.

MICR Number Method
A check authorization procedure that uses the bank routing/transit numbers, checking account numbers and check number encoded along the bottom of the check.

Magnetic Information Character Recognition
MICR, Imprinted banking numbers (routing/transit number, checking account number, check number) at the bottom of the check.

Magnetic Strip
A stripe (on the bankcard) of magnetically encoded cardholder account information affixed to a plastic card.

Megabit
A data measurement, approximately one million bits - but thanks to binary arithmetic (the mathematics that computers understand) it is really worth exactly 1,048,576 bits.

Megabyte
A common measurement of digital storage or capacity. Your Web team will need to keep an eye on the megabytes, in terms of the sizes of your webpage graphics and other files, the storage space on the server (the computer which holds your website), and the speed of the Internet connection between your customer and your site. One megabyte (or 1 MB) is equal to approximately 1 million bytes (1,048,576 bytes).

 A typical floppy disk holds about 1.44 MB of data, while a CD-ROM can hold over 600 MB of data. The basic unit of measurement is a bit. If you are offering visitors to your site a 1 MB file to download, for a customer using a modem with a speed of 28,800 bps (or bits per second) this can take about 10 minutes to download.

Net Market
Net markets are set up by intermediaries to allow online buying from several sellers via a single site. Prospective customers can search databases and compare products readily.

Network Service Provider
A terminal-centered system that allows the merchant to obtain authorization and/or data captured through the network. A third party vendor who provides authorization network services such as Banknet, VISANet, and NDC

POS Terminal
A device placed in a merchant location that is connected to the bank's system or authorization service provider via telephone lines and is designed to authorize, record, and forward data by electronic means for each sale

POS2000
A client database (entitlements and equipment) and terminal tracking system (shipment status and serial numbers). This sub-system uploads to the First Data terminal billing information system.

Packet
A chunk of information sent over a network. Each packet contains the address that it's going to and the address from which it came

Private key
The part of the key in a public key system which is kept secret and only used by its owner.

Protocol
The agreed-on rules that computers rely on to talk among themselves. A set of signals that mean 'go ahead,' 'got it,' 'didn't get it, please resend,' 'all done,' and so on.

Public Key - Encryption
This encryption method requires two unique software keys for decrypting data, one public and one private. Data is encrypted using the published public keys, and the unpublished private keys are used to decrypt the data. Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is a well-known example of this kind of encryption system. 

Reason Code
A code used to provide additional information to the receiving clearing member regarding the nature of a chargeback, subsequent presentment, fee collection, funds disbursement, or request for a source document

Receipt
A hard copy description of the transaction that took place at the point-of-sale, containing at minimum: date, merchant name/location, primary account number, type of account accessed, amount, reference number, and an action code.

Recurring Transaction
A transaction charged to the cardholder (with prior permission) on a periodic basis for recurring goods and services, i.e., health club memberships, book-of-the-month clubs, etc

Refund
This can be in the form of money, or a credit note given back to us by the company that a good or service was purchased from if we do not find the product to be of a satisfactory standard.

Regional Network
A network that processes debit transactions for financial institutions and retailers in a given geographic area. Regional networks are not part of the national interchange system

Repair
Work carried out to any problems that have been found in products

Replacement
This is offered to customers instead of a refund, this can be the same product again or a different product with the same or higher amount value.

Response Time
This measures the time between a request for information over a network and the network's fulfilment of that request. This can be very important in the context of servicing your online customers, who will naturally enough become frustrated by any long delays.

Router
A device, which forwards traffic between networks.

Scalability
A scalable solution is one that provides a way of efficiently dealing with a wide range of transaction rates. An e-commerce venture may start out with a small number of users and then attract a rapidly increasing number of users. Scalable designs may employ more powerful processors or additional servers to handle the increased demand.

Secure Socket Layer
SSL, A Web-based technology that lets one computer verify another's identity and allows secure connections

Server
A computer that provides information to "client" machines. For example, Web servers store webpages and send them to your browser, and mail servers are used for delivering email.

Shipping
Cost of delivery.

Shopping Cart/ Trolley
The software that stores your purchases in memory until you are ready to pay for all your goods.

Smart Card
A plastic card resembling traditional credit or debit cards that contains a computer chip; the chip is capable of storing significantly more information than a magnetic stripe.

Soft Decline
A declined response in which authorization is not granted on a valid card, not because it has been stolen or lost, but because the credit card already exceeds the credit line

Teleshopping
Online shopping and information retrieval service accessed through PCs. Home shoppers need only a minimal knowledge of computers to select the information they want and buy products or services such as airline tickets, play games, get stock market reports, view current headlines, pay bills etc. 

Terminal Based
A system that captures card transactions and holds them until settlement.

Terminated Merchant File
TMF, A file listing the names of merchants and their principals whose bankcard relationships have been terminated for some reason by an acquirer. Operated jointly by VISA and MasterCard.

Time Out
What happens when you request a webpage and the server hosting the Web page doesn't manage to respond in a certain amount of time. You might be given the message: "connection timed out".

Value Added Network
VAN, A Value Added Network exchanges information electronically between subscribers and their trading partners. Subscribers connect to the private network to transmit messages. VANs provide electronic mailboxes for EDI messages and keep records for audit tracking

Visanet
The data processing systems, networks, and operations used to support and deliver authorization services, exception file services, and clearing and settlement services.

Wireless Application Protocol
WAP, Wireless Application Protocol An open specification of a communications protocol that enables delivery of information to mobile phones, pagers and similar devices