Authorization
The process by which the credit card company and/or bank permits the payment transaction to proceed. See also Pre-authorization.

Card-Not-Present Account
A merchant account that is established for businesses where credit cards are primarily accepted by phone or by mail, and therefore are “not present.” Sometimes known as a Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO) account.

Chargeback
When a consumer contests a purchase that appears on his/her banking statement they charge it back to the merchant.

Clearing or Settlement
The process whereby financial institutions collect or pay out for items drawn on, or paid into, accounts in their institution. E-xact Transactions settles according to the credit card companies’ agreements with banking institutions.

CTR
Customer Transaction Record. With E-xact’s Transaction Processing Solution, the CTR is issued upon completion of a transaction. It states the business name, has an authorization number, and lists all important transaction details.

Discount Rates
This rate is charged on credit card sales of merchants by the credit card issuers (bank).

E-commerce
Conducting business activities - buying, selling, and other transactions via communications and computer technologies. It includes transactions done by telephone, fax, ABM, credit card, debit card, television shopping, EDI, and the Internet.

Internet Merchant Account
The type of merchant account necessary to accept credit cards over the Internet. It is a variant of a card-not-present account. See also Merchant Account.

Merchant Account
A necessity for anyone wanting to take payments/sales via credit cards for their e-commerce business. Regular merchant accounts differ from “card not present” or Internet merchant accounts. See Internet Merchant Account and Card Not Present.

Payment Processing
Another phrase for transaction processing.

Point of Sale (POS)
In the brick-and-mortar business, this is the point at which a product is paid for. Merchant Sales are conducted by credit card swipe terminal. On the Internet, this is the software that enables the merchant to accept transactions on their online store.

Pre-Authorization
The method by which an amount of funds is reserved for a period of time to await sales completion.

Real-time
Events and actions are taking place as it happens and the time frame is now. All E-xact transactions take place in real-time.

Reporting
E-xact provides extensive reporting with our E-xact Member Services. Detailed deposit totals and online activity can be tracked daily.

Settlement
When money is deposited into the various accounts related to a purchase with a credit card, this is settlement. E-xact facilitates daily settlement with merchants.

Shopping Basket or Shopping Cart
When you shop online, items you are going to buy are collected in a “shopping basket” or “cart” so that you can check your list when ready to purchase them. E-xact’s software has been successfully integrated into several shopping carts.

Web Storefront
A website store. E-xact’s software can be integrated into web storefronts.

Technical Terms

ActiveX
This set of technologies from Microsoft provides tools for linking desktop applications to the World Wide Web. Using a variety of programming tools -including Java, Visual Basic, and C++ - developers can create interactive web content. For instance, ActiveX technology allows users to view Word and Excel documents directly in a browser. E-xact Transactions utilizes ActiveX for its COM/Win NT Transaction Component.

COM (Component Object Model)
COM makes it easier to create components (pieces of code) or use pre-existing components that can interact with other components and applications (using the object model). A big advantage is that these components can be written using a variety of computer languages.

Digital Certificate
Digital certificates are password protected files issued from a Certificate Authority (CA). The CA validates information on a company or person then issues a certificate. This certificate identifies and provides information such as name, email address, and encryption key so that people can be more certain that the information provided on a website is genuine. Additionally, security protocols such as SSL are digital certificates that are commonly used for order forms to ensure secure online environments.

Encryption
Encoding and securing information by converting its format for transmission. Receivers of the encrypted message must decrypt it to read it.

Firewall
A system between networks that filters data passing through it and removes unauthorized traffic, thus enhancing the network’s security.

Gateway
A gateway is a program or piece of hardware that passes data between networks. E-xact has established gateways with banking networks and payment processors.

IBM Net.Commerce
IBM’s website development software.

IP (Internet Protocol)
The Internet protocol defines how information gets passed between systems across the Internet.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)
A company that provides individuals and businesses with access to the Internet. Many ISPs also provide website hosting services. E-xact utilizes IP.

IVR Telephony
Integrated Voice Response Telephony technology creates automatic message selections through phone systems. E-xact’s software can be used in IVR telephony.

Java
Sun Microsystems’ Java is a programming language that adds animation, graphics, and actions to websites.

JavaBean
A component technology for Java that allows a developer to create reusable software objects. E-xact has a Java Bean Transaction Component.

Linux
A freely distributed, Intel-processor-based alternative to UNIX. Linux is an inexpensive operating system solution when compared to UNIX. Linux has become increasingly popular worldwide. E-xact provides Linux users a Perl Module solution.

Microsoft Site Server
Microsoft™ website development software.

Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language)
A popular programming language used for web server applications. It can be used for creating interactive forms and CGI programs. E-xact has a Perl Module Transaction Component for Unix/Linux systems.

SET
Secure Electronic Transaction is a protocol under development with MasterCard and Visa as a method to secure payment card transactions over the Internet.

SOAP
The Simple Object Access Protocol, an XML syntax for exchanging messages. Being XML, SOAP is both language and platform independent and is a fundamental part of .NET, Microsoft’s new development platform. Created to solve the real-world problems of distributed applications, it’s specification has been submitted to the World Web Corsortium (W3C), which will help make SOAP a standard similar to HTTP or XML. SOAP is defined by its simplicity - basic SOAP applications with Visual Basic that can access SOAP endpoints written in anything from C++ to Perl to XSLT can be built with ease.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
A widely used public security protocol, SSL creates a secure link between a web server and browser and all data sent is encrypted. E-xact requires that websites using our services have SSL.

Transaction Processing
The process enabling the clearing of purchases in an electronic environment such as the Internet. In the case of E-xact, we provide a means to process credit card transactions.

UNIX
UNIX is a general-purpose operating system that has become popular again since much of the Internet is hosted on UNIX systems. UNIX platforms can implement E-xact’s Perl Module.

Virtual Point of Sale (vPOS)
A Point of Sale device where people can ring through sales online. E-xact’s Member Services supplies all E-xact members with a vPOS.

Web Hosting
Hosting your site means a company provides the method by which people can locate your website on a computer or server. Many ISPs and E-commerce Solution Providers offer Web Hosting.

WebService

A behaviour enabling client-side script to invoke remote methods, such as those exposed by web servers for example, supporting SOAP and Web Services Description Language (WSDL) 1.1. This behaviour gives developers the opportunity to use and leverage SOAP without requiring expert knowledge of it’s implementation. It also supports the use of a wide variety of data types, including intrinsic SOAP data types, arrays, objects, and XML (Extensible Markup Language) data. The WebService behaviour is implemented with an HTML Component (HTC) file as an attached behaviour and once attached to a webpage, Internet Explorer (5 and up) can invoke methods from web servers and services, and use the results directly in client-side script.