Between Chargent’s features, Salesforce, and the payments industry, you may come across a number of terms. Below, we’ve compiled a list of the most common terms and their definitions to support your learning process and enhance your overall understanding of Chargent-related products and processes.
Once you’ve gained an understanding of the following terms, you’ll be more than ready to tackle your Chargent implementation. We also recommend visiting our Frequently Asked Questions page to further your understanding of Chargent.
Tip: Use Ctrl+F to search for a specific term quickly.
Definitions #
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| 3D Secure (3DS) | 3DS is a form of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) offered by some gateways to add additional security to transactions by enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) to verify the payment information, ultimately protecting customers and preventing fraudulent charges. |
| Account Updater | A Chargent feature that sends an automated email to your customers when their credit card is about to expire. This email contains a secure payment link, allowing your customers to update their credit card information without your billing team’s involvement. Visit Account Updater to learn more. |
| ACH Validation | A feature that validates Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions before they are attempted. This feature is designed to satisfy NACHA’s mandate—Supplementing Fraud Detection Standards for Web Debits. For more information, see ACH Validation. |
| Address Verification System (AVS) | A security feature employed by many gateways and used to prevent fraud and validate the ownership of a credit card by verifying the billing address of a credit card with the data on file at the credit card issuing company. Visit Address Verification System (AVS) to learn more. |
| Automated Clearing House (ACH) | A direct debit network for processing bank account transactions in the United States. Supported by many gateways using Chargent. Learn more by visiting Direct Debit Networks. |
| Acquiring Bank | The financial institution that processes credit card or debit card payments on behalf of a merchant. Learn more by visiting Differences Between a Payment Gateway and Payment Processor. |
| Authorization | A type of transaction you can run in Chargent that verifies if the credit or debit card is valid and has available funds before charging an amount. See Understanding Authorizations for more details on using authorizations. |
| Authorize.net Emulation | Chargent supports over 30 gateway integrations directly. If your gateway isn’t supported directly, you may be able to connect to Chargent using gateway emulation. For more information about emulating your gateway integration using our Authorize.net integration, see Gateway Emulation. |
| Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS) | A direct debit network for processing bank account transactions in Canada. Supported by many gateways using Chargent. Learn more by visiting Direct Debit Networks. |
| Automated Collections | A feature that automatically retries the collection of missed or late payments. Automated Collections also automates communication with customers to let them know they’ve missed a payment and provides them with a payment request link so they can update their payment information and/or make a payment. Learn more about Automated Collections. |
| Bank Account Number (BAN) | Used in bank account transactions alongside the bank’s routing number to make a payment. |
| Bank Account Transaction | Commonly referred to as an e-check or direct debit transaction, a bank account transaction is the transfer of funds using a bank account number and routing number. See Understanding Bank Account Payments. |
| Billing Address | The address portion of the billing information that is often required to make a payment. See Billing Address Fields for more information. |
| Billing Information | Typically refers to the credit card or bank account number, billing address, and any other information required to process a payment. |
| Bank Identification Number (BIN) | Refers to the first six numbers that appear on a credit card. |
| Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS) | A direct debit network for processing bank account transactions in Australia. Supported by many gateways using Chargent. Learn more by visiting Direct Debit Networks. |
| Cash | Physical notes and coins used to make payments. Chargent allows you to track cash transactions without connecting to your gateway. See Entering Cash And Paper Checks. |
| Charge Amount | The field on the Chargent Order record representing the amount sent to the gateway to be charged. See Chargent Order Fields for more information. |
| Chargent Admin User | A type of Chargent user permission that should be assigned to anyone responsible for configuring Chargent. See Assigning Chargent Permissions for more details. |
| Chargent Anywhere | A lightning web component that allows you to process payments from any object in Salesforce. See Setting Up Chargent Anywhere for more information. |
| Chargent Community User | A type of Chargent user permission that should be assigned to any authenticated users from your Salesforce Experience Cloud site. See Assigning Chargent Permissions for more details. |
| Chargent Custom Checkout (CCC) | Chargent Custom Checkout is the pro-code alternative to the Take Payment Component, allowing you to customize the look and feel of payment forms on your Experience Cloud site. |
| Chargent For Commerce Cloud | Enables customers to integrate to their gateway of choice with a click-to-configure package in Salesforce’s Commerce Cloud. See Chargent for Commerce Cloud for more information. |
| Chargent For Salesforce Billing | Allows you to connect to your Gateway to accept payments and apply them to the balance of an open Invoice or an Account in Salesforce Billing. See Chargent for Salesforce Billing for more information. |
| Chargent Guest User | A type of Chargent user permission that should be assigned to any unauthenticated users from your Salesforce Experience Cloud site. See Assigning Chargent Permissions for more details. |
| Chargent Payment Console | Included as a button on the Chargent Anywhere component. Allows users to process single and recurring payments directly from any record in Salesforce. Set up the Chargent Payment Console to process payments securely without storing sensitive payment details. |
| Chargent Standard User | A type of Chargent user permission that should be assigned to anyone responsible for taking payments from customers using Chargent. See Assigning Chargent Permissions for more details. |
| Chargent Terminal | A product that allows you to use a physical Poynt POS device to take payments directly from Salesforce. See Setting Up Chargent Terminal for more information. |
| Context-Sensitive Help | Help links integrated into custom object tabs that display related content. Read more information about Context-Sensitive Help and how it is integrated in Chargent. |
| Credits | Also known as Unreferenced Credits. Allows you to send funds to a checking account without being tied to a previous transaction. See Sending Credits for more information. |
| Credit Card Transaction | A cashless payment made using a credit card. See Understanding Credit Card Payments. |
| Card Verification Code (CVC) | The CVC, also known as CVN (Card Verification Number), CVV2 (Card Verification Value 2), CVC2 (Card Validation Code 2), or CID (Card Identification Number), is a code that appears on credit cards and is sometimes required for payment. For more information, see Card Verification Number (Security Code). |
| Currency | Represents a country’s specific standard of payment. Both Chargent and Salesforce support multiple currencies. For more information about currencies in Chargent, see Understanding Currencies. |
| Data Levels | Refers to level II and level III transactions, wherein more data points about payments are collected, ensuring more secure transactions. Oftentimes, card issuers provide savings for processing transactions at a higher data level. For more information, see Understanding Data Levels. |
| Decline | Charges that did not process completely. See Understanding Response Statuses for more information. |
| Direct Debit | Commonly used to refer to online Bank Account payments. See Understanding Bank Account Payments for more information. |
| Direct Debit Network | The localized network in which bank account transactions are processed. Chargent supports the following Direct Debit Networks: ACH – US (aka echeck or electronic check) EFT (ACSS) – Canada (aka Electronic Funds Transfer) BECS – Australia SEPA – Europe Learn more by visiting Direct Debit Networks. |
| Dunning | The process for collecting funds owed by customers. This process typically involves sending messages of increasing severity depending on how resistant or unresponsive the customer is. Automate your dunning process using Automated Collections. |
| E-Check | Short for Electronic Check. Commonly used to refer to online Bank Account payments. See Understanding Bank Account Payments for more information. |
| Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) | A direct debit network used for processing bank account transactions in Canada. Supported by many gateways using Chargent. Learn more by visiting Direct Debit Networks. |
| Endpoint | Represents a URL address that allows the transfer of information between an API client and server. In the context of Chargent, endpoints refer to the URL in which a payment gateway receives data from Chargent. Often, a payment gateway will have different endpoints for test and live transactions. |
| Gateway | A payment gateway is like a virtual PoS terminal tasked with authenticating a digital payment. Chargent supports over 30 gateways. Learn more by visiting Differences Between a Payment Gateway and Payment Processor. |
| Gateway Response | Transaction information returned from your gateway. This can be useful when determining why a transaction was declined or experienced an error. Responses can be different for each gateway. See Understanding Response Codes. |
| Hard Decline | Hard declines refer to declines where the issuing bank could not authorize the payment, such as a card reported as stolen. See Understanding Response Statuses for more information. |
| Hosted Field | Hosted fields represent field values securely hosted on a gateway’s servers but displayed in Salesforce. Using hosted fields reduces the scope of your PCI compliance by keeping sensitive data from being stored in Salesforce. |
| Issuing Bank | The financial organization that provided the customer’s payment method. Learn more by visiting Differences Between a Payment Gateway and Payment Processor. |
| Merchant Identifier (MID) | Assigned to a merchant account by a payment processor or gateway. Often used to authenticate your gateway in Salesforce. |
| Omnichannel | A cross-channel business model designed to optimize the customer experience across every touchpoint. |
| Org | An abbreviation for a Salesforce instance (organization). |
| Primary Account Number (PAN) | A unique 12-19 digit credit card, debit, or prepaid card number. |
| Paper Check | A paper check is a written, dated, and signed document that instructs a bank to transfer money from the payer’s account to the payee. Chargent allows you to track these payments without connecting to your gateway. See Entering Cash And Paper Checks. |
| Payform | Allows users to access and pay their Payment Request or update their payment information using Account Updater. The payform is hosted on a Salesforce Site and is accessed via the Pay Link. |
| Pay Link | This link will take you to the payment page containing a Payform. Users may send this link directly to a payer via Payment Request. This link can also be sent automatically using a variety of features, such as Automated Collections and Account Updater. |
| Payment Methods | In general, a payment method is the means you offer to compensate for products or services, such as credit card, bank account, cash, or check. In Chargent, Payment Methods is a feature that allows your customers to save, select, and remove payment methods for current and future payments. Learn more by visiting Setting Up Payment Methods. |
| Payment Method Type | The various ways a customer can make a payment, including credit card, bank account, cash, or check. Chargent supports many payment method types. See Supported Payment Method Types. |
| Payment Processor | The organization that manages payment transactions between the bank and the merchant. In online transactions, the payment processor communicates with your payment gateway. Learn more by visiting Differences Between a Payment Gateway and Payment Processor. |
| Payment Source | A Chargent custom object and tab that’s replaced by the Payment Method custom object and tab. Click here for more information on Payment Methods. |
| Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance | PCI compliance refers to the technical and operational standards that businesses follow to secure and protect credit card data provided by cardholders and transmitted through card processing transactions. PCI standards for compliance are developed and managed by the PCI Security Standards Council. |
| Package Installation Manager (PIM) | The Package Installation Manager allows you to securely login (using Salesforce Identity Oauth), to the Salesforce instance where you want Chargent installed or upgraded. First, the PIM analyzes which, if any Chargent packages are installed, then guides you through installing the correct packages. It also ensures that the target Salesforce instance is aligned with some of the latest compliance features we have implemented, and ensures you get access to the best of Chargent. |
| Recurring Billing | The Chargent feature for setting up a sequence of payments on a repeating frequency that you choose. Learn more about Recurring Billing. |
| Refund | The reimbursement of money for goods or services. A refund is processed after a payment has been settled. See Refunding and Voiding Transactions. |
| Response Code | Your gateway sends information about transactions when they are completed. See Understanding Response Codes for more information. |
| Settlement | Describes when funds are transferred from the cardholder’s account to the merchant’s. See Understanding Transaction Settlement for more information. |
| Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) | A direct debit network for processing bank account transactions in Europe. Supported by many gateways using Chargent. Learn more by visiting Direct Debit Networks. |
| Soft Decline | Soft declines are rejections related to temporary issues, such as a temporary hold on an account. See Understanding Response Statuses for more information. |
| Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) | A feature supported by some gateways that authenticates a consumer-initiated transaction with two verification options. For more information, see Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). |
| Surcharging | A surcharge is any additional fee added to the cost of goods or services beyond the price originally quoted. Credit card processing fees are surcharges that businesses may pass on to their customers to offset the added cost. |
| Take Payment | A component that enables community or guest users to make payments in an Experience Cloud site. This component can be placed directly on a community page or added to a custom flow. Learn more about the Take Payment component. |
| Tokenization | Industry standard to ensure card holder data is kept secure by encrypting the data in a manner that cannot be decrypted. Chargent uses tokens so cardholder data is never stored in Salesforce and the token is only available to the payment gateway for a merchant. Not all gateways support tokenization. Learn more by viewing Salesforce Tokenization. |
| Transaction Sync | A Chargent feature that automatically tracks the settlement status of your ACH transactions. See Transaction Sync for more information. |
| Transaction Type | Chargent processes many kinds of transactions, including authorizations, charges, refunds, and voids. See Understanding Chargent Transactions for more details. |
| Unlinked Refunds | Unlinked Refunds allow you to send money to a credit card or bank account when the transaction is not a refund of a previous charge. See Unlinked Refunds for more details. |
| Unresolved Transactions | An unresolved transaction is a transaction record that can’t be created or saved due to some Salesforce configuration. See Understanding Unresolved Transactions for information. |
| UUID | Universally Unique Identifier. A 128-bit value used to identify an object or entity uniquely. |
| Void | A payment that is canceled before settlement. Voiding a payment in Chargent prevents it from being processed. See Refunding and Voiding Transactions. |
See Also
Chargent Quick Start Guide
Understanding Chargent Architecture
Understanding Payments
