Glossary

The terms that appear in this documentation, in alphabetical order. When the term is an API field, the field name comes in parentheses.

3-DS

Cardholder authentication in an online purchase, done by the issuer (SMS code, bank app, biometrics). An authenticated purchase weighs in the store’s favor in a fraud dispute.

Acquirer

The company that processes the store’s card payments and passes the money on to it. The chargeback is charged to the store on the acquirer’s side.

Alert

Notice that a cardholder opened a dispute at the issuing bank, before it becomes a chargeback. See Alert.

Alert status (status)

The state of the alert: pending, notfound, account_suspended, other or expired. See Rules and deadlines.

ARN (arn)

Acquirer Reference Number: the number the acquirer gives the transaction at clearing. It helps find the same purchase in the systems of everyone involved.

Authorization code (auth_code)

The code the issuer returns when it approves the purchase.

BIN (card_bin)

The first 6 to 8 digits of the card. They identify the issuing bank and the card type.

CAID (caid)

Card Acceptor ID: the store’s identifier at the acquirer. Together with the acquirer’s BIN (not the card’s), it is how Visa alerts are matched to your company.

Capture

The recording of checkout signals (device, terms acceptance, access, delivery) that become proof in the defense. See Capture.

Card network (network)

The card’s network, such as Visa or Mastercard. It sets the dispute rules and deadlines.

Cardholder

The person who owns the card used in the purchase.

Chargeback

The forced reversal of a purchase: the cardholder disputes it at the issuing bank and the amount goes back to them, charged to the store.

Credentials (client_id, client_secret)

The pair that authenticates API calls with Basic Auth. Generated in the dashboard. See Authentication.

Descriptor (descriptor)

The store name that shows on the card statement. It is how Mastercard alerts are matched to your company, and the reason for many disputes: whoever does not recognize the name disputes the charge.

Dispute

A cardholder’s challenge of a purchase. Also the name of the Rapid product that defends a chargeback already opened. See Dispute.

ECI (eci)

Electronic Commerce Indicator: the indicator that says whether and how the online purchase was authenticated (for example, with 3-DS).

Evidence

A proof recorded about a transaction (terms acceptance, access, delivery, communication) to support the defense. See Evidence.

Idempotency

Processing the same event twice with no duplicate effect. Needed because the webhook can arrive more than once. See Idempotency.

Issuer

The bank that issued the cardholder’s card. It is where the dispute starts.

MCC (mcc)

Merchant Category Code: the four-digit code that classifies the store’s line of business.

Merchant

A store, brand or seller of a customer company. A company can have several. See List merchants.

Prevention

The Rapid product that answers the issuing bank with the order data so the dispute is never born. See Prevention.

Publishable token

The capture snippet token, which lives in the store’s HTML. It only allows sending events, never reading data. See Install the snippet.

Signing key (secret)

The key Rapid generates when you register the webhook and uses to sign each delivery. It is shown only once in the dashboard. See Webhook authentication.

Transaction

A sale sent to Rapid through the Transactions API. It is the raw material of Prevention and Dispute.

Webhook

The POST Rapid makes to the URL you registered, on each event (new alert, access revocation). See Webhook.

Webhook signature

The HMAC-SHA256 code Rapid sends in the X-Webhook-Signature header, computed with your signing key. It proves the delivery came from Rapid. See Webhook authentication.