To make it simple to find what you need, we’ve grouped all the terms into logical categories—from local South African concepts to the specifics of risk and technology. Use this guide as your go-to reference whenever you need clarity on the payments landscape.
Key South African & Local Terms
EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer)
A payment method that allows customers to pay for goods and services directly from their bank account. In South Africa, this includes popular instant EFT products.
PASA (Payments Association of South Africa)
The national payment system body recognised by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). PASA sets the rules and standards (like the mandate for 3D Secure) that govern payments in South Africa to ensure they are safe and efficient.
POPIA (Protection of Personal Information Act)
South Africa's data protection law that governs how businesses must handle and protect customers' personal information. As a PSP, we help you stay compliant by securely handling sensitive card data via tokenization.
ZAR (South African Rand)
The official three-letter currency code for the South African Rand, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
The Players in a Transaction
Acquiring Bank (or Acquirer)
The financial institution that holds the merchant's account and receives the payment from the customer's bank on the merchant's behalf. This is your business's bank in the transaction process.
Bank Identification Number (BIN)
The first four to six numbers on a payment card, which identify the financial institution that issued the card.
Card Schemes
The card payment networks that set the rules for processing transactions. The major global schemes are Visa and MasterCard.
Holder
The official owner of a credit card, bank account, or other payment method.
Issuing Bank (or Issuer)
The financial institution that issues a credit or debit card to a cardholder. This is your customer's bank, responsible for verifying funds and authenticating the cardholder (e.g., via 3D Secure).
Payment Gateway
A service that securely captures payment details from a customer on a website or app and relays that information to the payment processor. A payment gateway (like Peach Payments) acts as the essential link between your website and the banking networks.
General Payment Concepts
Payment Method
A generic way a payment is made, such as by credit card, EFT, or a mobile wallet.
Payment Product
A specific, branded version of a payment method, such as Visa, MasterCard, or a specific bank's EFT service.
The Transaction Process
Authorization (or Authorisation)
The initial step in a transaction where the Issuing Bank confirms that the cardholder has sufficient funds and the card is valid. An approved authorisation places a temporary hold on the funds.
Chargeback
The reversal of a payment made on a credit or debit card, initiated by the cardholder's bank. A chargeback occurs after the funds have already been settled to your account and results in the funds being returned to the customer.
Rejected
The status of a transaction that was declined by the acquiring bank, often due to security reasons, a blacklisted card, or other factors.
Settlement
The process where the funds from an authorised transaction are actually transferred from the customer's bank to your merchant account. This happens after the transaction has been cleared.
Success
The status of a transaction that was processed successfully, meaning the customer's account was debited and the funds were credited to your merchant account.
Technology & Security
3D Secure
The primary technology standard for securing online card payments, created by Visa and MasterCard. It adds a layer of authentication where the cardholder must verify their identity with their bank, typically by entering a one-time password. It is known commercially by different brand names, including Verified by Visa (VbV) and MasterCard SecureCode (MSC).
API (Application Programming Interface)
A set of rules and tools that allows different software applications to communicate with each other.1 You use our API to integrate your website or app directly with the Peach Payments gateway.
CSV (Comma-Separated Values)
A simple file format used to store tabular data, such as spreadsheets or reports. It is easily opened by programs like Microsoft Excel.
PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)
A global set of security standards designed to ensure that all companies that accept, process, store, or transmit credit card2 information maintain a secure environment.
SSL3 (Secure Socket Layer)
A standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a server (your website) and a client (your customer's browser). This link ensures that all data passed between them, such as card details, remains private and secure. An active SSL connection is often indicated by a padlock icon in the browser's address bar.Tokenization
A critical security process where sensitive card details (like the full card number) are replaced with a unique, non-sensitive identifier called a "token." We use tokenization so you can process payments without ever having to store or handle raw card data, which massively simplifies your POPIA and PCI DSS compliance.
Webhook
An automated message sent from an app when something happens. We use webhooks to send real-time notifications to your system about transaction events, such as a successful payment or a failed transaction.
WPF (Web Payment Frontend)
The secure, user-facing webpage or interface where customers enter their payment details to complete a transaction.
Risk & Fraud Concepts
AVS (Address Verification Service)
A security feature that checks if the billing address submitted by the customer matches the address on file with the card issuer.
Blacklist/Blocklist & Whitelist/Allowlist
A blacklist is a list of specific criteria (e.g., card numbers, email addresses, IP addresses) that are automatically blocked from transacting. A whitelist is the opposite, containing criteria that are always allowed to bypass certain risk checks.
False Positive
A legitimate transaction that is incorrectly flagged as fraudulent and declined by a risk prevention system. A key goal of a good risk system is to minimise false positives to avoid losing good sales.
Risk Management
The practice of identifying, analyzing, and mitigating the financial and reputational risks associated with payment fraud. A tailored risk management solution aims to block fraudulent transactions while having a minimal impact on the conversion rate of legitimate customers.
Risk Score
A value generated by a fraud prevention system after assessing a transaction against various risk checks. A higher score typically indicates a higher risk of fraud.
Reporting & Analytics
Aggregated Export
A tool that allows you to download a summary of your payment data in a CSV or XLS file format for reporting and analysis.
Chargeback Analysis
A reporting tool used to spot anomalies in the volume and distribution of your chargeback transactions. It helps you drill down to analyse the causes of such anomalies.
Chargeback Count
The total number of successful chargeback transactions within a specific timeframe or for a specific group.
Chargeback Volume
The total monetary value of all successful chargeback transactions within a specific timeframe or for a specific group.
Payment Analysis
A real-time tool used to analyse aggregated payment data for insights into your transactions.
Transaction Count
The total number of transactions processed within a certain category or time period.
Transaction Volume
The total monetary value of transactions processed within a certain category or time period.