Glossary

Digital receipt terms in plain English.

Common terms used across POS, payment, delivery, loyalty and record-keeping systems.

Card-linked receipt

A receipt routed through a service that associates a transaction with a payment-card token or linked account.

A transaction entry stored in a wallet or payment app; it may not include every item-level detail from the merchant.

A receipt displayed on a web page reached through a unique link rather than fully embedded in the message.

An account, membership number, email, phone number or token used to connect purchases with a loyalty profile.

The business name or abbreviated text that appears in a payment or transaction record.

A message showing that an order was received; it may not be the final receipt after fulfilment, substitutions or refunds.

A service that helps move payment authorization and settlement information between merchants and financial institutions.

A substitute identifier used in place of complete payment-card credentials in some systems.

The hardware and software used to record a sale, calculate totals, take payment and produce transaction records.

A checkout code that opens or claims a digital receipt, usually through a web page or app.

A service that formats or sends receipts by email, SMS, app notification or hosted link.

The rules that select and arrange transaction fields for the customer-facing receipt.

A separate transaction record showing that money or value was returned after the original sale.

The length of time a merchant, provider or customer keeps a receipt or transaction record.

A merchant reference or approval used to track a return separately from the original receipt.

A text message containing receipt details or, more commonly, a link to a hosted receipt.

Machine-readable fields, such as CSV, JSON or XML, used for exports, accounting or system integration.

A small remote resource that can report when a message or page is loaded, depending on settings and implementation.

A reference number used to distinguish one sale, order, payment or refund from another.

The merchant’s underlying record of a sale. The customer-facing receipt is one representation of that record.