Glossary
Merchant of record
The merchant of record, MoR, is the legal entity that sells to the payer in the eyes of the card schemes, the banks and the tax authorities: its name appears on the statement, it owes the sales tax or VAT, it answers for refunds and chargebacks and it must be the party with the acquiring contract. A marketplace can be the merchant of record for all its sellers or let each seller be its own; a reseller of software is often the merchant of record for the vendor's product.
Why it matters
Whoever is the merchant of record carries the compliance: tax registration in the buyers’ countries, the chargeback ratio, the refund liability and the contract with the acquirer. Being the merchant of record simplifies the buyer’s experience and the sellers’ onboarding, at the price of taking on that liability and, in many countries, a licence or registration as a payment facilitator.
Marketplaces
A marketplace that is the merchant of record collects the full amount, pays the sellers out from its balance and keeps the fee; one that is not routes each sale to the seller’s own merchant account. The platform’s ledger per seller and its payouts on local rails serve both models; the licence decides which one a marketplace may run.
On the platform
Tranzify does not act as the merchant of record for anyone: the licensed client or its merchants are, and the platform keeps the ledger per merchant and per seller, the payouts and the records they need to carry that role.
Updated: 2026-11-08