Merchant Account Glossary - E

e-Commerce
e-Commerce stands for Electronic Commerce.  E-Commerce is the process of buying or selling goods or services via the internet.  This is most commonly done though a merchant’s or service provider’s website and usually involves an online catalog and shopping cart.  Payments are processed with an online gateway such as Authorize.Net.  eBay is another form of e-Commerce.

Electronic Ticket Capture (ETC)
With an ETC system, sales ticket information is “grabbed” electronically.  The magnetic strip on the back of a credit card holds the buyer’s information.  When a card is swiped by the merchant through a terminal, the buyer information is read by the computer system and is merged with the sales information.  The ticket is then processed in such a way that is the same as if the merchant made a manual deposit at a bank.  This process is normally done in a batch of tickets at the end of the day.

Electronic Transactions Association (ETA)
ETA is the association for the electronic payments industry and serves the needs of organizations who offer transaction processing products and services.  ETA is an international association with over 400 member companies spanning 7 different countries.  The ETA holds an annual meeting and expo.