Card present / card not present
Whether the card or phone was physically at the terminal. Card-present acceptance carries less fraud risk and generally costs less than card-not-present acceptance, which covers online and in-app payments. It is the single largest structural driver of what a merchant pays.
Why it matters to a merchant
The distinction quietly sets a merchant's cost and their risk at the same time. Card-not-present business is priced differently and carries dispute liability the counter does not — which is why a shop that starts taking orders over the phone or by message has changed its risk profile without changing anything it would think to tell its provider about.
Where this comes up
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Related terms
In this section: At the counter