Guide / terminology
Use a shared payout card vocabulary across Shopify teams
These working definitions support early planning. Approved contracts, provider documents, customer terms, and applicable requirements control where a term has a formal meaning.
Program and commerce terms
Payout card means, on this site, a customer program benefit that may follow an eligible Shopify purchase. Eligible order means a purchase that meets the approved program policy at the defined evaluation point. Policy version identifies the rules used for a decision.
This working definition remains limited to the Shopify customer journey described throughout the site.
Decision and delivery terms
Decision state records the current program outcome, such as waiting, under review, eligible, not eligible, changed, or completed. Provider handoff records the transfer of an approved case into the responsible delivery process. Delivery status describes the notification and access journey without replacing the eligibility record.
Provider and operating terms
Issuer means the institution legally responsible for issuing a card under the actual program. Program manager, processor, payment network, and fulfillment provider may describe different roles that should be verified rather than assumed.
Reconciliation compares linked commerce, decision, provider, delivery, and exception records. Visa and Mastercard are payment-network names whose applicability depends on the specific approved program.
Plan for clear delivery
Connect the Shopify purchase to a responsible customer payout journey.
Bring the merchant objective, eligible purchase concept, recipient experience, and unresolved program dependencies.