Merchant of Record (MoR)

The Merchant of Record is the legal entity that appears as the seller on a transaction — it takes the buyer’s money, shows up on the card statement, and owns the tax, refund and chargeback liability that comes with the sale.

How it works

• The MoR is the party the card networks and tax authorities hold responsible, not just whoever ships the goods.
• It collects the payment, remits sales tax or VAT, handles refunds, and eats the loss on a chargeback.
• On a marketplace, the platform can be the MoR for its sellers — or push that role onto each seller as a sub-merchant.

Being the MoR is a regulated position: it requires the right authorisations to hold and move other people’s money.

Why it matters

Someone has to be the merchant, and it decides who carries the risk. If your sellers are the merchants, each one needs their own processing, compliance and tax setup — friction that kills onboarding. If you take the role, you own the liability but control the whole flow of funds and the buyer relationship.

How Fynex does it

Because Fynex is an FCA-authorised e-money institution and PCI DSS Level 1, it can act as your Merchant of Record and hold funds on your behalf — something most payment tools can’t offer. That lets you onboard sellers inside your own flow without turning each one into a separate merchant. See seller onboarding and how it fits marketplaces and platforms.