> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://guides.paynow.gg/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://guides.paynow.gg/reference/glossary.md).

# Glossary

## Pairs that get confused

Five pairs of terms that look similar and are not. Most support tickets trace back to one of these.

|                                     |                                                                                                                                                                  |
| ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Sales** vs **Net** vs **Balance** | Sales is gross, what customers paid. Net is after tax and fees. Balance is settled net you can withdraw. → [Transactions](/payments-and-payouts/transactions.md) |
| **Billing** vs **Payouts**          | Billing is what PayNow charges *you*. Payouts is what PayNow pays *you*.                                                                                         |
| **Tags** vs **Tier Groups**         | Tags group products for display. Tier groups make upgrades charge only the difference.                                                                           |
| **Inventory** vs **Orders**         | Inventory is what a customer currently has access to. Orders is every transaction they made.                                                                     |
| **Refund** vs **Chargeback**        | A refund is you returning money. A chargeback is the customer's bank taking it, plus a fee, plus a mark against your store.                                      |

***

## A–Z

**Adaptive Currency** shows and charges prices in the customer's local currency. On by default, free on every plan, and PayNow carries the FX risk. → [Adaptive Currency](/store-settings/adaptive-currency.md)

**Affiliate link** is a tracked code or URL that pays a partner commission on sales they refer. → [Affiliate Links](/marketing/affiliate-links.md)

**Chargeback** is a customer disputing a payment with their bank rather than asking you. It costs you the revenue and a fee. → [Orders](/orders-and-subscriptions/orders.md)

**Command placeholder** is a token like `{customer.steam.id}` that PayNow swaps for a real value before your server runs the command. → [Commands & Placeholders](/integrations-and-commands/commands.md)

**Custom variable** is a question asked at checkout (colour, name, quantity) whose answer feeds into your commands. → [Custom Variables](/integrations-and-commands/custom-variables.md)

**Deliverable action** is what a product does on purchase: run a command, assign a Discord role, issue a gift card, grant a file. → [Creating a Product](/products/creating-a-product.md)

**Gateway fee** is charged by the payment processor for handling the card.

**Global command** runs on an event for every product, not just one. → [Global Commands](/integrations-and-commands/global-commands.md)

**Headless API** is the integration type where you build your own storefront and PayNow handles payment and delivery. → [Settings](/store-settings/store.md)

**Inventory** is what a customer currently has access to, active or expired. → [Managing Customers](/customers/managing-customers.md)

**Merchant of record** means PayNow is the legal seller, so PayNow handles tax collection, remittance and fraud liability rather than you.

**Metadata** is hidden key-value data on a product or customer, surfaced in webhooks and the API. Never shown to customers.

**Module** is a dynamic storefront component such as a payment goal, top customers or recent payments. → [Webstore](/your-webstore/webstore.md)

**MRR** is monthly recurring revenue, shown per customer and across the store. → [Analytics](/analytics/analytics.md)

**Navlink** is a navigation bar button pointing at a tag. → [Navlinks](/your-webstore/navlinks.md)

**On Expiry Action** is what happens when a package expires, and also what happens when you **revoke** one by hand, since revoking runs the expiry path. **Without one, nothing happens on expiry, and a non-expiring package cannot be revoked at all.** → [Packages FAQ](/products/revoking-and-expiry.md)

**Owner-only** means restricted to the store owner and not grantable by any role. Payouts is the notable example. → [Account Payouts vs Store Payouts](/payments-and-payouts/account-vs-store-payouts.md)

**Payment descriptor** is the text a customer sees on their bank statement. It comes from your **Store Name**, and an unrecognisable one causes chargebacks. → [Settings](/store-settings/store.md)

**Payout account** is where your money goes. It belongs to an **account**, not a store, so one account covers every store it owns. → [Account Payouts vs Store Payouts](/payments-and-payouts/account-vs-store-payouts.md)

**Platform fee** is PayNow's percentage of each sale: 3.5% on Free, 3% on Pro, 2.5% on Business. → [Billing](/payments-and-payouts/billing.md)

**Presentment fields** are the `presentment_` fields on orders and subscriptions, holding the amount in the currency the customer actually paid. → [Adaptive Currency](/store-settings/adaptive-currency.md)

**Settlement** is funds becoming withdrawable. **Settles In** on [Transactions](/payments-and-payouts/transactions.md) shows when.

**Slug** is the URL-friendly identifier for a store, product or tag. Changing one breaks every link already shared.

**Tier group** is a ranked ladder of products where upgrades charge only the difference. **Rank comes from the order on the Products page, not from price.** → [Tier Groups](/products/tier-groups.md)

**Tipalti** is PayNow's payments partner, which handles payout onboarding. → [Setting Up Your Payout Account](/getting-started/payout-account.md)

**Trial** is a free period before a subscription starts billing. Subscription products only. → [Trials](/orders-and-subscriptions/trials.md)

**Twig** is the templating language used by hosted webstore templates. → [Editing Template Files](/your-webstore/editing-template-files.md)

**Upsell** is an additional product offered during checkout. → [Upselling](/marketing/upselling.md)

**Webhook** is an event notification sent to Discord as an embed, or to your own endpoint as JSON. → [Webhooks](/integrations-and-commands/webhooks.md)