Merchant of record

A merchant of record (MoR) is a legal entity that sells goods or services to customers and handles payments and related liabilities, such as sales tax, refunds, and chargebacks. Businesses can either choose to be their own MoR or partner with an MoR service provider that takes care of the payment and compliance aspects for them. 

The difference between the MoR and the Seller of record (SoR) is that the MoR handles the payment processing part and is often a third-party service provider, while the SoR is responsible for delivery, fulfillment, customer support, etc. which is usually done by the company that actually sells the product.

The difference between the MoR and the payment processor is that the latter only handles the POS and online payments, while the former takes care of the entire order process (including taxes, payment disputes, etc.). Some payment service providers like PayPal can act as both a payment processor and an MoR for their customers.

In the travel industry, a merchant of record can be any business that sells travel products or services to customers and handles payment processing and related liabilities. 

Some travel product suppliers choose to work with a third-party MoR to avoid the complexities related to electronic payment acceptance such as compliance, data security, taxation, etc. In this case, the MoR collects payments from customers, appears on the customer’s credit card statement, and is responsible for providing related customer service and resolving any disputes.