The Recharge Glossary defines common terms used within the Recharge app, ecommerce platforms, and the ecommerce industry.

A

• Active customer - Recharge customers with at least one active subscription on file.
• Ajax - Stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. Ajax allows web pages to be updated asynchronously by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scene.
• API - Stands for Application Programming Interface. It is a set of protocols allowing the creation of applications that access the features or data of an operating system, application, or another service. Learn more about the Recharge API.
• Apple Pay - Apple Pay is a contactless payment technology for Apple devices. The Recharge integration with Apple Pay works exclusively with Stripe and Braintree, for merchants using the Recharge Checkout on Shopify or BigCommerce. 
• Attrition rate - The annual percentage rate at which customers stop subscribing to your service. This term is particularly relevant for subscriber-based services.
• Authorize.net - Authorize.net is a payment gateway that can process recurring orders. It can encrypt and securely authorize a payment transaction. 

B

• Back end - Back end refers to the server-side of the application. It is the portion of the app you don’t see. It’s responsible for storing and organizing data, and ensuring everything on the merchant side works.
• Braintree - Braintree is a payment gateway that can process recurring orders. It can encrypt and securely authorize a payment transaction. It is also a proprietary company of Paypal. 
• Black Friday Cyber Monday - Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is the Friday before and Monday after Thanksgiving in the U.S. It marks one of the busiest shopping periods of the year.

C

• Cart page - This page shows a summary of all of the products that a customer added to their cart, as well as the subtotal for their order. Customers can click the checkout button to be directed to the checkout.
• Carrier calculated shipping - A shipping option that automatically calculates shipping costs based on USPS, UPS, or FedEx rates. It's available for domestic shipping in the United States. Learn more about carrier-calculated shipping in Shopify's Help Center.
• Child orders - Child orders are orders that are part of a prepaid subscription. The original order that the customer pays for is called the parent order, and the child orders are created as sub-orders of the parent order. These orders have already been paid for so they total $0.00, and are sent to your ecommerce platform, so you can fulfill these subscriptions. Learn more about prepaid subscriptions.
• Churn rate - The percentage of customers that cancel their subscriptions over a specific period of time.
• Cookie - Information that is stored as text strings, which are sent from a website and stored on the user’s computer during their browsing session. Cookies allow websites to remember information like which items were added to the cart, and they also can be used to remember customer’s information like their name or credit card information. Websites pass that information from each page so that the customer’s checkout process is seamless.
• CRON Job - A method of scheduling automated processes. This can include daily e-mail notifications, stats, and reports.
• CSS - Stands for Cascading Style Sheets. CSS is a specific type of language that can be used to customize the physical appearance of a web page. CSS can be used to update things such as the layout of the page, the color of the text, or font type. CSS can be used with HTML or Javascript. Learn more about Customizing CSS in Recharge.
• CSV - A CSV file, or Comma-Separated Values file, is a text file that is used to pass large amounts of information through a spreadsheet. Each line of the spreadsheet represents a different data record. CSVs are typically used at Recharge to make updates in bulk. Visit Updating subscriptions in bulk to learn more about this process!
• Currency - Exchange of value. Currency is dependent on the country that you are located in. Your settings must use the same currency type in Shopify, Recharge, and your payment processor. For more information, visit Supported currencies. 
• Customer - The person purchasing from your online store. 
• Customer portal - An account page where your customers can manage their subscriptions. For more information, visit Understanding the customer portal.

D

• Development store or dev store - A sandbox environment that allows you to test the checkout, customer portal, and build customizations. 
• Discount - An amount or percentage deducted from the total of the order before tax. This can be a reduced price on a subscription product or provided through the use of a discount code. Learn more about discount codes. 
• Domain name - The website address people use to access your online store. 
• Dunning - The process for retrying payments that failed. For more information, visit Managing order errors. 

E

• Expiration - The number of charges before the subscription is completed. Learn more about expirations. 

F

• Frequency - The rate at which the subscription is repeated over a period of time.
• Front end - The front end of your site is the part that customers interact with. When customers access your storefront, they are interacting with the front-end of your site. 
• Fulfillment - The ecommerce term for the process of receiving, packaging, and shipping orders for goods.

G

• Google Pay - Google Pay is a mobile payment and digital wallet service created by Google. Recharge supports Google Pay for mobile checkouts in conjunction with Stripe for merchants using the Recharge Checkout on Shopify or BigCommerce. 

H

• HTML - HTML, or Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is used to change the display of a page in a web browser. HTML describes the structure of the page, and HTML elements are used to build HTML pages. This allows interactive elements such as images, videos, and gifs to display on the website.

I

• Inactive customer - These are customers who had a subscription at one point, but have since cancelled their subscription. These customers can still access their customer portal, but do not have an active subscription on file. 
• Interval - The period of time in between two orders. 
• Inventory - Products that are for sale. You can learn more about how Recharge handles product inventory.

J

• JavaScript - A scripting language used to display web pages interactively and dynamically. It is used to enhance the appearance of, and is often used within HTML code. You may see Javascript referred to as JS on occasion.

L

• Line item property - Line item properties are used by Shopify to pass specific, custom, information about the product from the product page to the cart and then the checkout. When a subscription product is added to the cart, line item properties are sent from Recharge automatically and are used to specify that the product is a subscription. It also states what the subscription interval is. Additional line item properties can also be specified to pass custom information to be included in the order, depending on the Recharge checkout platform your store uses. Refer to Adjusting line item properties to learn more. 
• Liquid - Uses a combination of tags, objects, and filters to load dynamic content. They are used inside Liquid template files, which are a group of files that make up a theme. Learn more about Liquid.

M

• Merchant - A merchant represents a person or company that sells goods or services.
• Merchant portal - The main home screen and navigational menus that are available when you log in to Recharge. Previously referred to as the Recharge Dashboard.
• Migrated Shopify Checkout Integration - Merchants that convert their store from the Recharge Checkout or migrate from another subscription platform to the Shopify Checkout Integration, use the Migrated Shopify Checkout Integration. 
• Mixed cart - A cart that includes both one-time products and subscription products.

N

• Notifications - Automatic emails sent out to your customers, you can disable/edit these messages by clicking Settings and selecting Notifications. Learn more about notifications in Recharge. 

O

• Online Store - a website where goods or services are sold over the Internet. In Shopify terms, your Online Store sales channel includes your website, product pages, and Liquid code.
• One-time product - a product that is purchased once and does not have a recurring charge. You may have some products that are exclusively one-time products or products that can be purchased as a one-time product or on subscription. 

P

• Parent orders - In relation to prepaid subscriptions, this is the order that contains the initial payment charge. The subsequent $0.00 shipments that have been prepaid by the customer are referred to as child orders. Learn more about prepaids. 
• Point of Sale (POS) - By definition, Point of Sale is the time and place where a retail transaction is completed. As it relates to the Shopify system, this is often used to indicate their POS system which is used for in-person transactions. The Recharge app is currently not compatible with the Shopify POS system and channel.
• Prepaid order - An order that has been paid for upfront by your customer. Prepaid orders will include $0.00 prepaid shipment orders that will be created in Shopify at each shipment interval. Learn more about prepaid orders. 
• Payment gateway - A tool that securely sends credit card information from a website to the credit card payment network to be processed.
• Payment method - The way the customer chooses to compensate the merchant for goods and services. At Recharge, you can enable credit cards, prepaid cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay as methods of payment if you use the Recharge Checkout on Shopify or BigCommerce.
• Payment processor - A service that executes the transaction by transmitting data between the merchant’s acquiring bank and the customer’s issuing bank. For more information about which payment processors work with Recharge, visit Payment processors. 
• PayPal - PayPal is an online service that allows you to pay using a secure payment account. Customers can add their bank account, credit card, or debit card details and select which source of payment to use at checkout.

Q

• Queued order - An order that has been created as a placeholder for a future order. 

R

• Recharge Checkout -The secure Recharge Checkout allows merchants using the Recharge Checkout on Shopify or BigCommerce to accept orders and allows customers to make payments online. Customers are redirected to the Recharge Checkout when they have at least one subscription item in their cart. Learn more about the Recharge Checkout.
• Regression - A software bug that causes a feature to stop functioning as intended after a certain event. Such as a system upgrade, system patching, or a change to daylight saving time.

S

• Shipment orders - With prepaid subscriptions, the shipment orders (or child orders) are the orders created and sent to your ecommerce platform after the initial prepaid charge. The shipment orders are always $0.00 and are sent to your ecommerce platform so you can fulfill the order. 
• Shopify Checkout Integration - Shopify merchants that installed Recharge after November 2nd, 2020, automatically use the Shopify Checkout Integration. Merchants use Recharge for customer and subscription management while order processing will take place through Shopify and their native checkout. One unified checkout for subscription and one-time products.
• SKU - Stock Keeping Unit. SKUs are a product code you can use to identify, track, and search what stock you have on hand. For more information about how SKUs work with Recharge, visit Updating SKUs for existing and future subscription orders. 
• Stencil - BigCommerce's theme engine. Learn more about Stencil and customizations you can make to your store. 
• Storefront - A website that offers goods and services online for purchase.
• Stripe - Stripe is a payment processing platform allowing merchants to accept credit card payments on their storefront. You can also use Stripe to offer Apple Pay or Google Pay. Learn more about Stripe. 
• Subscription product - A product or service that can be purchased and billed on a recurring basis.
• Subscription rule - The parameters controlling frequency and functionality of your subscriptions. Learn more about Creating subscription rules.
• Successful Order - An order that's been successfully created and paid for in your ecommerce platform.

T

• Tags - Tags are labels added to orders and customers. Recharge uses Shopify tags to help you differentiate subscription orders from non-subscription orders and active customers from inactive customers. For more information, visit Using Shopify order and customer tags.
• Third-party app or third-party integration - Third-party refers to another company or service-making software that works with a vendor’s original software. For example, Recharge Payments is a third-party app that integrates with the Shopify and BigCommerce platforms.
• Toggle - A setting switch that is either on or off. For example, in the Notifications section there are toggles beside each of your automated emails. 
• Theme Editor - A tool to allow merchants and developers to easily modify and code their customer portal theme templates.
• Theme Engine - A collection of scripts and files that serve to interpret the programming language used in the customer portal and process the commands contained. It powers the Theme Editor to allow merchants to make customizations to their customer portal. Learn more about the Recharge Theme Engine. 
• Tracking Pixel/Conversion Pixel - A tracking pixel is simply code inserted into a custom or third-party creative that makes a server call and returns a transparent 1x1 image (normally a GIF file). With Recharge, this would be referring to Facebook pixel tracking.
• Trash can icon - Within the Recharge UI, the trash can icon indicates elements, data, or items that can be deleted. Note that when the trash can icon is used, it cannot be undone.

U

• UI - UI stands for user interface. It is the point of human-computer interaction and communication in the app.
• UX - UX stands for user experience. It is the overall experience of a merchant using the app.
• URL - An abbreviation of Universal Resource Locator, it is the web address of pages on the internet.

V

• Variants - A version or variation of one of your products, be it a different color, flavor, scent, or type. 
• Vaulting credit cards - The act of storing a credit card with a third-party gateway, such as Stripe, and in turn receiving a token for it. This token can be used in the future so that any payments made are safe and secure. 

W

• Workflows by Recharge - A workflow is a sequence of automated tasks that processes a set of data. In the context of Recharge, the Workflows feature allows you to automate the update of product data following a checkout. For example, changing the price from the checkout order to the second recurring order. For more information about the Workflows feature, visit Workflows by Recharge.