Glossary
E-commerce: terms A–Z
Every online selling term explained in plain English — cart, checkout, SKU, gateway, chargeback, and more.
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Running an online store introduces a whole new vocabulary. This page explains every term you'll encounter — from your first product listing to payment disputes.
Quick summary
This page covers 60+ e-commerce terms from A to Z. For step-by-step store guides, visit the WooCommerce section or Payments section. Use Ctrl+F / Cmd+F to jump to any term.
A–C
| Term | Plain-English definition |
|---|---|
| Abandoned cart | A shopping cart a visitor filled with items but then left without completing the purchase. See Understanding abandoned carts. |
| API | Application Programming Interface. Lets your store software communicate with payment processors, shipping carriers, and other services automatically. |
| Authorization | A hold placed on a customer's payment card that reserves funds without actually charging them yet. |
| Average order value (AOV) | The average amount customers spend per order. A key e-commerce metric. |
| Back order | A product ordered when it's temporarily out of stock. The customer pays now; you ship when stock arrives. |
| Basket | Another word for shopping cart (more common in the UK). |
| Bundle | A group of products sold together as a package, often at a slight discount. |
| Cart | The virtual basket where customers collect items before checkout. See Cart & checkout pages. |
| Chargeback | When a customer disputes a transaction with their bank and the bank reverses the payment. Can result in fees for the merchant. See Chargebacks & disputes explained. |
| Checkout | The process a customer goes through to enter payment and shipping details and place an order. |
| Conversion | When a visitor completes a desired action — most commonly, making a purchase. |
| Conversion rate | The percentage of visitors who make a purchase. E.g. 100 visitors, 2 purchases = 2% conversion rate. |
| Coupon | A discount code customers enter at checkout to reduce the order total. See Creating coupons & discounts. |
| Cross-sell | Suggesting related products to a customer — "You might also like…" |
| CSV | Comma-Separated Values. A spreadsheet format used to import or export large numbers of products at once. |
| Customer lifetime value (CLV/LTV) | The total revenue a customer is expected to generate over their entire relationship with your business. |
D–G
| Term | Plain-English definition |
|---|---|
| Digital product | A product delivered electronically — PDFs, software, music, courses, templates. No physical shipping needed. See Selling digital & downloadable products. |
| Discount | A price reduction, either a fixed amount ("$10 off") or a percentage ("20% off"). |
| Drop-shipping | Selling products you don't stock yourself — a third-party supplier ships directly to your customer when an order is placed. |
| Fulfillment | The process of packing and shipping an order to the customer. |
| Gateway | Short for payment gateway. See below. |
| Gift card | A prepaid credit customers can use on your store. |
| Gross revenue | Total sales before any deductions — fees, refunds, or returns. |
I–M
| Term | Plain-English definition |
|---|---|
| Inventory | The stock of products you have available to sell. Managing inventory means tracking what's in stock and when to reorder. See Managing stock & inventory. |
| Invoice | A document requesting payment from a customer, listing what was purchased and the amount owed. |
| Merchant account | A type of bank account that lets businesses accept card payments. Payment processors like Stripe effectively provide this as part of their service. |
| Net revenue | Gross revenue minus refunds, fees, and returns. What you actually keep. |
O–P
| Term | Plain-English definition |
|---|---|
| Order | A customer's confirmed purchase. Includes items, shipping address, payment info, and status. See Understanding orders. |
| Order status | Where an order is in its lifecycle — pending, processing, completed, cancelled, refunded. See Order statuses explained. |
| PCI compliance | Payment Card Industry compliance. Security standards that businesses handling card payments must meet. See PCI compliance, in plain English. |
| Payment gateway | The service that securely transmits card data between your checkout and the payment processor. Stripe is both a gateway and processor. |
| Payment processor | The company that handles the actual movement of money between your customer's bank and yours. See Payment processors explained. |
| PayPal | A popular online payment service. Customers can pay with their PayPal balance or linked card. See PayPal basics for business owners. |
| Product | An item listed for sale on your store. Can be simple, variable, digital, or a subscription. |
| Product category | A grouping for products in your store — "Men's Shoes," "Office Supplies," etc. |
R–S
| Term | Plain-English definition |
|---|---|
| Recurring payment | A payment that repeats on a schedule — weekly, monthly, annually. Used for subscriptions. See Recurring payments & subscriptions. |
| Refund | Returning money to a customer for a returned or cancelled order. See How to refund an order. |
| Return | When a customer sends back a physical product. Often triggers a refund. |
| Revenue | The total money your store brings in from sales. |
| Review | A rating and comment left by a customer on a product page. Builds trust with new shoppers. |
| Sales tax | Tax collected from customers at checkout, usually based on their location. Required in many jurisdictions. See Sales tax basics for online sellers. |
| Shipping zone | A geographic area with specific shipping rates applied to orders from that region. See Setting up shipping zones & rates. |
| SKU | Stock Keeping Unit. A unique code you assign to each product (or variant) for inventory tracking. |
| Stock | See Inventory. The quantity of a product you have available. |
| Store | Your online shop — all the products, checkout flow, and order management together. |
| Stripe | A popular payment processor used for accepting credit and debit cards online. See Stripe basics for business owners. |
| Subscription | A product or service charged on a recurring basis. Requires a subscription plugin for WooCommerce. See Selling subscriptions (overview). |
T–Z
| Term | Plain-English definition |
|---|---|
| Tax rate | The percentage of tax applied to an order. Varies by product type and customer location. |
| Transaction fee | The fee charged by a payment processor (e.g. Stripe) per transaction — typically a small percentage plus a flat amount. |
| Upsell | Encouraging a customer to buy a more expensive or premium version of what they're considering. |
| Variable product | A product with multiple options — size, color, material. Each combination can have its own price and stock level. See How to add a variable product. |
| Virtual product | A WooCommerce product type for services or items that don't require shipping. |
| Wishlist | A feature letting customers save products they like for later, without adding them to cart. |
| WooCommerce | The most popular WordPress e-commerce plugin. See What is WooCommerce?. |
Common questions
Related guides
- WooCommerce: the complete store guide
- Accepting payments online, explained
- WooCommerce terms, explained simply
- Payment terms, explained simply
- How online payments work
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