Merchant of Record: An Explainer for Tour and Activity Operators

Merchant of Record: An Explainer for Tour and Activity Operators
What is a Merchant of Record? A merchant of record is the legal entity responsible for processing a customer's payment, managing chargebacks, and ensuring compliance with card network rules. A Merchant of Record (MoR) is a term used to describe the entity authorized to process customer credit and debit card payments on behalf of a business. The MoR holds a merchant account with the processing bank. If you are a Merchant of Record, you will be in charge of collecting and processing payments from your guests. You are responsible for the liability related to transactions, including maintaining payment card industry (PCI) compliance, ensuring adherence to regulations. Understanding merchant of record meaning is especially important for tour operators selling through OTAs, where the platform often acts as the merchant of record and remits net proceeds to the operator after commission.
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Frequently Asked Questions
No. Zaui’s pricing is fully pay-as-you-go. You aren’t locked into any long-term contract. In fact, leading platforms emphasize this flexibility. Similarly, Zaui lets you start and stop anytime. You can change or cancel your plan freely, so you only pay for what you use.
Absolutely not. Zaui’s pricing is 100% transparent. We disclose all fees up front with no surprise add-ons or “sneak-in” charges. In fact, Zaui’s plans include all core features “without additional fees”. Industry experts note that hidden fees undermine trust so we avoid them entirely. All costs are clearly outlined in our pricing, and there are no extra setup charges or undisclosed surcharges at checkout.
Zaui integrates with major payment gateways (e.g. Stripe) so you only pay standard credit-card processing rates (roughly 1.9%+$0.30/transaction) and we don’t mark them up. Only the published platform commission is added on bookings. You also have full control over who pays the commission, we let you decide whether to absorb booking fees or pass them on to customers. In short, you’ll only pay the transparent booking commission and normal gateway fees, nothing extra.
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Of course. Zaui’s plans are fully flexible. You can upgrade or downgrade at any time to match your needs, without penalties. You can move to a higher tier or back down easily, and your billing adjusts automatically.
No. Zaui does not charge its commission on offline/manual bookings. “No fees on offline bookings” You only pay the commission when a booking is processed online through our system. Manual reservations (or bookings from partner channels we set up for you) incur no extra platform fee. (30% or less)
All of Zaui’s core features are included in your plan at no extra charge. We believe in value and transparency: Zaui provides over 15 advanced features (Google Things to do, reporting tools, marketing tools, reports, etc.) at no additional cost. Many competitors charge extra or require higher plans for the same features, but with Zaui you get the full suite of tools in one package. Any optional add-ons (if any) will always be clearly listed and optional there are no surprise paid upgrades for standard features.
Each Zaui plan is designed for clarity and fairness, following industry best practices. You can trust that our pricing is transparent and flexible, with the support you need built in.
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