Merchant of Record (MoR)

A Merchant of Record (MoR) is the legal entity that sells a product to the customer and is responsible for the transaction end to end. The MoR is the name on the customer's statement, the party that collects and remits sales tax and VAT, and the one that carries liability for refunds and chargebacks. It's a distinct role from the business that actually makes the product.

What the MoR takes on

• Payment processing — holds the acquirer relationship and runs the charge.
• Tax compliance — calculates, collects, and remits sales tax and VAT in every jurisdiction it sells into.
• Chargeback and refund liability — handles disputes and refunds, absorbing the associated risk and fees.
• Regulatory compliance — takes on fraud screening and local commerce rules.

Because these obligations are heavy — especially global tax — many businesses use a third-party MoR provider that becomes the reseller and handles all of it, in exchange for a cut of each sale.

MoR vs a payment processor

A plain payment processor moves money but leaves you as the seller of record: you still owe the tax and own the disputes. A full MoR provider goes further and becomes the seller itself. The trade-off is control and margin versus offloading tax and compliance work.

Why it matters

Choosing an MoR model changes who is legally responsible for tax and disputes. If you run your own Stripe account, you are typically the merchant of record and own tax handling — tools like Stripe Tax help, but the liability is yours. A Stripe Connect platform, by contrast, can shape who the merchant of record is for each connected seller.