Clover + WooCommerce Glossary

Authorization (Auth): The first step of a card transaction: the merchant's gateway asks the cardholder's bank to reserve funds on the card without actually moving them. The reservation holds for a configurable window (typically 5–7 days). If the merchant captures the auth within that window, the funds move; if not, the auth drops off. CloverWoo supports authorize-then-capture flows for businesses that fulfil before charging.
Background Queue: The asynchronous job processor that handles sync events in CloverWoo. When a Clover webhook fires or a WooCommerce order is placed, the work is queued rather than processed synchronously, so a slow Clover API call never blocks a customer's checkout. The queue runs on Action Scheduler with retry logic, exponential backoff, and crash recovery.
Bidirectional Sync: Data flowing both directions between two systems. CloverWoo's sync is bidirectional for products, inventory, orders, and customers — a change on either Clover or WooCommerce propagates to the other. Most competing tools support only one-direction sync (typically Clover → Woo) for some object types, which causes drift when WooCommerce-side edits are silently overwritten on the next sync.
Capture: The second step of a two-step card payment, where a previously-authorized amount is actually moved from the cardholder to the merchant. Used for businesses that fulfil before charging (rentals, custom orders, marketplaces). Most e-commerce defaults to auth-and-capture in a single step at checkout.
Checksum-Based Change Detection: A sync optimisation where a hash of each record is stored alongside the record. On the next sync pass, the hash is recomputed and compared — if unchanged, the record is skipped, avoiding wasteful API calls. CloverWoo uses this for product and inventory sync to keep large catalogs (thousands of SKUs) fast.
Clover Developer App: A registration in dev.clover.com that defines the OAuth client ID, secret, scopes, and redirect URIs for an integration. CloverWoo requires one Clover developer app per WordPress site — the app is what merchants authorise during OAuth connection. Same app definition is used for Sandbox and Production environments; only the credentials differ.
Clover Marketplace: The app store inside Clover where third-party apps (online ordering, loyalty, accounting, inventory) are published and merchants can install them onto their Clover devices. CloverWoo does not require a Marketplace listing because it lives on the WordPress side; some competing products like Smart Online Order rely on a paired Marketplace app subscription.
Conflict Resolution: The rule a sync engine applies when the same record is edited on both systems between syncs. CloverWoo offers three strategies: Clover wins (Clover's value overwrites Woo), WooCommerce wins (Woo's value overwrites Clover), and Newest wins (timestamp comparison decides). Most merchants pick Clover-wins for catalog and Newest-wins for inventory.
HPOS (High-Performance Order Storage): A WooCommerce architecture that stores orders in dedicated database tables instead of the legacy wp_posts table. Dramatically faster for high-volume stores. CloverWoo is fully HPOS-compatible — enabling HPOS is strongly recommended for any shop processing more than ~100 orders/day.
Idempotency Key: A unique token attached to an API request so the server can recognise duplicate submissions (caused by retries, network jitter, or double-clicks) and return the original response instead of executing the action twice. CloverWoo attaches idempotency keys to every Clover write operation, which is why a webhook delivered twice produces only one stock update, not two.
KDS (Kitchen Display System): A screen mounted in a restaurant kitchen showing incoming orders for prep, bumped when complete. Clover's KDS app pairs with Station setups; CloverWoo's order routing can push WooCommerce online orders through to the same KDS, with line items and modifiers preserved, so kitchen staff see online orders identically to in-store ones.
MIT (Merchant-Initiated Transaction): A card charge initiated by the merchant without the cardholder present — subscription renewals, scheduled invoices, retry attempts on a failed charge. Flagged with the MIT indicator on the network so issuers don't treat it as suspicious card-not-present activity. CloverWoo sets MIT correctly on WooCommerce Subscriptions renewals and saved-card recurring charges.
Clover Modifier Group: A Clover concept for product variations — size, milk choice, add-ons, preparation options. Each modifier group has a name, a required/optional flag, a min/max selectable count, and modifiers with their own price deltas. CloverWoo maps modifier groups to WooCommerce product attributes and variations.
OAuth: The authorization protocol Clover uses to let third-party apps (like CloverWoo) request access to a merchant's data without ever seeing the merchant's Clover password. The merchant signs into Clover, sees a permission consent screen, approves, and the third-party app receives an access token. CloverWoo's setup flow walks through Clover OAuth once.
PAKMS (Payment App Key Management System): Clover's system for managing the API keys that payment-processing apps need. Different from the OAuth tokens that catalog-and-inventory apps use. CloverWoo requires a PAKMS key alongside the OAuth token because it handles both data sync and card processing.
Refund: Reversing a previously-settled card charge so the funds move back to the cardholder. Distinct from a void, which cancels an unsettled charge. Refunds take 3–10 business days to appear on the customer's statement depending on their bank. CloverWoo handles refunds inline from the WooCommerce order page.
Sandbox: Clover's testing environment, isolated from production. Test merchants, test cards, test transactions — no real money moves. CloverWoo supports Sandbox for development and merchant onboarding; switch to Production with a single toggle once setup is verified.
SCA / 3DS (Strong Customer Authentication / 3D Secure): A regulatory requirement (PSD2 in EU/UK) for the cardholder to authenticate themselves during certain card-not-present transactions — typically via a code sent to their phone or a banking-app prompt. CloverWoo's checkout integration handles the 3DS challenge flow for EU-region Clover merchants. Subscription renewals are usually exempt as merchant-initiated transactions.
Settlement: The end-of-day batch process where the day's captured transactions are sent to the card networks and funds begin moving toward the merchant's bank account. Clover settles automatically each business day. Refunds initiated before settlement can be processed as voids (instant); after settlement they require a refund transaction.
Token / Tokenisation: A non-sensitive identifier issued by Clover's PCI-compliant iframe in place of the actual card number. The merchant stores the token and can charge it again later (for subscription renewals or saved-card repeat purchases) without ever holding card data. Tokens are gateway-specific — a token issued by one gateway can't be used by another.
Void: Cancelling a card charge that hasn't yet settled, so funds never move. Distinct from a refund. Voids are instant from the customer's perspective — the pending charge drops off within 1–3 business days. CloverWoo automatically uses void instead of refund when the original charge hasn't settled yet.
Webhook: An HTTP POST request fired by Clover when an event happens on a merchant's account — order created, inventory adjusted, customer added. CloverWoo subscribes to webhooks during setup so it can react to Clover changes in real time, rather than polling every minute. When webhooks fail to deliver, sync silently falls back to scheduled polling.

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