Merchant of Record (MoR)
A third-party entity that acts as the legal seller for transactions, assuming responsibility for tax remittance, PCI-DSS compliance, and consumer-protection obligations on behalf of the underlying business.
What Merchant of Record (MoR) means
A Merchant of Record (MoR) is the legal entity that processes a transaction with the end customer, taking on the legal seller's obligations: collecting and remitting sales/VAT/GST taxes globally, handling PCI-DSS compliance for card data, managing chargebacks and refunds, and complying with consumer-protection rules in each jurisdiction. The underlying business (e.g., a SaaS company) operates as a reseller behind the MoR. Common MoR providers include Paddle, Stripe Atlas, FastSpring, and Lemon Squeezy. MoR models are particularly attractive for global SaaS and digital products that would otherwise need to register for VAT in dozens of jurisdictions. AuditSocials uses Paddle as Merchant of Record.