What is a virtual payment terminal?

Point of Sale (POS) Glossary

A virtual payment terminal is software or a website that a merchant can use to accept electronic payments without physically processing a card. Unlike a point of sale terminal, a virtual payment terminal does not require any special hardware and can be run on a computer or smartphone. In some cases, they may be web-based and not even require software installation since they run in a web browser.

Virtual payment terminals allow merchants to accept payments via mail, phone, or the internet without having the customer and their physical card present. These are known as “card not present transactions.” They may be riskier to the merchant than processing a card at a POS terminal since a criminal does not have to reproduce a physical card.