Payments
Merchant of record
The merchant of record is the legal entity on the customer's statement, responsible for payment processing, tax remittance, chargebacks and compliance for a sale.
When a platform acts as merchant of record it assumes tax and dispute liability, which simplifies operations but means the brand does not own the payment relationship, the processing economics or the settlement timing.
When the brand is merchant of record it settles into its own accounts and controls its processing arrangement and its payment data — at the cost of owning tax registration, compliance and dispute handling itself. The choice is a genuine trade rather than a best practice.