Glossary

These are the Whop and WHMCS terms used throughout this documentation, defined once here.

Whop

Whop is the payments platform this module connects your WHMCS installation to. It processes the payment WHMCS asks for and settles the money to your Whop business. Behind the scenes, Whop routes each payment across more than one processor and picks the one most likely to succeed. WHMCS still owns your invoices, billing and customer records; Whop only handles the payment.

Whop business

A Whop business is the account that receives your payments and holds your Whop settings, such as tax handling and payout details. Whop also calls it an Account, and its ID always begins with biz_. One Whop User can own or manage more than one Whop business, but each WHMCS installation should connect to only one, since Whop sends every payment event to every installation connected to a business.

Whop User

A Whop User is a person with their own login to Whop. A User is not the same thing as a Whop business: one User can own or help run several businesses. Accepting a business's ownership invitation is what links a specific person to that business.

Sandbox and Live

Sandbox is Whop's test environment. Live is where real payments happen. Sandbox and Live always use separate Whop businesses, separate API keys and separate saved cards, so testing in Sandbox never touches Live. A card saved under Sandbox can never be charged in Live, and the reverse is also true.

Partner

A Partner is a Whop business that was referred to Whop through this module's partner program. Whop pays a share of that business's processing revenue back to the plugin's developer, which is how the plugin is offered for free. This is separate from WHMCS's own service provisioning.

Provisioning

Provisioning is the module creating a Whop business on your behalf and emailing its owner an invitation to accept ownership. It happens once, from Step 1 of the Whop Payments settings panel. It is not the same thing as WHMCS provisioning a hosting service after an invoice is paid.

Payment orchestration

Payment orchestration is Whop's own setting that routes each payment to whichever processor behind Whop is most likely to accept it. It is a business-wide setting inside Whop, with its own fee when turned on. The setup guides in this documentation keep it on.

Merchant of record

Whop is the merchant of record for card network rules and payment settlement. It is not the seller of your services, and this integration does not use Whop's merchant-of-record tax handling: you stay responsible for tax, and WHMCS calculates it.

Statement descriptor

A statement descriptor is the text that appears on a customer's card statement for a Whop payment. You choose it in Whop, and Whop may add its own prefix in front of it. A clear descriptor helps a customer recognize the charge instead of disputing a payment they no longer remember.

3D Secure

3D Secure is a card authentication step handled by the customer's bank, sometimes through a code or a banking app. Whop Payments has one setting for new-card payments and a separate setting for saving a card without paying. Even at the strictest setting, a challenge screen is not guaranteed: that decision belongs to the card issuer, not to WHMCS or Whop.

Invoice

An invoice is the WHMCS bill a customer pays. What a Whop payment collects is the invoice's outstanding balance, which is not always its full total once credit and earlier payments are applied. WHMCS controls the invoice's contents and status; Whop only processes the payment against it.

Payment

A payment is the actual transaction Whop processes, identified by an ID starting with pay_. Preparing a checkout is not a payment. This module always checks Whop's own record of a payment before it records any money in WHMCS.

Transaction

A transaction is a row in WHMCS's native Billing > Transactions ledger, created after a Whop payment or refund is confirmed. An incoming transaction keeps the Whop payment's own ID, and a refund keeps its own separate refund ID. This ledger, not any screen in Whop, is where WHMCS shows the money it has recorded.

Pay Method

A Pay Method is a customer's saved card, stored in WHMCS once Whop confirms it can be charged again later. It is not the card number itself, and it cannot be copied in from another payment gateway. A customer or admin can change its description, its default status and its billing contact, but the card details themselves cannot be edited.

Automatic collection

Automatic collection is WHMCS charging a customer's saved card without the customer entering it again. It is also called capture. WHMCS decides when to attempt it and when to retry a failed attempt; this module only carries out the charge it is asked for. The admin version of this action is called Attempt Capture.

Payment Pending

Payment Pending is a WHMCS invoice status shown while a payment is still settling. It does not mean the payment failed, and it does not mean it succeeded either: WHMCS is still waiting for a final answer from Whop. WHMCS confirms the payment with Whop before it changes the invoice.

Webhook

A webhook is a signed message Whop sends to tell WHMCS that something changed, such as a payment finishing or a refund completing. WHMCS stores the message, checks Whop's own record of what actually happened, and only then updates the invoice. Whop successfully delivering the message is not, by itself, proof that the invoice is now Paid.

Cron

Cron is WHMCS's own scheduled background task. It runs WHMCS's billing automation, and it also gives this module a chance to finish work that could not complete right away, such as an update that arrived while nobody was looking at the invoice. It needs to run on its normal schedule even when no one is using WHMCS.

Local currency payments

Local currency payments is the Whop Checkout setting for Whop's Adaptive Pricing. It lets a customer see and pay a quote in their local currency, with an option to use the original currency instead. Whop supplies the quote and settles in the invoice currency; WHMCS records the payment in that invoice currency. It is off by default. See the illustrated walkthrough.

Whole-unit currencies

Whole-unit currencies are the nine currencies Whop only ever charges and refunds in whole numbers: CLP, COP, JPY, KRW, MGA, PYG, RWF, VND and XOF. They are off until an administrator turns on Enable whole-unit currencies, and a WHMCS refund for one of them must cover the full remaining payment.

Settlement and payout

Settlement is Whop finishing and accounting for a payment. A payout is Whop moving your business's money out to your bank, card or crypto wallet. Whop's own reserve is money it holds back against future refunds and disputes, and it is different from the minimum balance you choose to keep behind when setting up automatic withdrawals.

Refund

A refund returns some or all of a payment to the customer. WHMCS can record a refund as accepted before Whop has fully finished processing it, so the same refund can still change status later. Always check the payment's current state before assuming a refund shown in WHMCS is final.

Dispute

A dispute is a payment contested through the customer's bank or through Whop's Resolution Center. When one opens, WHMCS adds a private, staff-only note to the customer's record. No message is sent to the customer, and the case itself is still handled inside Whop.

Verification

Verification is the identity check a Whop business completes before it can receive payouts. There are two kinds: Individual verification for the person, and Business verification for the business itself. A business can often accept payments before finishing verification, but it needs a completed verification to withdraw money. A verification completed for another business of the same company can usually be reused.

Related: Whop Payments for WHMCS, Meet Whop.