Merchant Confirmation Policy

Overview

What it means

A merchant confirmation policy describes when a business will treat network evidence as sufficient to accept payment, reserve inventory, provide a receipt or fulfill an order. It adapts blockchain finality characteristics to business exposure.

How it works

The merchant sets rules by chain, token, amount, order category and risk indicators, often choosing separate thresholds for detection, payment acceptance and irreversible delivery. The platform records the policy version used for each order, along with the evidence that satisfied its guard conditions.

Understanding the technical details

Write the merchant rule in terms a support agent can explain: “this asset, on this chain, above this value, requires this level of evidence before shipment.” The customer-facing estimate can be helpful, but it should never promise a fixed confirmation time. Policy changes must affect future payments predictably without silently rewriting prior orders. During network outages, use an emergency hold or review state rather than pretending an unavailable confirmation source proves failure. The exact action being protected matters: displaying “payment detected” on a receipt can require less assurance than releasing goods that cannot be recalled. The policy should make this distinction explicit.

Common failures and limitations

A rigid confirmation count copied between networks can be misleading. The merchant must also verify correct token contract, amount, destination and special handling for late, partial or frozen transfers. Conditions may change following network incidents.

Related concepts

Crypto Checkout, Crypto Refund, Payment-to-Order Reconciliation.

Further reading

OxaPay — Developer documentation.