Merchant-Presented QR

Overview

Meaning and scope

Merchant-Presented QR is a QR code displayed by a merchant for a customer to scan and use to initiate or complete a payment. In merchant payment acceptance, it commonly covers merchant or invoice identity, amount, currency or asset, payment URI, expiration, reference, and status monitoring. It differs from customer-presented QR, where the customer displays a code for the merchant or terminal to scan.

Mechanism and operation

The concept commonly includes merchant or invoice identity, amount, currency or asset, payment URI, expiration, reference, and status monitoring. It normally interacts with Merchant POS Payment and Order Reference, although the exact system boundaries vary by merchant and platform. Controls for Merchant-Presented QR should use verified merchant mappings, least-privilege roles, approved settlement changes, configuration versioning, monitored production activity, reconciled statements and balances, and retained agreements.

Practical payment example

A food truck shows a QR code containing its signed or server-issued payment details. The cashier checks the expected amount and terminal session because a reusable printed QR may not represent the current order.

Operational checks

The presented QR should encode the intended network, destination and payment amount where the payment standard supports them. Bind the generated code to the current sale and check for display substitution or stale cached images. If a user scans an expired QR, the merchant must investigate any subsequent transfer. A wallet app showing “sent” is not the same as the merchant observing sufficient on-chain confirmation.

Distinctions and limits

A merchant-presented QR communicates payment instructions for a sale; staff must still verify that the expected funds were received under the accepted confirmation policy.

Related reading

Related definitions: Merchant POS Payment, Order Reference.