Sale

A Sale is the commercial record of an exchange between a merchant and a customer. It answers what was sold, independently of how the customer paid.

A Sale can contain business details such as:

• Items and quantities
• Taxes, discounts, and tips
• Customer information
• The sales channel, device, or location
• The total amount and payment state

A Sale can exist before payment, be paid by one or more Transactions, or use a payment method that does not require a SumUp Checkout. This makes a Sale broader than a payment record.

How Sales, Checkouts, and Transactions Relate

Use these terms to describe different parts of the same flow:

• Sale: what the customer is buying
• Checkout: the request or session used to collect an amount
• Transaction: the recorded outcome of a payment attempt or later financial operation

flowchart LR
    Sale["Sale<br/>Items, taxes, discounts, customer"]
    Checkout["Checkout<br/>Amount, currency, payment flow"]
    Attempt["Payment attempt<br/>Online or in person"]
    Transaction["Transaction<br/>Financial outcome"]
    Events["Later events<br/>Refund, chargeback, payout"]

    Sale -->|Amount to collect| Checkout
    Checkout -->|Process online or start on a reader| Attempt
    Attempt -->|Creates a record| Transaction
    Transaction -.->|Updates the payment state| Sale
    Transaction --> Events

The exact relationship depends on the integration. For example, a merchant can split one Sale across multiple payments, while an online purchase commonly uses one Checkout to create one successful Transaction.