What Is a VAR Document? Three Meanings and the One Merchants Need

In payments, a VAR document — usually called a VAR sheet, where VAR stands for value-added reseller — is the configuration document that carries the credentials needed to connect a merchant account to a payment gateway, POS system, or terminal. If a processor, gateway provider, or equipment vendor has asked you for one, this is the document they mean. The term has two other meanings outside payments, so below we sort out all three, then cover the one merchants actually handle.

What a VAR Document Is

The name comes from the value-added resellers who historically sold and configured payment equipment and software around a processor's service. Those resellers needed a merchant's account credentials to program terminals and connect systems, and the VAR sheet became the standard way to pass those credentials along.

The document still exists because the same need still exists. Your processor, your gateway, and your hardware vendor each require the same account details to talk to one another, and the VAR sheet collects them in one place: merchant account details, your MID, processor information, and the setup data for your gateway or terminal.

Merchants meet it most often when setting up new equipment or changing gateways. Between changes it sits in a file; at setup time, it is the document the technical side works from.

Three Documents That Share the Name

Three unrelated documents answer to the same acronym. Here is which one applies to you.

The Payments VAR Sheet

If you run a business that accepts card payments, this is your document: the configuration sheet that ties your merchant account to your gateway, POS system, or terminal. The rest of this post covers it, and the full guide linked below goes deeper.

The Software Value-Added Reseller Agreement

In software licensing, a VAR agreement is a legal contract between a licensor and a reseller that sets the terms for reselling the licensor's product. It governs a commercial relationship, not a payments setup. If you are negotiating one, you need a legal resource; the shared acronym is the only connection to this page.

The Visit Authorization Request

In government and contractor settings, a VAR is a Visit Authorization Request: a security-clearance verification letter prepared before someone visits a facility that requires clearance. It applies to cleared personnel and the security offices that process their visits, and it has nothing to do with payment processing.

The VAR Sheet: The Payments Meaning

Back to the document merchants handle. At a summary level, a VAR sheet lists your merchant account details, your MID, processor information, and the configuration data for your gateway or terminal. Your processor or gateway provider issues it, because that side of the relationship holds the account and routing details your equipment has to match.

That summary is deliberately short. For the contents in detail and the steps for requesting one, read our full guide to VAR sheets and how to get one — it covers everything this post leaves out.

When You Will Be Asked for One

The request usually arrives with a change to your setup. Three situations cover most of them:

• Switching payment gateways. The new gateway cannot route a transaction until it has your account and processor details, and the VAR sheet is where it gets them.
• Adding or replacing a terminal or POS system. Whoever configures the hardware programs it with the sheet's setup data so transactions reach your processor correctly.
• Moving to a new processor. A new account means new credentials, so your existing gateway and equipment are reconfigured against the new VAR sheet.

In each case, the party doing the technical work asks for the sheet. Your part is recognizing the request and knowing where the document comes from.

VAR Documents for High-Risk Merchants

Merchants in high-risk categories handle VAR sheets most often when they change processors. If your previous processor exited, your gateway and terminals have to be reconfigured to the new account before you can accept a card payment again — and that reconfiguration runs on the new account's VAR sheet.

We work with these setups daily, because we specialize in high-risk processing. If you are changing processors or setting up a high-risk merchant account for the first time, contact us and we will discuss what your setup needs.