# Payment Actors and Flow
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/mastercard-gateway/documentation/getting-started/order-trans-concepts/pay-actor-flow/index.md

The overall integration setup of the Mastercard Gateway that you use for managing payments, contains the four actors:

* Payer
* You as the Merchant
* Mastercard
* Acquirer

Your payment service provider creates a merchant profile for you to accept payments using the Mastercard Gateway. Your profile is configured to process payments using acquirers such as your bank or other payment providers like PayPal.

When a single customer (the payer) places an order, the process follows this sequence:

1. The payer places an order on your website or in your app.
2. You can send an API operation request to the gateway.
3. The gateway forwards the transaction to your acquirer.
4. Your acquirer manages the process with the payment network to move funds from your payer's account, with their issuer, to yours.