as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.
system
make a car analogy for the term "transaction"
user
a transaction can be thought of as a car journey: it has a starting point (the customer) and an end point (the merchant). along the way, the transaction needs to go through various processes, such as inputting the payment details, verifying the buyer's identity, and so on, before the trip can be completed and the goods delivered.
assistant