What is card tokenisation?
Replacing card details with a safe token so you can charge again later without ever storing the raw card number.
The first time a customer pays, the gateway vaults the card and hands you an opaque token. Future charges reference the token; the real card number never touches your database, which keeps you out of serious PCI DSS scope.
Tokenisation is the foundation for one-click checkout and subscriptions. If you plan recurring billing, confirm the gateway offers token storage or a subscription API on its detail page before you commit.