Card Present refers to any transaction that occurs when the card being used is physically present, and payment data was captured in-person from the consumer's card, at the point of sale (POS). Most people think of "swiping a credit card" as defining card present transactions, however there are more ways to capture credit card data that constitute a card present transaction.
For example, you can swipe a card through a terminal, which reads the magnetic strip, insert an EMV chip card, simply tap your card on a contactless device and pay using a digital wallet with your stored card information in an app, like Apple Pay.
These would all constitute a card present transaction.
Card present simply means that the credit card was physically present at the merchant when the goods/services were paid for.
Card present transactions will typically cost less than card not present transactions.
Merchant account providers consider card present transactions less risky, for obvious reasons - less people will take a stolen credit card into a store to make purchases for an in-person "present" transaction that will for a card not present (maybe online shopping?) transaction.
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