Meaning of をいいます

Question

販売会社が商品等を販売する際、その代金を分割による後払いで受け取ることをいいます。

Does いいます mean "is called" or does it mean "is" in the same way that です would?

Answer 1

This いう is "to call (something)". Note that there is no passive voice like "to be called".

The basic verb usage pattern here is AをBという, which is "to call A B" or "to refer to A as B". It's a member of this verb family. In your sentence, A corresponds to "販売会社が商品等を販売する際、その代金を分割による後払いで受け取ること". B corresponds to something like 割賦販売, but it's omitted because it can be inferred from the previous context.

So you can parse this sentence like this (it's simplified a bit):

(会社が商品を販売する際、その代金を分割によって受け取ること)^Aを(割賦販売)^Bといいます。

[We/People] refer to (receiving payment in installments when a company sells a product)^A as (installment sale)^B.

(会社が商品を販売する際、その代金を分割によって受け取ること)^Aをいいます。

We say it (=割賦販売) referring to receiving payment in installments when a company sells a product.

You can also say this:

(会社が商品を販売する際、その代金を分割によって受け取ること)^Aを(何)^Bといいますか？

How do you call it when a company sells a product and receives its payment in smaller amounts?