Descriptor Variations Explained.
Many merchants ask why there are so many variations for a descriptor when receiving alerts for Mastercard's Ethoca and Visa's CDRN Verifi. Everyone knows merchant descriptors are values that are displayed on a cardholder’s statement. What little people know from a systems standpoint is that a merchant descriptor is an object made up of the below fields. When new merchants are completing their intake packages, these fields may or may not be included on the application. These fields are optional fields to the acquiring institution which means they may or may not include them on ISO merchant applications. These optional fields are extremely valuable. When these fields are not completed on the merchant application the clearing network; when a transaction is submitted the clearing network system will populate values in the string’s position when on the original transaction if and only if those substitute fields exist.
Your business name. This name is displayed on the cardholder’s statement. When you include more than one consecutive space, extra spaces are removed. When you do not include this value in your authorization request, uses the merchant dba name from the merchant account when available.
City for your business location. This value might be displayed on the cardholder’s statement. When you do not include this value in your authorization request, uses the merchant city from the merchant account when available.
When you do not include this value in your capture or credit request uses the value from your authorization request. If you did not include this value in your authorization request, the merchant phone number from the merchant account when available.
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When you do not include this value in your capture or credit request the value from your authorization request. If you did not include this value in your authorization request, uses the merchant country from the merchant account when available.
When you do not include this value in your authorization request, uses the merchant postal code from the merchant account when available
State code or region code for your business location. This value might be displayed on the cardholder’s statement. The value for this field corresponds to the following data in the TC 33 capture file1: CP01 TCR4 Position: 103-105
Alternate contact information for your business, such as an email address or URL. This value might be displayed on the cardholder’s statement. When you do not include this value in your capture or credit request, the merchant URL from the merchant account when available