Billing descriptors play an important role in chargeback management. Choosing unique billing descriptors can help reduce the risk of chargebacks and protect your revenue.
A billing descriptor describes a payment and helps the cardholder identify the transaction on their bank statement.
You likely created your billing descriptor when you set up your merchant account, also known as a merchant identification number (MID). If you do not know what your billing descriptor is, your processor can help you locate it.
Your processor has a “main descriptor” on file. However, a single billing descriptor typically has several different variations. Your descriptor can change based on factors such as:
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The type of transaction you process (such as card-present or card-not-present).
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The card brand that issued the card (such as Mastercard® or Visa®).
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The type of card used to process the transaction (such as debit or credit).
It is important to know your main descriptor as well as any variations. You need this information to manage your prevention alerts as effectively as possible.
Tip
We recommend processing several test transactions using different cards issued by different brands to see exactly how your descriptors display on a statement.
Consider the following best practices as you create and manage billing descriptors:
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Use unique descriptors per MID. Descriptors are set on a per-MID basis. We recommend that each merchant account have its own unique descriptor. This makes it easier to match an alert to the corresponding transaction in your CRM or order management system. It also helps ensure you do not receive alerts after a merchant account has been closed.
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Match your DBA. If your legal name is different from your “doing business as” (DBA) name, update your main descriptor to reflect the name your customers are familiar with.
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Include contact information. Make it easy for the customer to contact you directly. Include your phone number, email address, or website in the descriptor to encourage direct refunds over bank chargebacks.
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Leverage dynamic descriptors. A dynamic descriptor includes the standard descriptor followed by transaction-specific information. For example, a standard descriptor might be “S&S Auto.” A dynamic descriptor would be “S&S Auto / FordTransmission.” If you use dynamic descriptors, ensure you fully understand how they are formatted and what the different variations look like.
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Be mindful of character limits. Descriptors can be anywhere from 20 to 25 characters; however, the exact length depends on the issuing bank. Some issuers truncate the descriptor so the full message is not displayed, which can cause cardholder confusion. Use clear abbreviations to avoid truncated descriptors and convey a more accurate message.
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