Soft descriptor

Soft Descriptor or Dynamic Descriptor functionality gives you the ability to modify the statement descriptor on a per-transaction basis. Using this feature, you gain the ability to change this information according to your discretion per: Member type, Sub-account, Time, Service Type, Business Model, Type of end-user  or however the merchant sees fit.

Dynamic Descriptor serves as an additional Customer Authentication Tool. It prevents end-users from the ambiguities of static descriptors which often result in chargebacks.

An Ordinary Descriptor is the identifying name of a purchase that appears on the end-user’s monthly credit card statement. The descriptor, usually statically preset at the processor level, is the basic information that gets printed on the customer’s credit card statement for a transaction.

• A merchant descriptor for card statement looks something like this:

SOME MERCHANT – CITY / phone number / URL  / customer service / email address

Dynamic descriptor gives you the ability to control the descriptor on the credit card statement of the customer. Alternative Payment Products, Payouts and Direct Debit also provides Soft Descriptor service. The content and format which ends on the customer statement vary in these cases. 

There are two  types of descriptors that your merchant account provider might support:

1. Fixed Descriptors

The descriptor that shows up after a transaction has been settled. As soon as the customer's bank changes the transaction status to final, the Fixed Descriptor will be permanently displayed as the description of the charge on the cardholder's statement.

2. Soft-/Dynamic Descriptors or Settlement Descriptor

A custom per transaction descriptor that is only available on certain processors. Some processors only support Soft-/ Dynamic Descriptors, others allow you to adjust the per transaction description for both Fixed and Soft Descriptors.  

The descriptor, passed per transaction to our platform, will appear on the customers physical bank statement.  

How to enable this service (boarding)

1. Contact us to enable this service for your account.
2. JSON body of rest call /{act_id}/payments should contain DESCRIPTOR.

Please refer the below code sample:

{
  "order": {
    "amountOfMoney": {
      "currencyCode": "EUR",
      "amount": 2980
    },
    "customer": {
      "billingAddress": {
        "countryCode": "US"
      }
    },
    "references": {
      "descriptor": "Fast and Furry-ous"
    }
  },
  "cardPaymentMethodSpecificInput": {
    "paymentProductId": 1,
    "card": {
      "cvv": "123",
      "cardNumber": "4567350000427977",
      "expiryDate": "1220"
    }
  }
}
                

Additional information

Based on the payment processing channel the field length vary. Payment products supporting Dynamic Descriptors/Settlement Descriptors:

• Cards (please note that this is for Fixed and Soft Descriptor combined)
  • 25 characters for Visa
  • 23 characters for Mastercard
• iDEAL (32 characters)
• PayPal
• Alipay
• SEPA Direct Debit