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What merchants need to know about Level 3 data processing

by Intuit• Updated 1 year ago

Find out about Level 3 data and your QuickBooks Payments account.

Do you process payments for other businesses? Level 3 data can have benefits for you.

What is Level 3 data?

Level 3 data are line-item details about a credit card purchase. It includes items, quantity, and other order info.

Level 3 processing sends this detailed info to Visa and MasterCard. This level of data is only shared when you process a commercial card. The card association and issuing bank can then report the info to the cardholder's company, along with the other purchase details.

Examples of Level 3 data	Description
Freight amount	Total freight or shipping and handling charges
Duty amount	Import or export charges
Discount amount	Amounts applied to total order and line items
Product code	Product code of item
Product description	Text description of item
Quantity	Units of items purchased
Unit of measure	Metric for quantity
Unit cost	Cost of measurable unit as per the unit of measure
Item commodity code	Used to segment and manage spending
Sales tax	Tax amount, rate and type
Line item total	Calculated as price times quantity
Customer reference number	Numbers used to track order

What is a commercial credit card?

Visa and MasterCard offer special credit cards for companies and government agencies. They're designed to help them manage and streamline their spending.

These commercial credit cards offer the ability to set limits. They can restrict card usage to specific types of purchases.

Examples of commercial credit cards

Uses	Card type
Procurement expenses	Visa Purchasing card
	MasterCard Corporate Purchasing card
Travel and entertainment	Visa Corporate card
	MasterCard Corporate Card
Multi-purpose card	Visa Commercial card

Should I accept commercial cards?

Accepting commercial cards is a smart business practice for several reasons.

Enhance your bond by processing their cards correctly.
You can get paid quicker with commercial cards.
It’s often easier to get approval for commercial card payments.
Commercial cards can lower the risk for you.

Can Level 3 benefit and build my relationship with my buyer?

Passing Level 3 data gives businesses the chance to better monitor and record purchases. Your buyers get in-depth reporting of their purchases. They can then use the data to make good business decisions. This may help you create a more personalized experience. Use Level 3 data to build strong relationships with your government and corporate clients.

You can create an advantage for new, large clients who may rely on this type of service.

Can Level 3 data sharing help to release my funds faster?

Certain purchases can come under scrutiny if there is a suspicion of risky activity. In that case, the payment amount can be withheld. The transaction is reviewed and determined to be genuine or not.

During the review, various sources of data and info are used to verify the purchase. This sometimes includes asking the merchant for an invoice or sales receipt related to the payment.

When you enable Level 3 data processing, QuickBooks may use Level 3 data to inspect the purchase and possibly release the funds to you, the merchant, faster.

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