A lot of merchants get confused about their Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) and how it affects the way they process transactions. If you think that MCC is just another letter or number assigned to your business and doesn’t actually affect anything, think again!
Every day we see many e-commerce businesses losing sales because of incorrect MCC. In this article, we will guide you on how to understand MCC and why it is important for your business.
What Are Merchant Category Codes (MCCs)?
Merchant Category Codes (MCC) are four digit codes used by the major credit card associations – Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover – to categorize a business. These codes help the credit card companies to define a particular business and its products or services.
But why do we need merchant category codes?
They are nothing but a useful tool for credit card processing as they give some clarity as to what kind of goods and services you sell which, in turn helps the acquirer to correctly apply all the rules for that type of card. For example, some goods are not allowed to be paid by credit cards whereas some merchants require additional efforts to process the payments made by one of its customers.
Such instances can easily happen if you don’t have merchant category codes on your website or in your store. The payment processor may make a mistake or may not apply a rule that you want to be applied for a specific type of card.
In case, if your website is hosted on Shopify, WooCommerce, Bigcommerce and other platforms – the store owners need to contact the hosting provider or access their Control Panel from where they can see Merchant Category Codes (MCC) of the store which is then applied on your website.
Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) For Ecommerce Merchants
E-commerce merchants require a lot of MCC for their ecommerce stores. In fact, each category has a special MCC which you can check here . You need to pick up specific merchant category codes according to the nature of your business.
For example, if you sell professional or contact lenses then MCC for this should be picked up carefully. You can see the list of MCCs for eCommerce merchants on Visa and MasterCard websites by clicking here and here .
I would like to clear one thing: If you are selling another merchant’s goods on a marketplace like Amazon, Flipkart or eBay then the marketplace will provide you merchant category codes (MCC) depending upon what they know about your store.
How To Check MCC For Your Store?
This is probably the most common question that all merchants ask when it comes to MCC. Many e-commerce store owners think that MCC is written on the back of their credit card and they end up picking up the one that’s there.
But that’s not true at all! You can’t see merchant category codes on your credit cards as they aren’t printed anywhere except for electronic transactions where you might be able to find it in case the transaction is via PayPal.
The correct way to check MCC for your ecommerce store is by accessing the Control Panel of your website hosting provider or by contacting them and asking about it. You can also contact your payment gateway support team as they will know exactly what type of merchant category codes (MCCs) you need.
