Merchant ID Management

Different Business Types

If your product offerings remain within a specific category, SIC Code or Vertical, like selling different types of Clothes (Adult-Baby), then one Merchant Account is enough. However, if you offer completely different product types, like selling nutritional supplements and clothing items, then using multiple Mid's is a must.

A good rule of thumb is that if your products have different Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, then you need a separate merchant account for processing the payments of each product.

 Mitigating Risk & Distributing Chargebacks

There are numerous reasons why multiple businesses can’t operate under the same merchant account. The Two Primary reasons are Mitigating Risk and Distributing Chargebacks.

Each business represents a different level of risk for an acquiring bank. Online merchants are more likely to be in the high risk category because they accept credit and debit card payments online.

Using a single secure gateway account for different products may confuse customers. They will see names on their credit card statement that they don’t necessarily recognize and might mistakenly request chargebacks. This is why it’s beneficial to use separate merchant accounts for each brand.

Multi MID Capabilities & Load Balancing

In a traditional secure gateway setting, the ratio of merchant IDs (MIDs) to gateway accounts is 1:1. While this might have worked in the past, when merchants weren’t as diversified as they are now, today’s merchant needs a more sophisticated solution to their payment gateway needs. This is where our gateway’s Merchant ID Management capability delivers results.

Our gateway’s system architecture frees a merchant from the constraints of a 1:1 MID-to-gateway account relationship and enables them to manage a virtually unlimited number of MIDs using a single gateway account.