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Level III Processing via the Virtual Terminal

Updated

Table of Contents

Overview

Merchants who have the Level III Advantage service enabled can process Level III transactions in their Virtual Terminal to improve rates. NMI's Level III Advantage will automatically detect a business card entered in the Virtual Terminal, prompting the gateway to believe the merchant will benefit from sending additional data (Level III data) to the processor to improve transaction rates. Merchants do have the option to opt out of sending Level III data to the processor and they have the option to still send the Level III data to the processor on transactions that Level III Advantage does not detect as a business card, when they see fit.

Prerequisites

The merchant account will need the value-added service, Level III Advantage, enabled for them to be able to send Level III data in their Virtual Terminal.

How does Level III Advantage work in the Virtual Terminal?

Scenario One - In the Virtual Terminal within the Merchant Portal, when Level III is expected to improve rates:

  • The BIN Lookup Tool will automatically detect a business card entered, prompting the gateway to believe the merchant will benefit from sending additional data (Level III data) to the processor to improve transaction rates.
  • Merchants will have an option to opt out* of sending Level III data to the processor by unchecking the "Send Level III data to the processor" box.
  • The merchant in this scenario will pay a gateway fee since Level III data was used and sent to the processor.
  • Transaction receipt will show additional data.

*If a merchant chooses to opt out of sending Level III data to the processor they will not be billed an action for Level III data. 

Scenario Two - In the Virtual Terminal within the Merchant Portal, when Level III is not expected* to improve rates:

  • The card number entered is automatically detected showing a standard customer card, powered by the BIN lookup tool.
  • Since the card did not qualify for Level III, level III data collection will be greyed out, preventing the merchant from entering this information.
  • The merchant in this scenario will not be billed an action for Level III data.

*NMI's Level III Advantage is only applicable to Visa and Mastercard, if the BIN Lookup Tool detects a Discover or American Express card, it will flag it as not expected to improve rates. 

Merchants have full control - When the gateway detects Level III is not expected to improve rates - Merchants will still have an option to opt in to sending Level III data to the processor at their own discretion. 

  • The merchant will check the "Send Level III data to the processor" box, which will allow the merchant to enter the level III data even if the tool detects a standard customer card entered.
  • The level III data fields will be editable, as seen in the image below. 
  • The merchant in this scenario will pay a gateway fee since Level III data was used and sent to the processor.

Level III Transaction Receipts

Level III data can be viewed in Transaction Receipts under Additional Information → Show More.