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Automatic Level III Merchant Template

Updated

Table of Contents

Overview

Merchants who have the Level III Advantage service enabled can set up Automatic Level III data that will automatically apply to all transactions on their account and does not require the merchant’s software (NMI-made or from third parties) to support Level III. Level III data provides additional information that card issuers and processors can use to determine the ultimate status of a transaction. While this information is often added on a per-transaction basis, it can be useful for some merchants to be able to automatically have stock data applied to all transactions on their account.

Prerequisites

The merchant account will need the value-added service, Level III Advantage, enabled for them to be able to configure their Automatic Level III setting page. They will not see this settings page if the service is not Active on their account. 

Navigating to Automatic Level III Settings Page

In the Merchant Portal, head over to Settings → under 'Transaction Options', click on Automatic Level III: 

How to Configure Merchants Automatic Level III Template

When a merchant saves any data in their Automatic Level III form, the gateway will automatically add that data to all credit card transactions processed on their account with absolutely no input from the user or their software. This will never overwrite something the merchant specifies on a transaction, it will only add what was not explicitly provided. The Automatic Level III feature is to ensure Level III data is present on all of their credit card transactions to help merchants get the best processing rates possible. 

Please ensure the merchant is following all local guidelines. 

Automatic Level III will add data to all transactions and will allow the gateway to send the data to a processor if:

  • The Account has the Level III Advantage service enabled AND;
  • The Processor has to support Level III data

The Automatic Level III form will have all the Level III fields that the merchant may want to auto-apply to all transactions. 

Most of these are fixed values, but some allow for dynamic data:

  1. Order ID, PO Number, and Order Description can have the current transaction’s ID number be used.
  2. Original Order Date allows for the current transaction’s current date to be used.
  3. Product Cost allows for the current transaction's total amount to be used. 
  4. Product Tax Amount allows for the current transaction's tax amount (if provided) to be used. 

When clicking on the link for the fields that allow dynamic data, the form will automatically add the required variable to that field: 

The merchant can enter as may fields as they wish in this form. Once they are done, they have to click on Save at the bottom of the form in order for it to apply on all their transactions.  

Once the merchant configures their Automatic Level III form, the gateway will add the applied fields to all credit card sales and auths run on the gateway account. It does not matter the source of the transaction, the data is added no matter what.

Please Note - this feature adds to the merchants data, it does not overwrite their data. If the merchant includes/provides data to a field in their payment request that’s also a part of this auto-loading feature, the gateway will defer to the data they sent in for that transaction. For example, if the merchant has Order ID set to “12345” on their Automatic Level III form, but their API request includes “order_id=00001” then the gateway will use 00001 in the transaction and not overwrite it. Automatic Level III will only fill add the data the merchant does not explicitly provide. 

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