Level 2 credit card processing refers to a more detailed transaction designed to support business-to-business (B2B) payment processing. Many businesses and government offices require that their vendors accept detailed transactional information along with the sale. In addition to simplifying the B2B transaction, providing Level 2 data along with the sale allows access to lower interchange rates. Basically, Visa/MasterCard recognize that if you as a business are providing all of this extra information, the sale is more likely to be legitimate and less likely to be contested. As such, they’re willing to provide a lower cost for the sale! Processing Level 2 data requires either a standalone credit card terminal, or a gateway like Laigle Business Group that’s equipped to handle Level 2 data. Common interchange reductions are around 0.50% lower than typical sales! So if you’re a B2B merchant processing large orders, it’s definitely worth your while to input Level 2 data. In order to qualify for Level 2 data, you’ll be required to input the below data fields with each transaction. Don’t worry, you can setup your gateway to automatically pass this information through with each sale to make things simple:

• Merchant Name
• Transaction Amount
• Tax Amount (Between 0.1% and 31% of the total amount)
• Transaction Date
• Customer Code or PO number
• Merchant Zip Code

Level 3 data takes everything one step further. Most merchants will never have the opportunity to accept Level 3 cards, but if you’re processing in a B2B-heavy industry or if you accept a lot of Government cards, then having Level 3 data acceptance may help reduce your interchange costs even further. Often times, Level 3 interchange rates are up to a full 1.00% lower than their standard counterparts! But, in order to gain access to Level 3 data, you’ll be required to input a fair amount of information on each transaction. In addition, only certain gateways can accomodate for Level 3 data. Dharma offers Level 3 support through the Laigle Business Group gateway. Please reach out to your Account Manager to discuss pricing. To qualify for Level 3 data, you’ll need all fields required for Level 2, plus the following:

• Ship-From Zip Code
• Destination Zip Code
• Invoice Number
• Order Number
• Item Product Code
• Item Commodity Code
• Item Description
• Item Quantity
• Item Unit of Measure
• Item Extended Amount
• Freight Amount
• Duty Amount