Transaction descriptors
What’s this?
Transaction descriptors are the descriptions for charges a client finds on his card or bank statements. Apart from the numbers that identify certain transactions, customers will also usually find the payment provider’s name. But such information doesn’t say anything about the product or service and — what’s more important, it isn’t useful to the customer.
That’s why PayLane offers you the ability to define your own transaction descriptions. There are two basic types:
- static descriptors — a description set for all transactions made with a certain merchant,
- dynamic descriptors — descriptions used to define certain products or services.
Furthermore, each transaction may have a unique description, making identification even easier.
What does it mean?
Transaction descriptors are much more than just good looking card statements. This service provides many measurable benefits for merchants. The most important one is that customers don’t have any doubts about their transactions, which means they won’t request chargebacks just because they can’t identify a specific payment.
Of course a merchant can “defend” himself when a chargeback request is unfounded. However, he must do it every time and prove his innocence within certain time limits. Using transaction descriptors makes life easier and, at the same time, creates a positive image as a customer-friendly merchant.
Example
If a merchant owns an e-store, he may choose a static descriptor. A name that clearly identifies his brand should be adequate – just so his customers won’t have any problems associating purchases with his shop.
A software producer may need a different solution. If he mainly promotes his application product brands, not himself or his company as provider, he’d probably prefer dynamic descriptors. He won’t be identified by his company name, but most likely he’ll use the product names as descriptors. This won’t leave any doubts — customers surely remember buying a certain application, but may not recall the provider’s name.