Level 2/3 Data Support

Introduction

Credit card processing operates across three main levels: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3.

• At Level 1, payment processing requires essential information, such as the transaction amount and cardholder details.
• Moving to Level 2, all Level 1 data is transmitted along with additional details like taxation and customer information.
• Level 3 processing takes a more comprehensive approach by transmitting highly detailed information, including line item prices, tax specifics from invoices, order details, shipping information, and more.

The inclusion of Level 2 and Level 3 data allows businesses to provide additional payment details to issuing banks, processors, and other downstream systems in the payment process. This enhances tracking, monitoring, and risk assessment, making businesses eligible for reduced payment processing fees. Notably, Level 3 data qualifies for the lowest processing fees due to the extensive data sharing compared to Levels 2 and 1.

Benefits of Level 2/Level 3

Benefits of providing Level 2 or Level 3 data include:

• Lower interchange fees: By providing more detailed information about a transaction, Level 2 or Level 3 data can help qualify for lower interchange fees from credit card networks, which leads to merchants paying lower processing fees.
• Improved record-keeping: The additional information captured through Level 2 or Level 3 data can help businesses keep more detailed and accurate records of their transactions, making it easier to track expenses and revenues.
• Enhanced security: Capturing additional details about a transaction can help prevent fraud and reduce chargebacks, as the additional information can be used to verify the legitimacy of a transaction.

Supported Payment Gateways

The following payment gateways support Level 2 and Level 3 data processing:

• Stripe - Supports Level 2 and Level 3 data
• Vantiv - Supports Level 2 and Level 3 data
• Adyen - Supports Level 2 and Level 3 data
• BlueSnap - Supports Level 2 and Level 3 data
• Braintree - Supports Level 2 and Level 3 data

Eligibility Criteria for Lower Processing Fees

To qualify for reduced processing fees with Level 2 and Level 3 data, the following conditions must be met:

• Only businesses operating under B2B (business-to-business), B2G (business-to-government), and G2G (government-to-government) models are eligible.
• Transactions must involve specific card types (e.g., corporate, commercial, purchase, and fleet cards) and supported card networks (e.g., Visa and Network). Contact your payment gateway support team for details on other networks.
• This benefit is only applicable in the US.
• The issuing bank must approve the additional data for the lower processing fee to be applied. If deemed inadequate, the discount may not be passed to the payment gateway or Payment Service Provider (PSP).
• Only selected Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) qualify.

For a complete list of eligibility conditions and additional requirements, check with your payment gateway provider.

Prerequisites

Make sure you complete the following before configuring Level 2 or Level 3 data for the supported gateway in your Chargebee site:

• The Level 2 or Level 3 feature, as applicable, must be enabled at the gateway before enabling Level 2 or Level 3 in Chargebee.
• Enable Level 2 or Level 3 data for your Chargebee site. To do so, Contact Chargebee Support .

Configuring Level 2 or Level 3 Data in your Chargebee site

Most steps for configuring Level 2 or Level 3 data in Chargebee are common for all payment gateways. However, certain gateways have additional configuration steps.

Common configuration steps

Follow these common steps for any gateway to configure Level 2 or Level 3 data in your Chargebee site:

1. Log in to your Chargebee site.
2. Navigate to Settings > Configure Chargebee > Payment Gateways.
3. Click on the gateway from the list of added gateways and ensure it is configured.
4. Click Manage to set up cards as a payment method.
   
5. Enable Send additional data (Level 2 and Level 3).
   
6. Click the Choose drop-down menu to select the desired level (Level 2 Data or Level 3 Data) according to your requirements.
   
7. Click Save
   
8. Click Apply to save changes.
   

Gateway-specific configuration

Stripe

No additional configuration is required. The above steps ensure that Level 2 or Level 3 data is sent to Stripe.

Vantiv

The above steps ensure that Level 2 data is sent to Vantiv. For sending Level 3 data via Vantiv, additional steps are required:

Steps to configure Level 3 data

When you click Apply after completing the common steps above, if Level 3 data is selected, a custom field for commodity code will be automatically created at the plan, add-on, and charge levels.

Follow these additional steps for Vantiv in your Chargebee site:

1. In the Chargebee app, navigate to Product Catalog > Plans or Add-ons or Charges.
   
2. Fill out the Unit of Measure and commodity code fields for all Plans, Add-ons, and Charges to ensure eligibility for Level 3 benefits.
   

The following fields are mandatory for Level 3 transactions via Vantiv and will always be set to 0, as Chargebee does not collect this information from merchants:

• shippingAmount
• dutyAmount

Adyen

• Chargebee supports sending Level 2 and Level 3 data for Adyen.
• Select the Level 2 option while following the common configuration steps. For sending Level 3 data via Adyen, follow the steps in this section.

BlueSnap

• Chargebee supports sending Level 2 and Level 3 data for BlueSnap.
• Select the Level 2 option while following the common configuration steps. To send Level 3 data, follow the steps in this section.
• American Express supports Level 2 only (Level 2 with TAA). Level 3 line-item qualification is not supported for Amex.
• Chargebee sends taxAmount and taxRate when available. taxRate is required whenever taxAmount is present (at the order or item level).
• shipFromZipCode is mandatory for Mastercard Level 3 (optional for Visa Level 3). Chargebee sources this from the Organization Address (postal/ZIP code). Ensure the Organization Address is configured as described here.

Braintree

• Chargebee supports sending Level 2 and Level 3 data for Braintree.
• Select the Level 2 option while following the common configuration steps. To send Level 3 data, follow the steps in this section.
• shipsFromPostalCode is not mandatory for Braintree. If configured, Chargebee sources it from the Organization Address (postal/ZIP code). Organization Address setup is documented here.
• The following field is mandatory for Level 3 transactions via Braintree, but is not collected by Chargebee and is always sent as 0:
  • shippingAmount

Fields for Level 2/Level 3 Data

Each level has a defined set of fields that are required to be sent to the payment gateway as additional information. Let us have a look at the list of fields for both Level 2 and Level 3:

How This Works

• When a specific level is enabled, all future payments for an invoice will automatically include the required additional data. If the transaction qualifies as eligible, the gateway will apply the benefit of a lower processing fee.
• You'll need to check with the gateway to determine the exact savings. For Vantiv, it may take one to two weeks to confirm the final eligibility status for the reduced fee.