Developer's Guide

Gateway Developer Guide and Reference 07 January 2014 163
D
Submitting Purchasing Card
Level 2 and 3 Transactions
PayPal Payment Services supports passing Purchasing Card Level 2 information (such as
purchase order number, tax amount, and charge description) in the settlement file.
If additional required invoice information and line-item details are included in the transaction,
PayPal formats Purchasing Card Level 3 information in an appropriate format, for example,
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) 810 format as required by American Express during
settlement processing.
Please contact your merchant bank to determine which parameters are required to obtain the
best rate for level 2 or level 3 type transactions. If in doubt, we recommend you send all the
level 2 and level 3 fields specified below for your processor.
About Purchasing Cards
The procurement process uses purchasing cards for a number of reasons. Purchasing cards:
 Eliminate paper-based order systems and associated costs
 Improve control and accountability through itemized statements
 Foster better risk controls through spending limits and buying from approved vendors
 Reduce administrative overhead by empowering employees to make small purchases
 Enable enterprises to negotiate better contract pricing and discounts with suppliers by using
vendor detail reports
To promote acceptance and usage of purchasing card programs, card issuers have established
incentive rates for merchants. The incentive rates are available to merchants who comply at
transaction processing Level 2 or Level 3. Transactions that comply at transaction processing
Level 1 qualify as normal credit card transactions.
NOTE: Card issuing institutions perform strict data verification on the enhanced data that
merchants submit with Level 2 or Level 3 transactions. Issuers may charge stiff
penalties when fields contain either inaccurate or filler data. Only transactions that
contain accurate data are eligible for the incentive rates.
About Program Levels
The term Level does not apply to the card, but to the transaction data submitted for that card.
Generally, a higher level means more detailed data for reporting.
The following table describes the recognized transaction levels.