Developer's Guide

Payflow Pro Developer’s Guide 99
C
Submitting Purchasing Card
Level 2 and Level 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.
About Purchasing Cards
Purchasing Cards are used in the procurement process to eliminate paper-based order systems
and associated costs, to improve control and accountability through itemized statements, to
foster better risk controls through spending limits and buying from approved vendors, to
reduce administrative overhead because employees are empowered to make small purchases,
and to enable enterprises to negotiate better contract pricing and discounts with suppliers
through the use of vendor detail reports.
To promote acceptance and usage of Purchasing Card programs, card issuers have established
incentive rates for merchants. These rates are available for merchants who comply at either
Level 2 or Level 3 (described in the next section). Transactions that comply at Level 1 qualify
as normal credit card transactions.
NOTE: Card issuing institutions perform strict data verification on the enhanced data that is
submitted with Level 2 or Level 3 transactions. Issuers may charge stiff penalties if
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.
Table C.1 describes the transaction levels that are recognized.
TABLE C.1 Transaction levels
Level Description
Level 1 Function as normal credit cards and are authorized and associated with normal
transaction data in authorization and settlement. Any merchant who accepts
credit cards supports this level.