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Level 2/3 Data Support 

This feature is a Private Beta Release. Contact Chargebee Support  to enable Level 2 and 3 data support via supported gateways for your Test and Live site.

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.

Note

Level 3 data is not supported when Multi-decimal Support (MDS)  is enabled in Chargebee. To avoid mismatches and ensure subscription updates proceed without errors, we recommend disabling Level 3 data in this scenario.

Benefits of Level 2/Level 3 

The following are the benefits of passing Level 2 or 3 data:

  • Lower interchange fees: By providing more detailed information about a transaction, Level 2/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/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 & Level 3 data
  • Vantiv ??? Supports Level 2 & Level 3 data
  • Adyen ??? Supports Level 2 data only

Pre-requisites 

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

  • Level 2/ Level 3 feature, as applicable, needs to be enabled at the gateway's end before enabling Level 2 / Level 3 in Chargebee.
  • Please make sure to enable Level 2 / Level 3 data for your Chargebee site. To do so, contact Chargebee Support .

Configuring Level 2 / Level 3 Data in your Chargebee site 

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

Common Configuration Steps 

Follow these common steps for any gateway to configure Level 2/ 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 

1. Stripe

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

2. Vantiv

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

When you click Apply after completing the common steps as mentioned 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.

Information

  • A Commodity Code is a numeric identifier for a product or service. It can be 3, 5, 7, or 11 digits in length, with longer codes providing more detailed descriptions. The National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) issues commodity codes.

  • Unit of Measure specifies the measurement unit of the purchased item (e.g., each, kit, pair, gallon, month).

Note
  • Commodity Code and Unit of Measure must be configured at the plan, add-on, or charge level. Failure to populate these fields may impact Level 3 benefits.
  • Taxes must be pre-configured in Chargebee, as tax information is required for Level 2/ Level 3 transactions.

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

3. Adyen

  • Chargebee supports sending only Level 2 data for Adyen.
  • Select the Level 2 option while following the common configuration steps. No additional configuration is required.
Note
  • For Discover transactions, the interchange rate is not impacted by the presence of Level 2 or Level 3 data.
  • Chargebee will pass the L2/L3 data for all card transactions to the gateway. Gateway does a check at their end on the applicability of a transaction for L2/ L3 and then passes the corresponding L2/L3 data to networks.
  • In case of multiple invoices attached to one payment (consolidated invoices), the total (aggregate) tax or discount amount value will be passed to the gateway with the transaction.
  • In case of multiple payments associated with one invoice, the total or aggregate value of the tax or discount amount for that invoice will be passed to the gateway.
  • If only a partial amount is being collected for an invoice (for example, if it was paid partially with credits), then the full details of the invoice amount and line item details will be sent in Level 2 / Level 3, respectively, and the discount field will be used to offset the partial amount.

Fields for Level 2/Level 3 Data 

Each level has some 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:

Fields Level 2 Level 3 Comments
Tax Amount Total tax amount Total amount of tax for the line item Mandatory
Discount Amount Total discount amount Discount amount for the line item Mandatory
Quantity A default value of 1 will be sent. Quantity of the line item Mandatory
Description default text - "order_summary" Description of the line item Mandatory
Product Details: Unit Amount Amount before tax The unit amount of the line item Mandatory
Product Details: product_sku or product_code product_sku: default text - "order_summary" product_code: Product code of the line item Mandatory
Commodity Code Numeric code representing a particular product or service Mandatory for Vantiv
Unit of Measure Specifies the unit of measure of the purchased item Mandatory for Vantiv
Tax ID Merchant???s Tax ID applicable for the transaction Mandatory for Vantiv

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.
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