Glossary
Billing descriptor
A billing descriptor is the text the cardholder sees on their statement for a payment: the merchant's trading name, often with a city, a phone number or a website, within the length the schemes allow, about 22 characters for the name. The acquirer sets it from the merchant agreement; a dynamic descriptor lets the merchant vary it per payment, for example with the product or the sub-merchant's name. A descriptor the cardholder does not recognise is the most common cause of avoidable chargebacks.
Parts and limits
A fixed part registered with the acquirer, often the PSP’s or facilitator’s prefix with an asterisk, then the merchant’s name, then a city or a contact; the schemes limit the length and some issuers cut it further. A phone number or a website in the descriptor gives the cardholder a way to ask before disputing.
Why it matters
Cardholders dispute payments they do not recognise; a legal entity name instead of the brand, a PSP’s name instead of the shop’s, or a truncated string all look like fraud on a statement. Matching the descriptor to the brand on the checkout and the receipt is part of merchant onboarding and of chargeback prevention.
On the platform
The descriptor is agreed between the licensed client and its acquirer when a merchant is onboarded; Tranzify’s back office keeps the merchant’s trading name, website and brand together so the compliance team can check that they match what the cardholder will see, and the journal shows what was sent to the acquirer with each payment.
Updated: 2026-11-08