Level 2 & Level 3 Processing
Pass enhanced line-item data on B2B, B2G, and corporate-card transactions to qualify for lower interchange. NMI & Authorize.net support, dedicated MIDs, interchange-plus pricing, $0 setup.
Apply Now — Free →What Is Level 2 & Level 3 Processing?
Every card transaction carries data. Level 2 and Level 3 processing means sending more of it — enhanced, invoice-style detail attached to each sale. When you run a business, corporate, purchasing, or government card and include this extra data, the card networks reward the transaction with a lower interchange category than a bare-bones consumer sale would earn.
Interchange is the wholesale fee the card networks and issuing banks charge on every transaction, and it is the single largest cost inside your effective rate. Visa and Mastercard publish dozens of interchange categories, and commercial cards have dedicated B2B and government categories that only unlock when enhanced Level 2/3 data is present. That is the core of B2B interchange optimization: qualify commercial-card volume into the cheapest category it is eligible for, on every settlement.
The catch is that consumer credit and debit cards never qualify — Level 2/3 only benefits commercial cards. So the merchants who gain the most are the ones whose customers pay with business plastic: B2B sellers, wholesalers, distributors, and suppliers to government agencies.
Level 1 vs Level 2 vs Level 3
Each level adds more data — and each unlocks a better interchange category for commercial cards. Level 3 carries full invoice-level detail.
Level 1
- ✓Card number & expiration
- ✓Transaction amount
- ✓Merchant name
- ✓Merchant category code (MCC)
The baseline every card sale carries. No enhanced data, highest interchange for commercial cards.
Level 2
- ✓All Level 1 fields
- ✓Sales tax amount
- ✓Customer / purchase-order code
- ✓Merchant tax ID
- ✓Merchant ZIP / postal code
Adds tax and reference data. Qualifies commercial cards for mid-tier interchange.
Level 3
- ✓All Level 1 & Level 2 fields
- ✓Line-item product descriptions
- ✓Quantities & unit of measure
- ✓Unit price & line-item totals
- ✓Product / commodity codes
- ✓Freight & duty amounts
- ✓Ship-from & ship-to ZIP
Full invoice-level detail. Qualifies for the lowest B2B and government interchange categories.
Level 1 vs 2 vs 3 Data Requirements
The exact fields each level requires. Every field for a level must be present and valid — on both authorization and settlement — for the transaction to qualify.
| Data Field | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card number, expiry, amount | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Merchant name & MCC | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sales tax amount | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer / PO code | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Merchant tax ID & ZIP | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Line-item descriptions | — | — | ✓ |
| Quantity & unit of measure | — | — | ✓ |
| Unit price & line totals | — | — | ✓ |
| Product / commodity codes | — | — | ✓ |
| Freight & duty amounts | — | — | ✓ |
| Ship-from / ship-to ZIP | — | — | ✓ |
Do I Qualify For Level 2 / Level 3?
Select your business type to see how Level 2 and Level 3 data applies. Qualification depends on accepting commercial cards — business, corporate, purchasing, or government — not on your industry alone.
Strong fit. Wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers selling to other businesses run a high share of commercial and purchasing cards. Level 3 line-item data typically qualifies these transactions for the lowest interchange categories.
This selector describes typical fit. Actual qualification is determined per transaction by the card presented and the data submitted.
How Gray Merchants Enables Level 2/3
Passing enhanced data correctly is a gateway and account configuration problem, not something you can bolt on after the fact. Gray Merchants sets up Level 2/3-capable gateways — including NMI and Authorize.net — and configures the enhanced-data fields so your commercial-card transactions transmit the tax amount, customer code, and line-item detail required to qualify.
Where possible we auto-populate common fields such as tax amount and customer/PO code, so your team is not hand-keying enhanced data on every sale. For invoice- and terminal-based B2B billing, the same configuration flows through our virtual terminal, keeping Level 2/3 data intact whether a card is entered by phone, on an invoice, or online.
Accounts are placed on interchange-plus pricing through our 70+ banking and acquirer relationships, so you see the true network interchange cost separately from our markup — which is exactly how you can tell Level 2/3 optimization is actually working. Dedicated MIDs, 99% approval, and 48-hour approval apply across 50+ high-risk industries, so B2B and B2G sellers with a difficult risk profile can still optimize their commercial-card volume. High-ticket and high-frequency B2B accounts pair naturally with our high-volume merchant accounts.
Protecting Your Qualification
Sending enhanced data is only half the job — the data has to be complete and valid or the transaction downgrades to a higher-cost category. A missing sales tax amount, an invalid customer code, or incomplete line items can quietly push a commercial-card sale back up the interchange table.
We configure validation at the gateway so required fields are present on both authorization and settlement, then review your commercial-card mix so the accounts most likely to benefit are prioritized. The result is consistent qualification instead of occasional, accidental savings.
Level 2 & Level 3 Processing FAQ
Optimize Your B2B Interchange
If your customers pay with business, corporate, or government cards, Level 2/3 processing can move that volume into lower interchange categories. Dedicated MIDs, interchange-plus, $0 setup, 48-hour approval.
Get Level 2/3 Enabled →