Merchant category codes
MCC codes for clothing, shoes and accessories
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Visa splits clothing into narrow codes by who the clothes are for: 5691 for men's and women's wear, 5651 when a store also sells children's clothing, 5641 for kids only, and separate codes for shoes, sportswear, accessories, wigs, leather goods, jewelry and secondhand items. Pick the code that matches what makes up most of your sales. Miscellaneous 5699 is only for apparel no other code covers.
| MCC | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 5691 | Stores selling men's and women's clothing, but not children's wear. |
| 5651 | Clothing for men, women and children without focusing on one group. |
| 5621 | Stores selling a general line of women's ready-to-wear clothing. |
| 5611 | Stores selling ready-to-wear clothing and accessories for men and boys. |
| 5631 | Handbags, hats, costume jewelry, scarves, belts, lingerie and hosiery for women. |
| 5641 | Stores selling clothing and accessories for children and babies. |
| 5655 | Stores selling athletic wear, sports clothing and riding apparel. |
| 5661 | Stores selling footwear for men, women or children, including athletic shoes. |
| 5699 | Specialised apparel and accessory lines no other clothing code covers. |
| 5698 | Wigs, toupees, hair pieces and hair extensions. |
| 5948 | Luggage, briefcases, backpacks, wallets, purses, gloves and other leather goods. |
| 5944 | Fine jewelry, watches, clocks and silverware, including jewelry repair. |
| 5931 | Secondhand, vintage, thrift and consignment goods. |
The one rule that settles most clothing stores
Visa's manual says a merchant with more than one line of business uses the code for the line with the highest sales, or a separate code for each line. Its own example is an online store selling shoes and luggage: because most sales are shoes, it uses 5661 Shoe Stores, and may add 5948 Luggage and Leather Goods for the luggage.
The second rule is about the word miscellaneous. Codes ending in 99, like 5699, are for businesses that no specific code describes. A T-shirt or swimwear shop fits 5699; a general men's and women's fashion store does not, because 5691 exists.
Frequently asked questions
- What MCC does an online clothing store use?
- Usually 5691 Men's and Women's Clothing Stores. If you also sell children's clothing as a real part of the range, Visa's description points to 5651 Family Clothing Stores. Kids-only stores use 5641, women-only stores 5621, men-only stores 5611.
- Is a clothing MCC high risk?
- No clothing code is on Visa's high-integrity risk list, and Stripe does not restrict any of them. Visa does require 3D Secure on online sales under 5621 and 5691 for merchants located in Hong Kong and Macau.