Merchant category codes
MCC codes for direct marketing and subscriptions
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Direct marketing codes describe how a merchant sells, not what it sells. Visa's manual says a merchant selling through catalogs, mailings or telemarketing with card-absent sales must use a direct marketing code. 5968 covers continuity and subscription sellers, and Visa lists card-absent negative-option subscriptions under it as high-integrity risk. Merchants not doing direct marketing keep their product code.
| MCC | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 5968 | Subscription products for delivery sold by direct marketing. |
| 5964 | Goods sold by catalog with no face-to-face way to buy. |
| 5965 | Catalog sales by a merchant that also has retail shops. |
| 5969 | Direct-response sales by order form, mail, phone or fax not covered elsewhere. |
| 5966 | Sales where the merchant calls or mails buyers first and asks them to respond. |
Does a subscription store need 5968?
Visa's definition of 5968 covers merchants that sell subscription products for delivery, such as book clubs, collectibles, magazines, cosmetics, food, clothing and nutraceuticals, through direct mail, email, apps or salespeople. In the same entry Visa says merchants not doing direct marketing that happen to offer recurring purchases should use the code that best describes their business.
Visa's high-integrity risk list names 5968 for card-absent subscription negative option merchants: offers that keep billing until the customer cancels. An acquirer must register a high-integrity risk merchant with Visa before processing for it.
Frequently asked questions
- Is MCC 5968 high risk?
- Visa lists 5968 subscription negative option merchants (card absent) as high-integrity risk, which means the acquirer must register the merchant with Visa. Stripe does not mark 5968 as restricted.
- Which MCC does a catalog business use?
- 5964 Direct Marketing – Catalog Merchant when there is no face-to-face way to buy. A business with catalogs and retail stores uses 5965 for catalog sales and its product code for the stores.