Running Payments Across Multiple Locations

One relationship, separate outlets

Visa defines a merchant outlet as the location where a transaction is completed, such as a retail store or an e-commerce website. Its rules say an acquirer must assign the correct location for each outlet and must not let a merchant misrepresent or alter it. For card-present transactions at a fixed location, the outlet location is where the transaction is completed. Before signing a merchant, an acquirer must check that the merchant is not misrepresenting its outlet location or locations. In practice, ask your provider how it will set up each site: whether each gets its own merchant ID, how devices are assigned to sites, and whether you can see all sites in one report and each site separately.

Names customers recognise

Visa's rules say the merchant name must be the name the business primarily uses with customers, displayed at each merchant outlet, and spelled consistently on the receipt, the authorization request, the clearing record and dispute records. The acquirer must correct names that do not comply or that confuse cardholders. If your sites trade under different names, make sure each one's descriptor matches its sign. Visa also requires the acquirer to assign two or more merchant category codes to one outlet in some cases, including where separate lines of business at the same outlet each have their own merchant agreement or display different merchant names. Our billing descriptor guide explains how the name on a statement affects disputes.

Receipts and location data

Visa's required receipt content includes the city and state or province of the merchant outlet, along with the merchant name customers know. For a multi-site business, that is also useful for you: a customer query or dispute can be traced to the right site from the receipt. Check that each device prints the correct site details, particularly after moving hardware between locations.

Settlement and reporting

Decide early whether each site settles to its own bank account or all sites settle to one. A single account is simpler to manage but harder to reconcile by site. Illustrative example only, with made-up round numbers: three sites take $4,000, $6,000 and $10,000 in card sales on the same day. If the provider pays one $20,000 deposit less fees, you need its report to split sales, refunds and fees by site. If each site settles separately, the bank statement does most of that work. Either can work; what matters is that your provider's reporting breaks out each location and that your bookkeeping mirrors it.

Local rules can differ by site

Rules on card surcharges, cash discounts and dual pricing vary by US state and by Canadian province, and card network rules apply on top. If you add a surcharge program, check the rules for each site's location rather than copying one setup everywhere. Our state and province guides list the primary sources.

Opening and closing sites

When a new site opens, give your provider its trading name, address and expected card volume so the outlet is set up correctly before the first sale. When one closes, tell your provider before the last trading day so the outlet is closed on the account rather than left open. American Express's current US disputes reference guide lists, among its practices for avoiding disputes, providing written cancellation, return, refund and special terms policies at the time of purchase, keeping a record of consent and proof of delivery for orders that have shipped, and telling customers the expected delivery date for items that will be shipped.

Records per location

IRS Publication 583 says supporting documents such as sales slips, invoices, receipts and deposit slips support the entries in your books and on your tax return. It lists cash register tapes, bank deposit slips and credit card charge slips among documents that show gross receipts. Keeping those by site, alongside the processor's per-site reports, makes each location's numbers easier to check.