Level 2 purchasing card data provides enhanced transaction information as compared to the basic (i.e., level 1) data. Level 2 data includes the following fields for a given transaction: amount.tax, transaction.purchaseCard.customerReference, transaction.purchaseCard.destinationPostalCode, and transaction.purchaseCard.productDescriptors.
By providing level 2 purchasing card data to the processor, merchants can improve their discount and interchange rates. Because this information is available to auditors in Lighthouse Transaction Manager, it can also be very useful for chargeback defense.
Historically, the payment card industry has used enhanced transaction data specifically for corporate and government purchasing cards. However, it is now common for card issuers to provide enhanced transaction data for all payment cards to help prevent cardholders from requesting unnecessary chargebacks.
To help merchants improve their chargeback defense and achieve the best discount and interchange rates, Shift4 recommends level 2 purchasing card data for all certifications. This data is sent in the amount and transaction.purchaseCard objects during the request.