Soft Descriptor Customization

Credit card companies allow a descriptive string on credit card statements that identify a purchase. For example, AMZN PMTS appears on credit card statements to identify purchases made using Amazon FPS. Typically, most banks support a 19 character string. To give you more flexibility to identify yourself on credit card statements, Soft Descriptor Customization lets you modify information sent to the payment processor. You can use Soft Descriptor Customization in the following ways.

Create a static string in your account settings
Create a dynamic string when you process the payment
Specify whether the recipient or caller customer service number is sent to the payment processor

How the Soft Descriptor Works

1	You specify the soft descriptor string in your account level settings. Amazon FPS passes `AMZ` plus the soft descriptor (in upper case) to the payment processor. For example, `AMZDIGITALDOWNLOAD` appears on the statement.
2	You supply a sender description when processing the payment and specify `dynamic` as the soft descriptor type. Amazon FPS passes the string `AMZ` plus the first 15 characters of the sender description (in upper case) to the payment processor. For example, if `AMAZON FPS GIFT` is the sender description then `AMZAMAZON FPS GIFT` appears on the statement.
3	The default Amazon FPS descriptor `AMZN PMTS` appears on the statement if you do not specify a soft descriptor string in your account level settings or a sender description in your call to Amazon FPS.

SoftDescriptorType

Use the SoftDescriptorType in the DescriptorPolicy to specify static or dynamic soft descriptors. When you make a call to Pay, Reserve, FundPrepaid, or SettleDebt, FPS checks the SoftDescriptorType parameter in the DescriptorPolicy. If you specify the parameter as static, or do not specify a type, the soft descriptor in your account level setting is sent to the payment processor.

Amazon FPS uses the first 15 characters of the sender description as the soft descriptor if you specify dynamic as the SoftDescriptorType. Amazon FPS returns an error if you don't include a sender description for the dynamic string.

To use a dynamic string, you must include a sender description in the call to Pay, Reserve, FundPrepaid, or SettleDebt and set the soft descriptor type parameter to dynamic. The first 15 characters of the sender description is used as the soft descriptor. For more information, see Pay, Reserve, FundPrepaid, or SettleDebt.

To create a static soft descriptor

Log in to your Amazon Payments account at http://payments.amazon.com.
Point to Edit My Account Settings.
Click Change My Business Settings.
Enter the soft descriptor in the text box.

You can use numbers, letters, or spaces in your soft descriptor as long as the descriptor doesn't begin or end with a space. Special characters are not allowed in the soft descriptor string. By default, Amazon FPS passes the static soft descriptor to the payment processor.

If you need a dynamic soft descriptor string, you must specify a sender description in Pay, Reserve, FundPrepaid, or SettleDebt actions. You must also specify dynamic as the soft descriptor type. Following the soft descriptor standard, the FPS soft descriptor consists of 19 characters beginning with the string AMZ*, followed by the first 15 characters of the sender description. You can use numbers, letters, or spaces in your soft descriptor as long as the descriptor doesn't begin or end with a space. Special characters are not allowed in the soft descriptor string.

CSNumberOf

In scenarios like marketplace applications, the caller and recipient are different parties. You can specify the customer service number that a customer sees on his credit card statement with the CSNumberOf parameter. When you make a call to Pay, Reserve, FundPrepaid, or SettleDebt, FPS checks the CSNumberOf parameter. If you specify the value of the parameter as recipient, or do not specify any value, the recipient's customer service number is determined from account information and sent to the payment processor. If you specify caller as the value of the CSNumberOf parameter, the caller's customer service number is determined from account information and sent to the payment processor. For more information, see Pay, Reserve, FundPrepaid, or SettleDebt.

	Note
	The soft descriptor and CS number passed to a Reserve operation are passed to the corresponding Settle operation.The original soft descriptor and CS number passed to Pay, Reserve, FundPrepaid, or SettleDebt operations are passed to a corresponding Refund operation.