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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
![[Note]](images/note.png) | Note |
|---|---|
In marketplace applications the soft descriptor of the recipient's account settings are used when the
soft descriptor type is |
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
|
Option 1 |
You specify the soft descriptor string in your account level
settings. Amazon FPS passes |
|
Option 2 |
You supply a sender description when processing the payment and
specify |
|
Option 3 (default) |
The default Amazon FPS descriptor |
| Note |
|---|---|
Prior to June of 2010, the values were "AMZ*" instead of "ASI*" and "AMZN PMNTS" instead of "Amazon Payments." |
Use the SoftDescriptorType in the DescriptorPolicy to specify static or dynamic soft
descriptors. When you make a call to
Pay or Reserve, 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
the recipient's account level setting is sent to the
payment processor.
| Note |
|---|---|
In marketplace applications, the soft
descriptor of the recipient's account settings are
used when the soft descriptor type is |
If you need a dynamic soft descriptor string, you must specify a sender description in
the Pay or Reserve 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. Amazon FPS returns an error if you don't include a sender description for the dynamic string.
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.
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 CSOwner parameter. When you make a call
to
the Pay or Reserve actions. FPS checks the CSOwner 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 CSOwner parameter, the caller's customer service number is
determined from account information and sent to the payment processor.
| Note |
|---|---|
The soft descriptor and owner are passed to a Reserve operation are passed to the corresponding Settle operation. The original soft descriptor and owner passed to the Pay or Reserve operations are passed to a corresponding Refund operation. |
