Soft Descriptor

soft_descriptor is a field in the payment object that appears on the cardholder’s statement. Card brands, arrangements, and BACEN (Banco Central do Brasil) require it to identify Sub-merchant (Payfac) and Staged Digital Wallet Operator (SDWO) transactions.

For example, it is possible to use the name of the merchant registered with the acquirer along with the name of the intermediary receiving the payment, or the identification of a store department, always using the asterisk character (*) as a delimiter.

This enables transaction identification information to be sent and displayed in the trade name field on the cardholder’s statement, making it easier for the cardholder to identify purchases. Examples: Store department identification, such as Store*Department or Store*SubStore, or for sub-merchant transactions, PayFac*SubMerchant.

soft_descriptor is mandatory for all sub-merchant and SDWO and transactions models. If a soft_descriptor is not provided, the trade name registered for the merchant establishment will be used.

Attribute	Type	Required	Max length	Description
`soft_descriptor`	String	Yes	22	Text that appears on the cardholder’s statement.

Rules for using a `soft_descriptor`

Identification of the EC Anchor, with 3, 7, or 12 characters.
Use the ”*” (asterisk) character to separate the anchor store from the department, sub-store, sub-merchant, etc.
Include sub-merchant identification when applicable.
Must contain a maximum of 22 characters. Characters beyond this limit will be ignored.
Prefer using periods (.) or hyphens (-) to separate parts of the company name when necessary.
If the ”&” character is used (or a blank space in certain issuer systems) as a separator, all text following it may be disregarded by the issuer’s system.
Use only valid characters. The field accepts alphanumeric characters and the following special characters: % $ , . / & ( ) + = < > - *. Spaces are replaced by *.

Examples of valid formats:

Example 1

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
S	U	B	A	D	Q	U	I	R	E	N	T	*	S	U	B	-	L	O	J	A

Example 2

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
L	O	J	*	D	E	P	A	R	T	A	M	E	N	T	O

Example 3

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
P	A	Y	.	F	A	C	*	S	U	B	C	O	M	E	R	C	I	O

Example 4

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
A	I	R	L	I	N	E	*	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0

Example 5

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
A	I	R	L	I	N	E	*	Y	C	7	3	T	U

Example 6

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
M	A	R	K	E	T	P	L	A	C	E	*	*	S	U	B	L	O	J	A

Unlike other acquirers, Getnet does not require pre-registration of the merchant name to be used as the Soft Descriptor. The text sent by the merchant is exactly what will be displayed on the cardholder’s statement (limited to 22 characters).

If blank spaces are sent (in many issuer systems), any subsequent data may be disregarded.

For the full set of SDWO transaction models and their required fields, see Create a Staged Digital Wallet Operator payment.