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Dash/Process

Recurring & direct response

Standard program

Direct response marketing payment processing

Multi-step funnels with upsells convert well and dispute heavily. Underwriting looks at the funnel, not the product.

Commonly assigned MCC

5964 · 5966 · 5969

The category actually assigned is set at boarding and can differ from these.

Reviewed

The short version

Direct response is a method rather than a category, and it is the method acquirers have the longest memory about. One-click upsells, order bumps and downsell paths all increase the chance a customer sees a charge they do not remember agreeing to.

The operators who stay boarded are the ones whose funnels disclose clearly at each step and whose descriptors match the brand on the page. That is a design problem as much as a compliance one.

What is actually being priced

What underwriting is looking at.

Upsell recall

Charges added after the initial checkout are the single largest source of disputes in this vertical.

Traffic source quality

Affiliate and native traffic can carry claims your own pages do not make, and acquirers hold you responsible for both.

Volume spikes

A campaign that works can multiply volume overnight, which breaches monthly caps and triggers review.

What their lists say

Stripe, Square and PayPal on direct response.

Their own published policies, quoted verbatim and dated, next to where the category stands with our acquiring partners.

Stripe

Prohibited

“Negative option marketing, negative option membership clubs, and reduced price trials with unclear or hidden pricing”

'Telemarketing' is also listed as prohibited.

Square

Prohibited

“infomercial sales”

'Up-sell merchants' and 'inbound or outbound telemarketers' are also listed.

PayPal

Not listed

Not named. 'Get rich quick' schemes are prohibited.

Dash Process

Standard program

Multi-MID structures with load balancing, per-offer descriptors, and funnel review before submission.

What we ask for
All twenty categories, with sources

In the product

What your application looks like from your side.

The same five stages we publish on the site, a named contact, and the document list for direct response in one place — received, requested, or not needed.

How it works
Meridian Botanicals/Application
Sandbox
  1. Apply
  2. Underwriting
  3. Approve
  4. Integrate
  5. Live

Underwriting in progress

Acquiring review · Direct response marketing program · MCC 5964

In review

Documents · 3 of 4 received

  • Every live funnel path including upsells and downsellsReceived
  • Traffic sources and affiliate agreementsReceived
  • Monthly volume history and expected peakReceived
  • Current descriptors and chargeback ratioRequested
Illustrative · figures are fictional, not a quote

What we put in place

  • Multi-MID structures with load balancing so a spike does not breach a cap
  • Per-offer descriptors and per-MID reporting
  • Funnel and affiliate compliance review before submission
  • Chargeback alerts across the major networks with automated refund rules

What underwriting will ask you for

Assemble these before you apply anywhere. The list does not get shorter by waiting, and having it ready is the single biggest thing you control about how long this takes.

  • Every live funnel path including upsells and downsells
  • Traffic sources and affiliate agreements
  • Monthly volume history and expected peak
  • Current descriptors and chargeback ratio
Why each document is on the list

Questions

About direct response.

Because the funnel is what generates disputes: the order page, the upsell path, the terms disclosure and the cancel route. A funnel that passes review goes to underwriting once; one that does not gets a list of specific changes first.

On this account

What an account in this vertical usually runs on.

Next

Multi-level marketing

Tell us about your direct response business.

We will tell you which of our acquiring partners writes it and what your file needs before it goes anywhere.

Get approvedAsk a questionor call (347) 594-9686