Skip to content
Dash/Process

Recurring & direct response

Standard program

Multi-level marketing payment processing

MLM accounts handle distributor autoship and consumer retail at once, under a compensation plan the acquirer will read.

Commonly assigned MCC

5964 · 5968 · 5122

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

Reviewed

The short version

Direct-selling companies run two payment flows: distributors buying inventory and enrolment packages, and end consumers buying product. Acquirers care about the ratio between them, because a business selling mostly to its own distributors is a structure regulators have taken an interest in.

Compensation plan documents form part of the underwriting file here in a way they do not in any other vertical.

What is actually being priced

What underwriting is looking at.

Retail versus distributor mix

A low proportion of genuine end-consumer sales is the pattern regulators look for and acquirers price against.

Income claims

Distributor-generated income claims on social channels are attributed to the company at underwriting.

International distributors

Cross-border distributor payments add currency handling and cross-border interchange to the account.

What their lists say

Stripe, Square and PayPal on mlm & direct sales.

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

Stripe

Prohibited

“Multilevel marketing services offering commission or recruitment-based sales”

Square

Prohibited

“unauthorized multi-level marketing businesses”

PayPal

Restricted · approval required

“Multilevel Marketing and Direct Selling Organizations”

'Certain multi-level marketing programs' are separately prohibited.

Dash Process

Standard program

Distributor and retail flows on separate MIDs with distinct descriptors; autoship with account updater.

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 mlm & direct sales 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 · Multi-level marketing program · MCC 5964

In review

Documents · 3 of 4 received

  • Compensation plan and distributor agreementReceived
  • Retail versus distributor revenue splitReceived
  • Income claim policy and how it is enforcedReceived
  • Processing statements across all current MIDsRequested
Illustrative · figures are fictional, not a quote

What we put in place

  • Separate MIDs for distributor and retail flows with distinct descriptors
  • Multi-currency acceptance for international distributor bases
  • Recurring billing for autoship with account updater
  • Compensation plan review as part of pre-submission

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.

  • Compensation plan and distributor agreement
  • Retail versus distributor revenue split
  • Income claim policy and how it is enforced
  • Processing statements across all current MIDs
Why each document is on the list

Questions

About mlm & direct sales.

Compliant direct-selling companies are. Mainstream lists prohibit or pre-approve the category; our acquiring program writes against the compensation plan, the product-to-recruitment ratio and the refund policy, which are what regulators look at.

On this account

What an account in this vertical usually runs on.

Next

Coaching and digital products

Tell us about your mlm & direct sales 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