MasterCard Acceptance Procedures for Purchase Transactions

The following requirements are relevant to the merchant's acceptance procedures for purchase transactions.

• Card must be present. A payment card must be presented to the merchant for all transactions except in the case of mail orders, telephone orders, card-not-present unique transactions, eCommerce transactions, and pre-authorized orders.
  
• Determine whether the card is valid. The merchant must complete the following steps to determine whether each card presented is a valid payment card:
  
  • Check the valid date and the expiration date on the face of the card. If the card is expired or not yet valid, the merchant must obtain an authorization from the card issuer.
    
  • Check the Electronic Warning Bulletin or international Warning Notices. If the account number is listed, the merchant must not complete the transaction without obtaining an authorization from the card issuer.
    
  • Compare the four-digit truncated account number imprinted in the signature panel with the last four digits of the embossed account number on the face of the card.
    
  • Unless a hybrid terminal is used, compare the embossed account number on the face of the card with the number displayed or printed from the point of sale (POS) terminal.
    
  • If a photograph of the cardholder is present on the card, compare the photograph on the card with the person presenting the card.
    
  • Check that the card is signed.
    
  • For unique transactions processed in a face-to-face environment (with the exception of truck stop transactions and card-read transactions where a non-signature CVM is used), request personal identification of the cardholder in the form of an unexpired, official government document. Compare the signature on the personal identification with the signature on the card.
    
• Unsigned cards. If the card is not signed, the merchant must:
  
  • Obtain an authorization from the card issuer.
    
  • Ask the cardholder to provide identification (but not record the cardholder identification information).
    
  • Require the cardholder to sign the card.
  The merchant must not complete the transaction if the cardholder refuses to sign the card.
• Suspicious cards. If the merchant believes that there is a discrepancy in the signature, or if the last four digits of the embossed account number do not match the four-digit truncated account number on the signature panel or displayed on the terminal, or if the photographic identification is uncertain, the merchant must contact its acquiring bank for instructions. If any unexpired MasterCard card does not have a MasterCard hologram on the lower right corner of the card face, the merchant must pick up the card and contact its acquiring bank's Code 10 operator to advise it of the pick-up and to receive mailing instructions.