Merchant Level Categories

There are 4 merchant level categories that determine the scope of compliance for each business. The category into which a merchant falls under is based on their annual electronic card transaction volume.

Merchants who process more than 6 million transactions per year, merchants whose data has been compromised from a security breach, and merchants who have been classified as Level 1 by a credit card company. Merchants who process 150,000 to 6 million transactions per year. Merchants who process 20,000 to 150,000 transactions per year. Merchants who process less than 20,000 transactions per year.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Although Level 4 merchants conduct the fewest transactions, they make up 99% of US businesses who process credit cards, rendering them the most vulnerable to hackers. Due to this fact, and the fact that more Level 4 merchants are now using integrated POS systems connected to high-speed Internet connections, auditors are focusing more attention on these merchants.