What is the Mastercard MATCH list?
MATCH is Mastercard’s database of merchants whose accounts were terminated by an acquirer for specific reasons, such as excessive chargebacks, excessive fraud or a breach of scheme rules. Acquirers must consult it before onboarding a merchant and add terminated merchants that meet the criteria. A listing stays for five years and makes opening a new merchant account difficult.
In detail
MATCH, now called MATCH Pro in Mastercard’s rules, is a shared database of terminated merchants. It lets acquirers see whether a merchant applying for an account was closed elsewhere, and why.
How a merchant gets listed
An acquirer that terminates a merchant for one of the listed reasons must add it. Stripe’s documentation counts 13 reason codes. Two are quantitative:
- Excessive chargebacks: Mastercard chargebacks above 1% of monthly Mastercard transactions and at least 5,000 dollars.
- Excessive fraud: fraud of 8% or more of monthly sales volume, with at least 10 fraudulent transactions totaling 5,000 dollars or more.
The others are qualitative, such as data compromise, breach of scheme standards or identity issues.
What a listing means
A record stays for five years. Only the acquirer that created it can correct or remove it. A listing does not legally forbid onboarding, but most acquirers decline listed merchants. Owners and principals are listed too, so a new company with the same people is found.
Visa keeps an equivalent file. Operators that onboard merchants for an acquirer should record each check. See card scheme monitoring programs and KYC vs KYB. Keeping disputes low with pre-chargeback alerts is the best way to stay off the list.