Information about descriptors that appear in your user's bank statements.
Overview
Descriptors allow you to provide additional information to your users about what a payment is for and who it is from. This helps your customers recognise the transaction and can reduce chargebacks, disputes or queries from customers.
How it works
A descriptor is set in one of two ways with Zai, either with a default descriptor or a custom descriptor that you pass to the relevant API object.
Default Descriptors
The following descriptors are shown by default.
Payins
- Direct debit ZAI [User name] or ZAI [Platform name], maximum of 18 characters with 13 usable.
- Credit card - ZAI*[User name] or ZAI*[Platform name], maximum of 22 characters with 18 usable.
Payouts
Australia:- International wire payout - ZAI*[Platform name], maximum characters varies depending on the recipient bank. Often 18 characters with 14 usable.
- Direct entry / direct credit - ZAI* [4 digit batch ID]: Platform name, maximum of 18 characters with 13 usable.
- Realtime payout - ZAI*[Platform Name] maximum of 280 characters with 276 usable.
- PayPal payout - ZAI*[Platform Name], maximum of 22 characters, with 18 usable.
Custom Descriptors
The following descriptors can be set using a custom value.
Payins
- Direct Debit - using the custom_descriptor field on an Item, you can change what is displayed, see Create Item for more information. Format will be ZAI*[custom_descriptor] with a maximum of 18 characters and 13 usable.
- Credit Card - using the custom_descriptor field on an Item, you can change what is displayed, see Create Item for more information. Format will be ZAI*[custom_descriptor] with a maximum of 22 characters and 18 usable.
Payouts
- Australia:
- Realtime Payout - when using the custom_descriptor field on the withdraw call of a user's wallet, you can control what appears on the bank statement. Format will be ZAI*[custom_descriptor] with a maximum of 280 characters and 200 usable.