What to do with the new Mastercard's subscription billing rules – Raisely

Mastercard's 'rules' update in effect from March 21, 2023

Mastercard has recently revised its “Transaction Processing Rules,” aimed at providing consumers with additional clarity and transparency about subscription billing terms and to reduce billing errors.The rules apply to merchants "performing subscription billing in which the Cardholder has agreed for the Merchant to provide ongoing and/or periodic delivery of physical products or Digital Goods."

While not explicitly stated in the processing rules document, Mastercard has confirmed that recurring donations are classified as subscriptions and fall within the scope of the new rules.

Mastercard has revised its transaction processing rules as of 11 Oct 2022, making a unique provision for NFP's...

“…all requirements will now only apply to non-profit and charity merchants that are identified for at least four mounts in the ACMP.”

ACMP is a Mastercard program designed to identify and mitigate high chargeback rates amongst merchants. Nonprofits that experience high chargeback rates and are enrolled in ACMP or a similar Mastercard program are still required to follow the new rules.

For all other nonprofits, the rules are now described as “best practice recommendations” by Mastercard.

See below for an explanation of the new mandates that affect you as a not-for-profit offering reoccurring giving in Raisely.

New Rules

A confirmation email must be sent to the subscriber at the time of the initial recurring payment. This must include the full terms of the subscription, such as the total cost and frequency of charges.

Raisely has two default messages, sent to Regular Givers upon initial payment. These include the Regular Donation Welcome & Regular Donation Receipt. These are able to be customised to contain necessary information.

Merchants must send a receipt after each billing that includes clear instructions on how to cancel, unless the customer opts out.

Raisely's default receipt message contains access link to the donors account, enabling them to manage/cancel their account online.

Merchants must provide an online cancellation method or clear instructions for cancellation that are easily accessible on the merchant's website.

Donors can access their account details through their user login. Ensuring the Raisely campaign Login page is made accessible to donors is encouraged.

For recurring billings six months or more apart, merchants must notify the customer of the upcoming charge and provide cancellation information between seven and 30 days before the billing.

Though uncommon for many, yearly frequency options can be setup in Raisely's donation form. You can access necessary data with a Regular Donation Report, seeing both which Donation Schedule (referring to frequency) and Next Payment. With this data you can develop scheduled messages with Raisely or with a 3rd-party message solution.