Merchant Search API Test Data Records

[jcflash80]

Hi,

I am currently using the Merchant Search API Sandbox.  I am connected correctly and able to retrieve results.  I saw in an earlier thread that the Sandbox Test Data is not comprehensive (makes sense), but I would like to know what is in the Test Data.  I would like to test the search functionality and the wildcard functions with some real card transaction merchant strings.

Within my app dashboard I viewed the Test Data tab available.  It only shows one single record in my Merchant Search Test Data.  The record is:

searchAttrList.merchantName:  "cmu edctn materials cntr"

This record is not retrievable via the API either.  The Starbucks example works in the API Reference Guide.  Also, Walmart seems to work along with a few other random merchants I have tested.  If I can understand the limitations of the Test Data available in the Sandbox, then I will be able to test the functionality more thoroughly and quantify the potential.

Thanks,

-Jonathan

[DianaTran]

Hey @jcflash80,

We're happy to help. For Merchant Search, sandbox is used for testing purposes and you are only seeing a few merchants show up in the response because this is a sandbox limitation. Merchant’s data is limited to USA only and sandbox data is limited to a few merchants only.

All the Merchant Search API details are on the getting started guide on VDP. You could follow this link to onboard an app on VDP : https://developer.visa.com/pages/working-with-visa-apis 
Then follow the spec on the link to create an API request for MS API :  https://developer.visa.com/capabilities/merchant_search/reference 
 

[jcflash80]

Hey Diana,

Thank you for the quick reply.  I read through all the documents in the links provided that describe the API.  I still was not able to find the list of limited mock-merchants in the test data for the Merchant Search API.  Is there a way to trial the production API?  I have many merchant transaction descriptions that I would like to run through the Merchant Search API to see whether this Visa API is the appropriate solution for me.

Thanks,

-Jonathan