Can I send multiple search requests to the Visa Merchant API ?

[Vindhya]

API: https://sandbox.api.visa.com/merchantsearch/v1/search

Currently, looks like VISA API can only take one merchantName per request?

Can it also take multiple ?

Eg: Can I send merchantName1,merchantName2,merchantName3....in a single payload and get the responses accordingly?

[API_Products]

Hey @Vindhya,

I'll take a look and get back to you soon.

[API_Products]

Hey @Vindhya, 

For Merchant Search, sandbox is used for testing purposes and you are only seeing a merchant 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.

[Vindhya]

@API_Products : Thanks for your reply. BUt let me put my question in another way.

1. ) Here is the sample request Payload where I can send only 1 merchantName. Is there any other way to send it multiple merchants say Starbucks and HomeDepo in the same payload?

{

• "searchAttrList": {
  • "merchantName": "STARBUCKS",
  • "merchantCity": "SAN FRANCISCO",
  • "merchantState": "CA",
  • "merchantPostalCode": "94127",
  • "merchantCountryCode": "840"
  },
• "responseAttrList": [
  • "GNSTANDARD"
  ],
• "searchOptions": {
  • "wildCard": [
    • "merchantName"
    ],
  • "maxRecords": "5",
  • "matchIndicators": "true",
  • "matchScore": "true",
  • "proximity": [
    • "merchantName"
    ]
  },
• "header": {
  • "requestMessageId": "Request_001",
  • "startIndex": "0",
  • "messageDateTime": "2020-06-08T18:40:32.903"
  }

2. Also, currently via the sandbox I'm only getting one matched response at a time. 

 "numRecordsMatched": 64,

 "numRecordsReturned": 1

"status": {

            "statusCode": "CDI000MAXRCW",

            "statusDescription": "Max Record Limit is:1, Please use start index to see the next set of records"

        }

Is this behaviour only in Sandbox ?

[API_Products · Accepted solution]

Hey @Vindhya,

Yes, multiple merchants can appear in the response payload. For information please visit Merchant Search documenation here - https://developer.visa.com/capabilities/merchant_search/docs

Please note that sandbox is used for testing purposes, you are not seeing more than one result in the response because this is a sandbox limitation.

Things to Know
Merchant Search helps enhance the power of your services by providing access to Visa- accepting merchant identification data that uses Visa’s transaction data, third party data, and other systematic intelligence to improve data quality across the Visa payment network.

The Merchant Search API lets clients find the merchant identification information using the acquirer provided Merchant Name and other attributes such as address and card acceptor identifiers.

Group Names

All merchants will be assigned one or more Group Name(s) that are configured with attributes. When the clients specify the Group Name in the request, the attributes assigned to such Group Name will be sent in the response.

Wildcard Search

The clients can use the wildcard search with the Merchant Name when at least the first 3 characters of the Merchant Name are known.

Max Records per Request

The clients can use the maximum record functionality to limit the number of records returned in response to each request. When maximum record is not defined, a default of up to 50 records will be sent in the response.