Merchant

Should you onboard this merchant, or keep processing for it? Ward screens the business and its owners, checks WMID, reads the website against the declared category, and weighs volume and dispute rates.

Type: merchant · Endpoint: POST /api/v1/merchants/review

Request

curl https://api.mandatelabs.ai/api/v1/decide \
  -H "X-API-Key: $WARD_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type": "merchant", "input": {"name": "Nova Supplements LLC", "mcc": "5499", "country": "USA", "website": "https://novasupps.example",
       "incorporated_on": "2026-07-14", "declared_monthly_volume": 40000,
       "owners": [{"name": "Daniel Ross", "date_of_birth": "1984-02-11", "country": "USA", "ownership": 100}],
       "observed": {"monthly_volume": 165000, "chargeback_rate": 0.018, "refund_rate": 0.07}, "stage": "monitoring"}}'

d = client.decide("merchant", {"name": "Nova Supplements LLC", "mcc": "5499", "country": "USA",
                               "owners": [{"name": "Daniel Ross", "ownership": 100}],
                               "observed": {"monthly_volume": 165000, "chargeback_rate": 0.018}, "stage": "monitoring"})

const d = await client.decide("merchant", { name: "Nova Supplements LLC", mcc: "5499", country: "USA",
  owners: [{ name: "Daniel Ross", ownership: 100 }], observed: { monthly_volume: 165000, chargeback_rate: 0.018 }, stage: "monitoring" });

Input

name (required), merchant_id, descriptor, country, mcc, website, incorporated_on, declared_monthly_volume, owners[] (name, date_of_birth, country, ownership), observed (monthly_volume, transactions, chargebacks, chargeback_rate, refund_rate, decline_rate), stage (onboarding or monitoring).

Factors

Factor	Weight
Business name strong / potential sanctions match	0.90 / 0.40
Owner sanctions strong / potential; owner PEP	0.85 / 0.40; 0.30
On WMID (Ward Merchant Intelligence Data)	0.60
FATF call-for-action / increased-monitoring country	0.50 / 0.25
Chargeback rate ≥ 1% (≥ 1.5% with 100+ chargebacks)	0.30 (0.45)
Volume ≥ 2x declared (≥ 4x)	0.25 (0.35)
Website sells what the MCC does not cover	0.35
Incorporated under 180 days; website registered under 180 days	0.15–0.25; 0.20
Adverse media; decline rate ≥ 20%	0.25 each
High-risk MCC; refund rate ≥ 10%	0.20 each

Factors name typologies such as K13 (transaction laundering) and K14 (bust-out merchant) where they apply. Chargeback lines are reading aids, not the card schemes' monitoring program rules.

Decision: band low → APPROVE, medium → STEP_UP, high → DECLINE. A WMID match means Ward does not recommend transacting with the merchant.