OMS Guidance - Becoming a Merchant

Applicability: University of Washington

Guidance Title: OMS Guidance - Becoming a Merchant

PDF Version: OMS-guidance.pdf

Purpose

This process provides direction on how to become a University Merchant for accepting payment cards. The procedures and guidelines in this document are in support of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) and Administrative Policy Statement (APS) 35.1

Scope

This process applies to any University merchant wishing to accept payment cards.

Becoming A Merchant

To accept payment cards, a University entity must first apply with the Office of Merchant Services (OMS) for an Elavon Merchant ID (MID) at the OMS – Becoming a Merchant website. Prior to applying, a prospective merchant must review PCI DSS rules and familiarize themselves with the Merchant Responsibility requirements at the OMS – Policy and Procedure website.

The prospective University merchant should have the following information collected prior to applying:

  • A Doing Business As (DBA) name for your merchant – See Appendix: DBA Naming Convention at the end of this document
  • Name and contact information for the primary person that OMS will work with on all topics related to accepting payment cards, such as inventory, merchant issues, reconciliation, and OMS assessments
  • Name and contact information for the business owner if different from the primary contact. The business owner assumes all responsibility for ensuring OMS policies, procedures and standards are followed.
  • The phone number, email address and physical address of the merchant. This information will be provided on all customer receipts.
  • Description of the business purpose for accepting payment cards.
  • The budget number and FAS revenue code for the prospective merchant.
    • Any fees, costs, or revenue related to payment card activity will be collected or credited to these codes.
    • If the purpose of the merchant is to facilitate the collection of donations, a gift budget must be used and requires review and approval from Advancement Operations – please contact Gift Services at 5-9860 or email giftdata@uw.edu
    • To identify your FAS revenue code, look up the revenue & source code list and use the account code that is closest to the primary source of revenue. Contact the Financial Reporting Group via email (accountg@uw.edu) for questions about how best to record revenue.
  • A list of products and services that will be offered including:
    • The estimated average dollar amount per sale
    • The estimated highest dollar amount per sale
    • The estimated number of highest dollar sales the prospective merchant will have annually
    • The estimated dollar amount of average monthly sales
    • The estimated dollar amount annual sales
  • Hours of operation
  • Months of operation if seasonal
  • Method of payment acceptance. Due to payment card requirements, you may have to open separate MIDS for each form of payment acceptance.
    • E-commerce
    • Card Present
    • Mail or Telephone
  • For e-commerce, your request to be a merchant will be forwarded to our e-commerce team to begin our TouchNet evaluation process.
  • For all prospective merchants accepting payment cards in-person (Point of Sale or Self-service Kiosk) or in card-not-present situations (mail, donation form, or phone), a P2PE payment card terminal must be used.
    • See Payment card acceptance procedure on the Merchant Services website for more information on terminals and payment methods.

Appendix: DBA Naming Convention

In order to maintain consistency, a merchant will use the following convention when creating a DBA name:

  • Maximum of 25 characters including spaces
  • Numbers, spaces, hyphens, and capital letters only
  • Begin your DBA with a location identifier from the following list
    • UWMC Locations:
      • UWMC
      • UWP
      • UWNC (UW Neighborhood Clinic)
      • HMC
      • NWHMC (Northwest Hospital Medical Center)
    • UWB (UW Bothell)
    • UWT (UW Tacoma)
    • All other locations on Campus
      • UW

Examples:

  • UWMC PLAZA CAFE
  • UWMC TRIANGLE GARAGE
  • UWB COFFEE SHOP
  • UW GATEHOUSE 2-1
  • UW SOM SURGERY
  • UW SOD (School of Dentistry)

Links

Administrative Information

Version: 1.1

Superseded Standards: None

Date Established: Jul 24, 2019

Date Effective: Apr 4, 2022

Next Review Date: Apr 4, 2023

Approved by: Kevin Doar – Director, Office of Merchant Services

Contact: Office of Merchant Services – pcihelp@uw.edu