# Consumer Clarity for Merchants
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/ethoca-consumer-clarity-for-merchants/documentation/index.md

## Overview {#overview}

Ethoca's Consumer Clarity for Merchants brokers order information between an organization and an issuer or an organization and their customer. As a result, issuers are connected to merchant order and account history details in real time, which helps reduce disputes and friendly fraud.

* Mastercard's **First-Party Trust** program lets merchants and merchant partners provide compelling evidence to issuers to help reduce cardholder confusion and more effectively spot instances of first-party fraud. By making additional data elements available, merchants and issuers can be more confident in addressing cases of first-party fraud, which can ultimately lead to better approval rates.

* **Smart Subscriptions** lets merchants communicate directly with cardholders and instantly process subscription-related requests initiated within the banking channel. The [Merchant Actions Endpoint](https://developer.mastercard.com/ethoca-consumer-clarity-for-merchants/documentation/api-reference/index.md#apis) gives merchants greater flexibility to drive growth, retention, and re-acquisition through actions such as *Retention Offers* , *Plan Changes* , and *Pause/Resume* options, which are offered when a cardholder wants to cancel a subscription. These capabilities also help reduce disputes, declines, and chargebacks while providing merchants more control over their relationship with customers.

This guide describes how to build your API to integrate with the Ethoca Merchant Transaction API. Our resources provide your technical team with the information you need to make the data you provide accessible to the issuer or customer.

Our API and this documentation cover these types of use cases:

* Issuers, or partners on behalf of issuers, use this data to avoid chargebacks or represent against them through Clarity for the Call Center.

* Customers can view transaction information and merchant contact information in their online portal or mobile banking app when an organization has elected to participate in Ethoca's Digital Receipts.

* Cardholders can also view subscription information and modify their subscription using actions such as cancel with retention offers, change plan, pause, and resume through Smart Subscriptions.

* First-Party Trust program requirements are fulfilled for the Pre-Dispute flow, allowing merchants to send compelling evidence that supports the legitimacy of the transaction in question.

One integration into the Merchant Transaction API provides access to both the Call Center and Digital channels, including Consumer Clarity **Smart Subscriptions** , as well Mastercard's **First-Party Trust** program.

## How It Works {#how-it-works}

The Merchant Transaction API supports both Consumer Clarity, including Smart Subscriptions, and the Mastercard First-Party Trust program.

### How it works for Consumer Clarity {#how-it-works-for-consumer-clarity}

A cardholder uses an issuer's banking app or their call center to inquire about a specific transaction they made at your company. This action sends a request to you through Ethoca's Merchant Transaction API for details about the purchase.

You respond in real-time with details about the purchase and additional contact information. Ethoca tailors this information so that it can be displayed most clearly in either the digital or call center channel. We then pass the information on to the issuer.

![How it works](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/ethoca-consumer-clarity-for-merchants/documentation/img/how-it-works1.png)

### How it works for Smart Subscriptions {#how-it-works-for-smart-subscriptions}

A cardholder initiates an action for their subscriptions and provides information in the issuer banking app. A request is sent to you through Ethoca's Merchant Actions Endpoint, configured during onboarding, with the cardholder's subscription information.

You respond in real-time with options available to the cardholder, or a response that confirms that the action is completed for their subscription. Ethoca tailors the response so that it can be displayed to the cardholder clearly, and then passes it to the issuer who relays it to the cardholder. If you provided options to the cardholder, they make their selection, which is passed back to you. You then send confirmation that their subscription was modified.

![How it works](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/ethoca-consumer-clarity-for-merchants/documentation/img/how-it-works-sc1.png)

### How it works for First-Party Trust {#how-it-works-for-first-party-trust}

A cardholder opens a dispute with their issuer with a reason code of 4837 (no cardholder authorization). This is sent through the First-Party Trust engine, where historical transactions are identified. A request is sent to you for compelling evidence for the transaction in question as well as any supporting historical transactions.

The information is consumed by the First-Party Trust engine, where it is decided if liability is either shifted from you to the issuer, or liability remains with you. This information is then passed on to the issuer, who can review it with the cardholder.

![How it works for FPT](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/ethoca-consumer-clarity-for-merchants/documentation/img/how-it-works-fpt.png)

## Next Steps {#next-steps}

Now that you have an understanding of what the service does, visit [Getting Started](https://developer.mastercard.com/ethoca-consumer-clarity-for-merchants/documentation/getting-started/index.md) for an implementation guide on the onboarding process.