# Pre-approved offer delivered in lender app before purchase
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/unified-installments/documentation/use-cases/mastercard-installments-program-with-merchant-participation/merchant-participation/index.md

## Merchant Participation Overview {#merchant-participation-overview}

Merchant Participation represents merchant participation and non-participation information from the Mastercard Installments program.  

For non-merchant-negotiated product codes, such as SPP (Mastercard Installment Payments P), SPS (Mastercard Installment Payments S), SBJ (Mastercard Prepaid Installment Payments H), SBK (Mastercard Prepaid Installment Payments I), and
GCS (Mastercard Installment Payments T, specific to the AP region), merchants are either automatically enrolled in or excluded from the program based on predetermined regions.

The list of territories and the respective merchant participation records are as follows:

|                                             Territory                                             | Merchant Participation record |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|
| The United States of America, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates, and Malaysia | Non-participation             |
| The United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia (AU)                                                    | Participation                 |

Note: Merchant opt-in refers to Merchant Participation with installments. Merchant opt-out refers to merchant non-participation with installments. Both terms are interchangeably used throughout.

Acquirers or their service providers, also known as acquirer processors, are responsible for submitting merchant participation records to Mastercard for product codes SPP, SPS, and GCS (Asia Pacific only).

* The SPP (Mastercard Installment Payments P) enables consumers to repay loans in four equal installments with a 0% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) and no consumer fees, including late fees.
* The SPS (Mastercard Installment Payments S) allows loan repayment in multiple equal installments over a specified period, governed by a fee schedule, APR, and tenure as determined by the Installment Program Provider (IPP).
* The GCS (Mastercard Installment Payments T) allows Consumers to repay loans in equal installments over a period and subject to a fee schedule, APR, and tenure defined by the Installment Program Provider (IPP).

<br />

For more details regarding product codes supported for various regions, refer to the \[Mastercard Installments Credential\](https://trc-techresource.mastercard.com/r/bundle/m_mcipg_en-us/page/d/en-US).   

The Merchant Participation API has the following use cases:

#### Use Case 1: Allows a registered partner to create or update merchant participation details {#use-case-1-allows-a-registered-partner-to-create-or-update-merchant-participation-details}

Acquirer can submit information on whether a merchant is participating or non-participating within the Mastercard Installments Program for respective product codes through an online [Qualtrics](https://form.mastercard.com/jfe/form/SV_bPF5Ptd17HDlXeu) form (or) through API [POST /merchants/participations](https://developer.mastercard.com/unified-installments/documentation/api-reference/mastercard-installments-services/inbound-api/index.md#apis) for the specific territories.

API Reference: `POST /merchants/participations`

Note: For MID merchant participation in the AU market, the `merchantGroup` field must be provided mandatorily during merchant participation information submission by the acquirer. This two-digit/char, uppercase only alphanumeric identifier serves as a merchant category classifier, enabling Mastercard to determine the appropriate dynamic MAID value to be included in the authorization response. This dynamic MAID value is crucial in supporting differentiated pricing structures meant for the specified territory.

#### Use Case 2: Provides status of merchant participation updates {#use-case-2-provides-status-of-merchant-participation-updates}

Enables IPPs or acquirers to retrieve a list of merchants with their participation status in the Mastercard Installments Program.

API Reference: `GET /merchants/participations`

#### Use Case 3: Allows registered partners to search only specific merchant participation information {#use-case-3-allows-registered-partners-to-search-only-specific-merchant-participation-information}

The registered partners can search MID (Merchant ID assigned by the Acquirer) for a given merchant.  

Refer to the relevant section for more information on the API option.

API Reference: `POST /merchants/mids/searches`

#### Use Case 4: Allows registered partners to search and retrieve merchants and participation info along with status of effectuating the submission {#use-case-4-allows-registered-partners-to-search-and-retrieve-merchants-and-participation-info-along-with-status-of-effectuating-the-submission}

Allows registered partners, such as acquirer and IPPs to search and retrieve merchant participation info and effectuation status of submission by passing either merchant name or country code or Acquirer ICA.

API Reference: `POST /merchants/searches`

Note: In addition to credit installments product codes (SPP, SPS, GCS), there are corresponding prepaid installments product codes (SBJ, SBK). These prepaid codes are currently supported only in select markets, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).  
Additionally, SBJ and SBK are exclusively available in Malaysia, while GCS is specific to the Asia Pacific region.

### Merchant Participation in Non-negotiated Product Code Records {#merchant-participation-in-non-negotiated-product-code-records}

Merchants are automatically enrolled in or excluded from Mastercard Installments program product codes (SPP, SPS, GCS, SBJ, and SBK) based on their territory.  

Acquirers must explicitly opt-out any merchants, who do not wish to provide Mastercard-powered Installment payment options to their customers.

### Workflow {#workflow}

![merchantparticipation-opt-out](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/unified-installments/uploads/merchantparticipation-opt-out.png)

##### Register for the Mastercard Installments Program {#register-for-the-mastercard-installments-program}

1. The acquirer sets up the Mastercard Installments Program.
2. The Issuer sets up IPP, account ranges, a business relationship, and product code.
3. The IPP sets up a business relationship and product code.
4. The IPP receives wallet data with merchant participation and non-participation information only when it is configured for wallet data, based on a request placed with Mastercard. Otherwise, it does not receive wallet data or fields. Note: Mastercard does not provide wallet data to every onboarded IPP. Requests are reviewed case by case.
5. Merchant participation records can be retrieved either through the API or by file transfer. The IPP must be onboarded to the API or file transfer, whereas the acquirer onboards only to the API.   
   **The merchant submits participation or non-participation information, which differs by territory**
6. The merchant informs the acquirer/ acquirer service provider about their participation in the program for product codes SPP and/or SPS.
7. Pass the following merchant records of Merchant Participation:
   * For merchants identified by MID / MAID, the acquirer / acquirer service provider uploads the participation or non-participation merchant records through the [Qualtrics survey](https://form.mastercard.com/jfe/form/SV_bPF5Ptd17HDlXeu) or the [POST /merchants/participations](https://developer.mastercard.com/unified-installments/documentation/api-reference/mastercard-installments-services/inbound-api/index.md#apis) API endpoint.
     API Reference: `POST /merchants/participations`

8. Mastercard processes the Merchant Participation or non-participation requests.
9. Mastercard informs the processing result to the submitter - acquirer/ acquirer service provider.   
   **Acquirer/ IPP requests Merchant Participation status**
10. The IPP, acquirer/acquirer service provider can fetch Merchant Participation lists on demand by calling the [GET /merchants/participations API](https://developer.mastercard.com/unified-installments/documentation/api-reference/mastercard-installments-services/inbound-api/index.md#apis) using Mastercard Developers.  
    IPP receives MAID and MID merchant participation records at the territory level whereas acquirer receives its merchant's MID merchant participation records only.  
    Mastercard returns the merchant participation records.
    API Reference: `GET /merchants/participations`

11. The acquirer will have the option to search by MID to retrieve detailed Merchant Participation submission status by calling [POST /merchants/mids/searches](https://developer.mastercard.com/unified-installments/documentation/api-reference/mastercard-installments-services/inbound-api/index.md#apis).
    API Reference: `POST /merchants/mids/searches`

12. Acquirers / IPPs can now leverage the [POST /merchants/searches](https://developer.mastercard.com/unified-installments/documentation/api-reference/mastercard-installments-services/inbound-api/index.md#apis) endpoint to efficiently retrieve detailed Merchant Participation information, including submission effectuation status, by utilizing the search criteria, such as merchant identifier, Acquirer ICA, or country.
    API Reference: `POST /merchants/searches`

13. Alternatively, the IPP can specifically onboard with Mastercard to receive merchant participation info by country information through the file transfer. Mastercard has regular daily schedules to push up-to-date information through this file.
14. Mastercard initiates the transfer of the merchant participation file.
15. The IPP fetches the merchant participation file and can use this merchant participation information to show the end consumer where they can pay using Installment Credentials supported by Mastercard.

## Consumer purchase journey based on the merchant participation {#consumer-purchase-journey-based-on-the-merchant-participation}

Once installment credentials are issued to the consumer for the Mastercard Installments Program, a consumer can shop at any merchant that accepts Installment Credentials. Mastercard checks the merchant's participation in the Mastercard Installments Program and, when the merchant participates in installments, sends an authorization request to the issuer.

### Consumer purchase journey for Merchant Participation records {#consumer-purchase-journey-for-merchant-participation-records}

The following steps describe installment transaction authorization for these product codes:

* Mastercard **Credit** Installments Program product codes, such as
  * SPP (Mastercard Credit Installment Payments P)
  * SPS (Mastercard Credit Installment Payments S)
  * GCS (Mastercard Installment Payments T), specific to the Asia Pacific territory
* Mastercard **Prepaid** Installments Program product codes, such as
  * SBJ (Mastercard prepaid Installment Payments H)
  * SBK (Mastercard prepaid Installment Payments I) are potentially KSA and UAE market-specific

All the above credit and prepaid product codes follow either participation or non-participation flow.

#### Workflow: Merchant Participation and non-participation flow {#workflow-merchant-participation-and-non-participation-flow}

Diagram installment-transaction-authorization-opt-in-sppsps

1. The consumer uses the installment credential in the merchant checkout for purchases within the installment plan limits.
2. The merchant submits the transaction to the acquirer.
3. The acquirer submits the authorization request for the transaction to Mastercard.
4. Mastercard checks Merchant Participation in the Mastercard Installments Program.
   API Reference: `GET /merchants/participations`

5. If the merchant has opted out, Mastercard declines the authorization and informs the Issuer with a reason code.
6. Mastercard informs the acquirer that the transaction is declined with the decline reason code.
7. The acquirer informs the merchant that the payment has failed.
8. The merchant displays the transaction failed message to the consumer.
9. If the merchant has not opted out (that is 'opted-in'), Mastercard sends the authorization request to the Issuer.
10. The Issuer applies the spend controls and limits.
11. The Issuer authorizes the transaction and sends the response to Mastercard.
12. The acquirer receives the authorization response from Mastercard.
13. The acquirer sends the authorization response to the merchant.
14. The merchant displays the payment confirmation to the consumer. The consumer receives the goods and services. The consumer also receives notification from the IPP that the purchase was made using the installment plan.