Checking that your website accurately identifies your business

Five labels that are not the same fact

The domain, the name on the homepage, the name on the formation document, the address in a store setting, and the name in a provider application can all be true and still refer to different things. The check is whether a person reading the public site and a person reading the application would understand they are the same business. A difference is not automatically a defect. An unexplained difference is a problem you either correct or describe.

This page compares those labels. It does not collect ownership filings, and it does not tell you to put private identity documents on the storefront. A provider's application can ask for details the public page should not repeat.

The name buyers see is a card-network and provider fact

Visa's merchant-data reminder dated 15 December 2020, which says it restates Visa Rules, says the merchant name in the descriptor should be the name most prominently displayed and the name cardholders recognize, reflecting the doing-business-as name. It says the legal or registration name should not be used in that field if it is not the name presented to cardholders online. It says the name used to identify the merchant must be the name primarily used with customers, displayed on the e-commerce site, and spelled consistently on the receipt, the authorization, the clearing record, and dispute records. It also says the name must not be modified to mask the merchant's identity. This reminder is not the current complete Visa rulebook. It is the public reminder Visa published, and it does not set a character count for your descriptor.

Stripe's statement-descriptor documentation says a descriptor explains the charge on a bank statement and must reflect the doing-business-as name. Stripe says a complete descriptor contains 5 to 22 characters, at least one letter, and only Latin characters, and it excludes specific special characters. Stripe also says some banks display the descriptor incorrectly or not at all. Stripe's dispute-prevention guidance recommends a recognizable website domain or business name, easy-to-find customer-service contact information, and a separate Stripe account for each business. Use the statement-descriptor page, not the prevention page, for the character rules. The prevention page states a narrower letter count that the descriptor page does not.

If the legal name and the public name differ, record both. The descriptor follows the name buyers are shown, not a third name invented so the charge is harder to recognize. Changing the descriptor to disguise the business is the opposite of what Visa's reminder and Stripe's descriptor rule describe.

What can stay off the public page

WooCommerce's general settings say the store address is the physical location where you are based as a seller, and that tax and shipping calculations use it. That settings page does not say the address is printed on the homepage. Look at the pages a visitor actually sees before you decide the address is public. If the only accurate address is a home, do not publish it merely because the setting exists. A provider can still ask for an operating address inside an application that is not the storefront.

Stripe's business-information article says Stripe verifies business identification, including address and website ownership, bank-account information, what the business sells, and the risk level. It says that, depending on severity, the account may be unable to process payments or receive transfers until the issue is resolved, and that Stripe will tell you if that is the case. Those checks are account checks. They are not an instruction to place a government identifier or a home address on the product pages.

Prism's contact form asks for a name, an email, a role, and a message about the website, the research-only products, and the question. Company is optional. That form is not a processing application, and it tells you to leave out card details, passwords, and customer records. Do not send identity documents through it in order to prove the labels match.

What you can decide

You can decide that the public name, the domain, and the support channel match, or that you will change the page you control so they do. You can decide to describe a legal-name difference rather than hide it. You can decide which address, if any, you are willing to show publicly.

The provider decides whether the application and the site satisfy its checks. Prism's features page says a website review includes the business and contact information on the storefront and whether it consistently identifies the merchant. The review is informational. It is not a legal opinion or a compliance certificate, and it does not decide account approval. Anything a particular provider requires on the public site, beyond what you have in writing from that provider, stays unknown until that provider says so.

Business-identity comparison

Compare records you already have. Do not type a government identifier, a full card number, or a home address into this table. A difference you cannot explain is a row to resolve, not a reason to invent a new public name. Worksheet entries are not submitted by this worksheet or saved by this site. Use only non-sensitive summaries; do not enter credentials, government identifiers, card or bank-account numbers, private receipt links, or customer details.

Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.

These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. The consultation form does not include these entries.