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Manage the full lifecycle of Merchant IDs (MIDs) for your card-linked programs. Onboard, offboard, and reassign MIDs to control where you receive transaction data.


Merchant IDs (MIDs)

What is a MID

A Merchant ID (MID) is a unique identifier assigned to a physical or online merchant location by their payment processor. This identification number is crucial for the payment ecosystem to function properly.

Key functions of a MID:

  • 🏪 Location identifier: Each MID is associated with a specific merchant location, not the brand as a whole
  • 💰 Payment routing: Enables payment processors to route funds to the correct merchant account
  • 📍 Transaction attribution: Transmitted with cardholder information to ensure accurate transaction reconciliation
  • 🔍 Data tracking: Allows card-linked programs to identify and track transactions at specific merchant locations

💡 Think of it as an address: Without a MID, the payment networks wouldn't know where to send the merchant's money. In card-linked programs, MIDs enable you to receive transaction data from specific merchant locations enrolled in your program.

For more information, see the Locations/Merchant Onboarding FAQs.


View and manage Merchant IDs (MIDs) onboarded for your program by selecting a Program from the Programs page. This opens the 'Merchant IDs' tab in the Fidel Dashboard.

Merchant IDs

All onboarded MIDs for the selected program are displayed on this page. You can also retrieve this information via the API: Get MID | List MIDs


Onboard MID

Onboard MIDs to existing locations via the Create MID Request API or the Fidel Dashboard. Learn more about what is a MID request.

Dashboard Walkthrough

Step-by-step:

  1. Navigate to Programs - Select your program from the Programs page to open the Merchant IDs tab
  2. Initiate onboarding - Click + Onboard MID in the upper right
  3. Select location - Choose the brand and location where you want to onboard the MID, then click Next
  4. Choose MID origin - Select the appropriate origin from the dropdown (see table below for descriptions)
  5. Enter MID details - Select the card network and enter the MID value
  6. Submit - Click Done to create the request

MID Origin Types

OriginDescription
Missing transaction lookupA transaction was made at an onboarded location and the MID was identified from the transaction data (most accurate).
Manual lookupFidel support manually looked up the card network MID for an onboarded location through the card networks.
Brand providedThe MID was provided directly by the brand/merchant.
Processor providedThe MID was provided by the payment processor or acquirer (e.g., Stripe, Adyen).
Third-party providedA third-party service (e.g., Incubit) sourced the MID for the location.

⏱️ Processing Time: MID requests are processed asynchronously and typically take up to 7 days to complete due to card network constraints.


Offboard MID

Offboard a MID via the Create MID Request API with the action 'offboard', or via the Fidel Dashboard.

Dashboard Walkthrough

Step-by-step:

  1. Locate MID - Find the MID you want to offboard in the Merchant IDs list
  2. Open actions menu - Click the three dots next to the relevant MID
  3. Select offboard - Choose Offboard MID from the dropdown menu
  4. Choose reason - Select the reason for offboarding from the dropdown
  5. Acknowledge impact - Confirm that you understand you will no longer receive transactions for this MID
  6. Submit - Click Confirm to create the offboard request

📋 Next Steps: This creates a new MID request. See the MID Requests section to track the status.


Reassign MID

Reassign a MID to a different location via the Create MID Request API with the action 'reassign', or via the Fidel Dashboard.

Dashboard Walkthrough

Step-by-step:

  1. Locate MID - Find the MID you want to reassign in the Merchant IDs list
  2. Open actions menu - Click the three dots next to the relevant MID
  3. Select reassign - Choose Reassign MID from the dropdown menu
  4. Choose reason - Select the reason for reassigning the MID
  5. Select new location - Choose the brand and location where the MID should be assigned
  6. Submit - Click Done to create the reassignment request

📋 Next Steps: This creates a new MID request. See the MID Requests section to track the status.


MID Requests

What is a MID Request

A MID request is a workflow instruction to the Fidel platform to source, remove, or re-link a card-network MID for a specific merchant location within a program.

Supported actions map to the MID lifecycle:

  • ✅ onboard: Ask Fidel to provision or ingest a MID for AMEX, Mastercard, or Visa.
  • ❌ offboard: Remove an existing MID that should no longer be associated with a location, stopping the transaction ingestion pipeline.
  • 🔄 reassign: Move an existing MID from one location to another.

📊 Request Tracking: Every request is tracked independently so you can poll for status, inspect error details, and retrieve the card-network outcome (returned MID identifiers) once processing finishes.

MID requests are displayed under the 'Requests' tab on the Dashboard. All MID requests you create to onboard, offboard, or reassign MIDs will be visible on this tab or can be retrieved via these endpoints: Get MID Request | List MID Requests

MID requests

The different statuses of MID requests are defined below:

StatusDescription
PendingThe request has been received and is queued for processing.
ProcessingThe request is currently being processed by the card networks.
SuccessfulThe request has been successfully completed and the MID has been onboarded, offboarded, or reassigned.
FailedThe request could not be completed. Check the error details for more information.

Webhooks

Subscribe to webhooks to receive real-time notifications when a MID request succeeds or fails:

  • mid-request.succeeded
  • mid-request.failed

You can also view the status on the Dashboard. To understand why a MID request failed, inspect the raw data by clicking on the failed request:

mid-request.json

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{
  "accountId": "f7a83b85-2452-4715-806c-35be51b6515b",
  "action": "onboard",
  "brandId": "50c28205-ff3c-440e-8e27-42b7770d8dd9",
  "created": "2025-10-06T16:57:44.230Z",
  "estimatedCompletionDate": "2025-10-07T16:57:44.230Z",
  "id": "317e0700-2a9e-44d3-9380-6c06c6ef3593",
  "live": true,
  "locationId": "ed8ef30e-5e33-4bf8-93eb-aaa8ee8c2de4",
  "origin": "missing-transaction-lookup",
  "programId": "a7ce6bed-efad-4582-b9c2-a583185fa39e",
  "result": {
    "error": {
      "code": "card-scheme-mid-not-found",
      "message": "Merchant not valid"
    }
  },
  "scheme": "amex",
  "seNumber": "3022430235",
  "status": "failed",
  "updated": "2025-10-06T16:57:55.033Z"
}

Error Codes

These are the error codes for failed MID requests:

Error CodeMessageDescription
card-scheme-mid-not-foundMerchant not validThe card scheme could not locate a valid MID for this merchant.
program-not-configuredClient program not configured with card schemeThe client program has not been configured with the card scheme, so the MID cannot be onboarded.
card-scheme-shared-midShared MIDThe MID provided for onboarding is a 'shared MID'. See 'Shared MIDs' in the FAQs for more information.
no-mids-foundNo MIDs were found at the card schemeThe MID provided as part of the MID request does not exist at the card network/scheme.
unexpected-errorUnexpected errorAn unexpected exception occurred during processing.