Systems and Methods for Rating Merchants

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016267406-A1
Application number	US-201514642745-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 9, 2015
Priority date	Mar 9, 2015
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for rating merchants in different industries, based on transaction data for the merchants and relative to multiple other merchants within same industries as the merchants to be rated. A merchant to be rated is initially identified (e.g., from a request, etc.), along with an industry with which the merchant is associated. Transaction data for the merchant is then accessed from a payment network. The transaction data includes data relating to both payment transactions and chargeback transactions to the merchant over a time interval. Next, a score for the merchant is generated based on at least a number of the chargeback transactions to the merchant during the time interval, and on transaction data for multiple other merchants within the same industry as the merchant. The resulting score is then associated with a risk rating for the merchant, thereby providing an indicator of the merchant's reliability.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method for use in rating a merchant, based on transaction data for the merchant and relative to multiple other merchants within a same industry as the merchant, the method comprising:
identifying, at a computing device, a merchant to be rated and an industry with which the merchant is associated; accessing, from a payment network, transaction data associated with the merchant, the transaction data including chargebacks to the merchant during a predefined interval; generating, at the computing device, a score for the merchant, the score based on at least the chargebacks to the merchant during the predefined interval and transaction data for multiple other merchants within the same industry as the merchant; associating the score, at the computing device, to a risk rating for the merchant, thereby providing an indicator of the merchant's reliability; and publishing, at the computing device, the risk rating for the merchant.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the score for the merchant includes weighting the chargebacks to the merchant based on the industry of the merchant.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein associating the score to the rating for the merchant includes:
comparing the score to at least one predefined score; and assigning the rating based on the comparison.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising generating the at least one predefined score, based on the transaction data for the multiple other merchants.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the score for the merchant includes generating the score for the merchant based on at least a ratio of chargebacks to the merchant during multiple intervals within the predefined interval.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the multiple intervals within the predefined interval include a first interval, and a second interval longer than the first interval; and
wherein the ratio of chargebacks includes a ratio of a total number of chargebacks during the first interval and total number of chargebacks during the second interval.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first interval and the second interval at least partially overlap.

8 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the ratio of chargebacks includes a ratio of chargebacks during the same interval.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the score for the merchant includes generating the score for the merchant based on at least a ratio of chargebacks to the merchant and payment transactions to the merchant within the predefined interval.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, at the computing device, a request to rate the merchant, from a customer associated with the merchant;
wherein identifying the merchant is based on the received request; and wherein publishing the risk rating for the merchant includes transmitting the risk rating to the customer.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the risk rating for the merchant is selected from the group consisting of a numerical value and graphical image.

12 . A system for use in rating merchants in different industries, based on transaction data for the merchants and relative to multiple other merchants within the same industries as the merchants to be rated, the system comprising:
a data structure configured to store transaction data for merchants, the transaction data including payment transactions to the merchants and chargeback transactions to the merchants; and at least one processor coupled to the data structure, the at least one processor configured to:
generate a score for a first merchant, based on a number of chargebacks to the first merchant during a predefined interval and based on an industry for the first merchant;
generate a score for a second merchant, based on a number of chargebacks to the second merchant during the predefined interval and based on an industry for the second merchant, the industry for the second merchant different from the industry for the first merchant;
associate the score for the first merchant to a rating for the first merchant; and
associate the score for the second merchant to a rating for the second merchant;
whereby the rating for the first merchant is different from the rating for the second merchant, even when the number of chargebacks to the first merchant is the same as the number of chargebacks to the second merchant.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
assign a first weight to the number of chargebacks to the first merchant based on the industry for the first merchant, in connection with generating the score for the first merchant; and assign a second weight, different from the first weight, to the number of chargebacks to the second merchant based on the industry for the second merchant, in connection with generating the score for the second merchant.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
compare the score for the first merchant to a first rating scale and determine the rating for the first merchant based on the comparison; and compare the score for the second merchant to a second rating scale and determine the rating of the second merchant based on the comparison.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the first rating scale is the same as the second rating scale.

16 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
generate the first rating scale, based on transaction data for multiple merchants in the same industry as the first merchant; and generate the second rating scale, based on transaction data for multiple merchants in the same industry as the second merchant, the second rating scale being different from the first rating scale.

17 . A non-transitory computer readable media including executable instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
identify a merchant to be rated and an industry with which the merchant is associated; access transaction data for the merchant from a payment network, the transaction data including payment transactions and chargeback transactions to the merchant during a predefined interval; generate a score for the merchant, based on a number of chargeback transactions during the predefined interval and based on the industry for the merchant; associate the score for the merchant to a risk rating for the merchant, thereby providing an indicator of the merchant's reliability; and publish the risk rating for the merchant.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 17 , wherein the computer executable instruction, when executed by the at least on processor, further cause the at least one processor to:
assign a weight to the number of chargeback transactions to the merchant during the predefined interval, based on the industry for the merchant, in connection with generating the score for the merchant.

19 . The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 17 , wherein the computer executable instruction, when executed by the at least on processor, further cause the at least one processor to compare the score for the merchant to a rating scale and determine the rating for the merchant based on the comparison.

20 . The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 17 , wherein the computer executable instruction, when executed by the at least on processor, further cause the at least one processor to generate the

Assignees

• Mastercard International Inc

Inventors

• Bodo Loralee
• Granoff Adam
• Villars Curtis
• Iannace Marianne

Classifications

• G06Q10/0635 Primary

  Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities · CPC title