Method and system for assessing the reputation of a merchant

US12141807B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Visa International Service Association · US

Inventors

• Liang Wang · San Jose, US
• Dhruv Gelda · Mountain View, US
• Robert Brian Christensen · Saratoga Springs, US
• Wei Zhang · Shanghai, CN
• Hao Yang · San Jose, US
• Yan Zheng · Livingston, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 31, 2019
• Grant date: Nov 12, 2024
• Expiry date: Dec 12, 2039

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q40/00
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

The system and method may assess the merchant risk level on a more continuous scale rather than a binary categorization. It may produce a continuous risk score proportional to the likelihood of a merchant being risky, effectively addressing the issue of shades of gray encountered by the traditional blacklisting approach. The continuous risk score feature provides greater flexibility as it allows the payment network to make dynamic pricing decisions (known as interchange optimization) based on the merchant risk level. Using collective intelligence from transactions across the payment network, the system and method may be able to assess the merchant risk level with high accuracy. The system and method may be particularly beneficial to small merchants with low transaction volume as even a few fraudulent transactions can easily put them in the high-risk merchant category. Further, the system and method may help payment processing networks make better decision on cross-border transactions.