Merchant Settings

You can use the Spending Monitor to block or allow purchases at specific merchants. You can also set rules for maximum spending limits per transaction for individual merchants.  

In this article, you’ll learn about Spending Monitor merchant settings, which allow administrators to allow or block individual merchants.

Merchant Settings overview

Using the Spending categories settings, you can allow or block purchases for categories of merchants. You may also want to specifically allow or block an individual merchant within a category. Merchant settings allow you to make these individual exceptions. 

For example, if an administrator wants to block purchases from restaurants, but make an exception to allow purchases at one restaurant or chain in particular, they would block “Restaurants” in Spending categories and allow a specific restaurant using Merchant settings.

Please be aware that you do not have to specifically allow a merchant for purchases to be successful. For example, if “Restaurants” is allowed as a spending category, all purchases at restaurants will be allowed. 

Add a Merchant Setting

You can add a Merchant Setting by going to the “Spending Monitor” tab of your administrator dashboard.

• Scroll down to the “Merchant settings” section.
• Click the blue “+ Add merchant setting” box on the right-hand side of the screen.

• In the pop-up window, select the relevant merchant from the drop-down list.
• At the bottom of the window you can choose to block or allow all transactions from the selected merchant. Alternatively, you can allow all transactions under a specified dollar amount.

If a transaction has been attempted at the merchant you are trying to add, you can also create a Merchant Setting by going to the “Transactions” tab of your administrator dashboard.

• Click “Review transaction” next to a transaction from the relevant merchant.

• In the pop-up window, click on the drop-down list under “Transaction setting” and select “Always block” or “Always allow.”

• Click the green “save” button on the right-hand side. 

What if the merchant I want to add isn’t listed?

If you are attempting to add a Merchant Setting and don’t see the merchant you’re looking for on the drop-down list, you can still add the merchant by providing us with more information.

To add a merchant that is not listed on the drop-down list, follow these steps:

• Go to the “Spending Monitor” tab of your administrator dashboard.
• Scroll down to the “Merchant settings” section.
• Click the blue “+Add merchant setting” box on the right-hand side of the screen.
• In the pop-up window, check the box next to “The merchant I’m looking for isn’t on the list!”
• Add the merchant name and any additional merchant information that will help our team locate the merchant (e.g., address, phone number, website). 

If possible, please enter the exact merchant name and information listed on the transaction dashboard. Our team will review your merchant addition request and notify you once the merchant has been added to the Spending Monitor. No further action is required.

You can also add a merchant by going to the “Transaction” tab of your administrator dashboard. 

• Click “Review” next to a transaction from the merchant you would like to add.
• In the pop-up window, click on the drop-down list under “Transaction setting” and select “Always allow” or “Always block.” 
• Click the green “Save” button on the right-hand side.

Please be aware that it can take up to a few hours for certain merchant settings to process. Once the merchant setting is in place, it will show up on your Spending Monitor, and no further action is required. 

Please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Support team if you have an urgent request to add a merchant that’s not in the drop down list.