Level 3 Data

Also called CEDP, Commercial Enhanced Data Program, L3 data, Level III, Product 3, line-item detail

Line-item detail passed with a commercial card sale - items, quantities, unit costs, shipping - that unlocks the cheapest B2B interchange available. On Visa it is now called Commercial Enhanced Data Program Product 3.

What it is

Level 3 includes everything in Level 2 plus full line-item detail: ship-from and destination ZIP codes, invoice and order numbers, item product or commodity codes, item descriptions, quantities, units of measure, unit cost, extended item amounts, discount amounts, and freight and duty. On Visa it is no longer called Level 3. The Commercial Enhanced Data Program replaced Level 2, Level 3 and Large Ticket (Non-GSA), and the enhanced-data categories are now Product 3. Mastercard still uses Level 3. Amex has no comparable program and Discover has none at all. How much it is worth on Visa depends heavily on which commercial card is presented, and this is the part that is usually stated wrong. Visa prices purchasing and corporate cards on one table and small-business credit cards on a separate one with five spend tiers. The gap between the enhanced-data category and the standard one is large on the first table and several times smaller on the second. Same configuration work, very different return - so which cards your customers actually present decides whether the integration is worth doing. Since 17 October 2025 Visa validates the data rather than merely accepting it. Placeholder and templated line items - a generic description, a repeated commodity code - are reported not to qualify. A gateway that fills the fields with filler will look configured and earn nothing. There is also a cost side that is regularly omitted: CEDP carries a participation fee on eligible commercial card transactions. Any saving quoted without netting that out is overstated. The delivery constraint is what makes this an advisory service rather than a checkbox. Terminals generally cannot capture these fields - it requires a gateway or an ERP integration. NMI ships Level III Advantage inside its gateway; Fortis calls out Level 2/3 as a core capability. The actual work is mapping the merchant's line-item fields from their invoicing or ERP system into the gateway, which usually takes two to six hours, followed by test transactions and a 30-day interchange qualification report to prove it. We do not reprint interchange rates. They change every April and October, and a figure copied into a reference page is wrong within months - see the source below for the current schedule.

Why it matters to your business

This is the single biggest verifiable save in this glossary for a B2B merchant. A distributor running a large share of turnover through commercial cards is putting serious volume through commercial interchange, and a day of configuration work is usually the highest-return thing available to them. The number is worth calculating from their own statement rather than from an illustration. And it's provable both directions. Pull the interchange qualification report before, implement, pull it again at 30 days. Almost nothing else in payments produces a documented before-and-after like that.

Where it gets contested

The gap between how much Level 3 saves and how rarely it's implemented is the clearest evidence that the SMB channel optimizes for its own economics rather than the merchant's. One day of work saves a mid-size B2B merchant thousands of dollars a year. It is verifiable from documents the merchant already has. It requires no processor switch if the gateway can be moved. And it is essentially undelivered across large parts of the market, because it takes technical effort, generates no residual by itself unless it's priced as a service, and reduces revenue for anyone billing the merchant on tiered pricing. The honest complications, since this deserves both sides. Capture depends on how completely the merchant's system populates line-item fields - any capture figure quoted up front is a planning estimate, not a guarantee. Some ERPs make the mapping painful. And a merchant with low commercial-card share won't see much regardless of effort. But none of that explains 'nobody ever mentioned it.' The reason for that is simpler: your processor knows exactly what percentage of your volume is commercial card, because they process it, and telling you is a decision.

How to check it yourself

Look at your statement for interchange categories containing Commercial, Corporate, Purchasing, Business, GSA or Fleet, and total that volume. That volume is what any estimate should be calculated against, and you should ask to see the assumptions. Then ask your processor two questions: can my gateway pass Level 3, and can you show me an interchange qualification report before and after enabling it?

Receipts

Claims above that are checkable, with where to check them. Published so you do not have to take anyone's word for it.

Level 3 requires ship-from and destination ZIPs, invoice and order numbers, commodity codes, item descriptions, quantities, units of measure, unit cost and freight
swipesum.com ↗
Visa's 18 April 2026 schedule prices Commercial Product 3 on the Purchasing and Corporate T&E table and Business Product 3 on a separate five-tier Business credit table; the enhanced-data gap is substantially larger on the former
usa.visa.com ↗
Business Product 1, 2 and 3 are interchange categories tied to enhanced data and how the transaction is submitted, not to card tiers
cardfellow.com ↗
CEDP replaced Level 2, Level 3 and Large Ticket (Non-GSA); Visa began validating enhanced data on 17 October 2025 and placeholder or templated data no longer qualifies
finix.com ↗
A CEDP participation fee applies to eligible commercial card transactions, effective April 2025
beaconpayments.com ↗
NMI ships Level III Advantage for instant Level II and Level III savings on B2B and B2G transactions
nmi.com ↗