Merchant category codes (MCCs) are four digit numbers that are used to classify different types of transactions. All businesses that accept card payments are assigned a merchant category code.
For example, supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths use the code ‘5411: Grocery Stores, Supermarkets’ whilst fast food chains like McDonald’s and Subway use ‘5814: Fast Food Restaurants’.
Knowing which MCC a business uses can be helpful for several reasons such as identifying where you can spend a merchant category gift card or determining if a credit card purchase will be treated as a cash advance.
A complete list of all available merchant category codes and their definitions are available on the Visa and Mastercard websites.
Search the Merchant Database
GCDB’s searchable Merchant Database includes the merchant category codes for a variety of Australian businesses.
The main purpose of this tool to is show all the places where you can spend merchant category gift cards (e.g. Restaurant Choice, TCN Good Food etc), hence the high number of restaurants listed.
However, new merchants are constantly being added regardless of whether they accept gift cards and wherever possible we try to include their MCCs.
If you know of any merchant category codes that we haven’t yet included, feel free to share them with us here.
Check OzBargain’s MCC list
OzBargain’s Merchant Category Codes page contains the MCCs for all sorts of businesses and government entities.
This list is the result of years of contributions by OzBargain users and now covers several hundred merchants.
It also features helpful details such as when and where the merchant category code was checked for each business.
If you want to know what MCC a major business or service uses, chances are you’ll find it here.
Use the TCN Android app
If the two resources above don’t have what you’re looking for, you can use an old TCN gift card and the TCN Android app to find out almost any business’ merchant category code.
This is possible because the Android version of the TCN app reports what MCC was used for any transaction made with a digital TCN gift card (e.g. TCN Restaurant, TCN Pamper, TCN Digital Mastercard etc).
Even declined transactions still report merchant category codes so you can use an old gift card to attempt a purchase on the business’ website or in-store by tapping your device.
The catch with this method is that it’s only possible with the TCN Android app. For some reason, the iOS version always just lists ‘PLACEHOLDER’ in the Category section for each transaction.
Ask your bank or the merchant
As a last resort, you can try asking your bank what merchant category code was used for a transaction if you’ve previously spent money there.
This isn’t a particularly reliable method as some banks aren’t willing to provide this information or it may not even be accessible to their customer support agents.
Similarly, you can also try asking the business directly what merchant category code they use. However, this isn’t something most staff would know about so they may not be able to give you an answer.