Dealing with complaints is an everyday part of doing business — and a crucial one, since not dealing with them properly can haunt your business in multiple ways. Card brand regulations require every merchant doing business online to have in place a complaint process for reporting content that may be illegal or that violates the card brand rules.

All such complaints must be reviewed and resolved within seven business days. If illegal content is found, it must be removed immediately. To support this process, merchants need to display complaint and takedown links clearly and prominently on the homepage footer of every website.

Card brand regulations require every merchant doing business online to have in place a complaint process for reporting content that may be illegal or that violates the card brand rules.

Payment providers have reached out to merchants, cautioning them that not adhering to the regulations can result in hefty fines. Still, there are some merchants who are just not there yet, so this month, we offer advice on how to quickly comply with these regulations if you are not doing so already.

Don’t Be Scared, Be Compliant!

The takedown link regulation has been an adult merchant requirement of Mastercard since October 2021. Visa followed and reiterated the requirement as part of its new Visa Integrity Risk Program (VIRP), which rolled out in April 2024. By now, Visa has audited all the acquirers supporting our industry and each one of them has received a 90-day window to ensure that all merchants have a takedown link on the footer of their website.

The link on the website homepage footer must be easily identifiable and accessible to visitors without them having to log in or make a payment. The link must take the user to a page that clearly explains your complaint policy and process, with an online form allowing users to submit complaint or content removal requests. The policy must state that complaints and requests will be reviewed and resolved within seven business days, and that if illegal content is identified, it will be removed immediately. You then need to ensure that you are resolving complaints within this time frame and provide reporting on them.

You must offer any person depicted in any content the ability to appeal any decision by you based on a claim of lack of consent. Once an appeal is triggered, you must, through a reasonable process, confirm that you obtained appropriate consent. If consent cannot be established, or if the person depicted in the content can demonstrate that the consent is void under applicable law, you must take down the content immediately. If you disagree that consent is void under applicable law, you must allow such a disagreement to be resolved by a neutral body, at your expense. As a best-practice measure, we recommend all merchants, where applicable, implement a report option on each piece of content or performer.

Nowhere to Hide

Visa is checking up by auditing all merchants to be sure that they are in compliance. Merchants without a proper complaint link and process will be subject to a VIRP fine of $25,000 or more. While the Mastercard requirements initiated in 2021 do not specifically stipulate monthly reporting, Visa’s VIRP does, requiring a resolution status for each complaint.

Even if you have not had any complaints for a month, you still must submit a “nil” report. By now, your payment provider or acquirer should have shared exactly how they expect you to handle monthly reporting. If you have not heard from them, I strongly recommend reaching out for clarification.

Your Complaint Reporting Checklist

You must report all complaints received, regardless of outcome. Although neither Visa nor Mastercard has provided specific guidance on the format of such reporting, we have developed a checklist as a guide that you can follow.

We strongly suggest that merchants report key information, like whether a complaint involves a potential consent violation, content removal request, terms of service violation, etc. The URL in question should be provided, as well as the date the complaint was received, the current resolution status and what steps were taken to resolve the complaint. Lastly, provide the details of the person submitting the report. It is important to note that all reports should be submitted by the 5th of the following month.

In a nutshell, complying with complaint takedown regulations is especially important. It is not only a Visa and Mastercard requirement, but also shows outside parties that you are actively managing your businesses and are committed to ensuring complaints are taken seriously. Plus, by being on top of the issue, you could avoid being caught in a potential content violation. Finding and addressing this type of issue before Visa and Mastercard do could save you from hefty fines!

Cathy Beardsley is president and CEO of Segpay, a merchant services provider offering a wide range of custom financial solutions including payment facilitator, direct merchant accounts and secure gateway services. Under her direction, Segpay has become one of four companies approved by Visa to operate as a high-risk internet payment services provider. Segpay offers secure turnkey solutions to accept online payments, with a guarantee that funds are kept safe and protected with its proprietary Fraud Mitigation System and customer service and support. For any questions or help, contact [email protected] or [email protected].