What an Elavon charge means

What the line is

Opened 20 October 2026. Elavon's hosted payment page says dynamic doing business as lets the merchant control the descriptor on the customer's credit card statement. The merchant can specify, for one transaction, wording that may be more recognizable than their usual business name. Elavon's example is a company that sells several magazines and wants the statement to name the publication: MANYMAG*BAKERS MONTHLY or MANYMAG*CAR DIGEST. Those are Elavon's examples. They are not a prefix you should expect on every Elavon charge.

The same page says the name is up to 25 characters. It is a constant prefix of 3, 7, or 12 characters, an asterisk, and the name the application sends. The name after the prefix can be up to 21, 17, or 12 characters, depending on how long the prefix is. Elavon's Canada XML API describes the same field, ssl_dynamic_dba, as 25 characters, and says the prefix has to be set in the DBA payment fields before that field is used.

If the business does not send a dynamic name, the contrast Elavon draws is the usual business name. The pages opened here do not print one required word such as ELAVON*. Read the publication name, the shop, or the service after the star when a star is there.

How to match it to a purchase

Search email for the words after the star and for the amount. A magazine, a donation page, or a shop can bill under a brand that is not the company on the receipt footer.

Elavon's Canada developer site and the hosted payment page describe the same 25 character field. A US card and a Canadian card can both show this shape. The pages do not print a second prefix by country.

The field can be sent on a sale, an authorization, a recurring add, an installment add, and a token. A repeating line can be the same descriptor each month. Match the amount to the plan before you treat a second month as a new shop.

If you do not recognize it

If the date and the amount do not match a receipt, an email, or a purchase someone on the card made, it may be a charge you did not allow. In the United States, use dispute a charge in the US. In Canada, use dispute a charge in Canada. A name you still cannot place is on unknown charge on a statement. The code list is on statement codes.

A similar prefix-and-star line is on Global Payments. Upload the statement on Expenvo. The PDF stays on your device. Expenvo lists the lines so you can match a short name to a date and an amount. It does not call the bank, and it does not dispute a charge.

Questions

Does Elavon print ELAVON* on the statement?

The pages opened for this guide do not print that prefix. They print a prefix the business configured, a star, and a name, up to 25 characters. The magazine examples are MANYMAG*BAKERS MONTHLY and MANYMAG*CAR DIGEST.

How long can the Elavon line be?

Elavon says the dynamic doing-business-as name is up to 25 characters. The prefix is 3, 7, or 12 characters, then a star, then the name.

Is this only a Canadian card?

Elavon documents the same field on its Canada XML API and on the hosted payment page. Neither page prints a separate US prefix. Use the name on your line.

Who do I dispute it with?

Match the name after the star and the amount first. If nobody allowed the charge, dispute it with the card issuer.

Sources

• Elavon: hosted payment page, doing business as
• Elavon Canada: XML API, dynamic DBA

Related guides

• Statement codes
• Unknown charge on a statement
• Dispute a charge in the US
• Dispute a charge in Canada
• Global Payments on a statement