Taobao = Supermarket? Guide to Merchant Category Codes: 15 Companies in Singapore with Surprising MCCs

If you’ve ever heard credit card nerds and mile chasers yak about “MCC codes” but catch no ball, this 101 article is for you.

They’re actually referring to the merchant category code (MCC), which is a 4-digit number assigned to businesses based on what goods and/or services they sell and provide.

That sounds like boring stuff (and it is…) but knowing the MCCs can be useful for consumers too, especially if you have a credit card strategy. With the specific MCCs, you can decide which credit card to swipe, and calculate your cash back and/or air miles more accurately instead of your current “agak agak” method.

 

Contents

1. What are merchant category codes (MCCs)?
2. MCC case study #1 — RedMart and Lazada
3. MCC case study #2 — Dining at hotels
   – Dining MCCs
4. What is the MCC for online transactions?
   – Travel MCCs
5. 15 Popular brands and their unexpected MCCs

 

What’s the MCC got to do with me?

When you compared credit cards (hopefully on MoneySmart) and finally decided on one, you probably picked the “best” one after considering the categories each card rewards you cashback, air miles or rewards points for.

For example, you decided to get the Citi Cash Back card for rebates on dining, groceries and petrol. These are stuff you spend on regularly, so it was a no-brainer, right? Easy as pie.

But have you ever wondered who decides what categories your expenditure falls in? Do the oompa loompas manually go through the millions of transactions every day to make sure you’re really “dining”?

Nope.

MCCs are determined by card networks like Visa, MasterCard and American Express, who use it to decide how much to charge the businesses for accepting credit card payments (interchange fee). That sounds like it should be none of our business, but it just so happens that banks use the MCCs to categorise our spending. Now you’ve got our attention, because these spending categories affect our credit card rewards.

There is a specific code for all types of goods and services—you can refer this list of MCCs, compiled by Citibank.

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But aren’t MCCs quite straightforward?

Yes, most of the time, it is. The same way roses are red and violets are blue, Esso is a petrol kiosk and NTUC Fairprice is a supermarket.

However, there are grey areas and it can get confusing for some merchants…like RedMart (or should we say, Lazada).

Confusing MCC case study #1: RedMart and Lazada

When RedMart was still RedMart.com, it was clearly categorised as a supermarket. But now that it’s been bought over by Lazada, will your RedMart-Lazada purchase still be considered as “groceries”?

Initially, I thought it would stamp-plus-chop be under Lazada’s MCC of 5311 (Department Stores). But if you check your statement, you’d realise that they actually separate the RedMart-Lazada and regular Lazada orders.

… and according to the experts of HardwareZone, the RedMart-only purchase will still qualify as groceries (MCC 5411 Grocery Stores, Supermarkets). 

So although there’s no official answer, from what we know, you’re probably safe if you want your RedMart purchase to count as a grocery-type expenditure—even if you bought it on Lazada.

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How do I check the MCC?

The RedMart-Lazada case isn’t the only one that’s confusing. And unfortunately, there is no “official” way to check MCCs.

While there is a list of MCCs, there is no list that matches them to the businesses in Singapore. The only way is to check directly with the business or bank, but chances are, they won’t be bothered to reply you.

Figuring out MCCs is quite tedious business—most people simply work backwards, guessing the MCC based on the number of rewards points they were awarded for the amount they spent.

For example, let’s say you spend $400 on a hotel buffet for your family, hoping that it’ll be classified as “local dining” so you can earn 5X rewards on your credit card.

1. If you get 2,000 rewards points, then the MCC falls under dining.

2. If you only got 400 rewards points, then the MCC is probably under the hotel/travel umbrella.

 

Confusing MCC case study #2: Dining within hotels

The latter isn’t that surprising: Hotel restaurants may not count as “dining” because they are located within a hotel, whose main business is lodging and may hence have a different MCC. Plus, the bank wouldn’t know anything about the nature of your expenditure—all they know is that a hotel (say, Shangri-La) charged you $400.

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ALSO READ: Best Buffets Singapore: Carousel, Colony, Edge, Peppermint, The Line Buffet Prices

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It’s also worthy to note that the card networks assign the MCCs separately. Since there is no standardisation, these categorisation may differ between Visa, MasterCard and etc. Typically, for an expenditure to qualify as “dining”, it must be made at a merchant with the following MCCs:

Typical dining MCCs:

Dining MCCs	Description
MCC 5811	Caterers
MCC 5812	Eating Places, Restaurants
MCC 5814	Fast Food Restaurants

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What is the MCC for online transactions?

Thanks to the rise of e-commerce, more and more cards are rewarding customers for making online transactions nowadays. So you might be wondering what MCC to look out for if your card benefit is for online shopping.

However, “online” is not a business category per se—it’s not a good or service to be sold! So there is no MCC for it specifically. It’s just a type of transaction, and generally, it includes any transaction made online.

Sad to say, one common exclusion for this spending category is travel. Some credit cards exclude travel-related spending, so you might not be able to earn bonus rewards for swiping your expensive flights and hotel bookings.

These are the common travel MCCs:

Travel MCCs	Description
MCC 300 to 3350	Airlines, air carriers
MCC 4511	Airlines, air carriers (not elsewhere classified)
MCC 3351 to 3500	Car rental agencies
MCC 7512	Car rental agencies (not elsewhere classified)
MCC 3501 to 3999	Lodging – hotels, motels, resorts
MCC 7011	Lodging – hotels, motels, resorts (not elsewhere classified)
MCC 4112	Passenger railways
MCC 4411	Cruise lines
MCC 4722	Travel agencies and tour operators
MCC 5962	Direct marketing – travel-related arrangement services

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Top 15 popular merchants and their unexpected MCCs

I did some research online and surveyed the mile chasers around me to compile this list of merchants and their MCCs.

Merchant	MCC	Description
Lazada	MCC 5311	Department Stores
RedMart (via Lazada)	MCC 5411	Grocery Stores, Supermarkets
Qoo10	MCC 5699	Accessory and Apparel Stores—Miscellaneous
Shopee	MCC 5699	Accessory and Apparel Stores—Miscellaneous
Ez Buy	MCC 5691	Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores
Taobao app	MCC 5311	Department Stores
Taobao website	MCC 5411	Grocery Stores, Supermarkets
GrabPay	MCC 7399	Business Services Not Elsewhere Classified
Grab rides	MCC 4121	Taxicabs and Limousines
GrabFood	MCC 5499	Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines
FoodPanda	MCC 5499	Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines
Deliveroo	MCC 5499	Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines
iShopChangi	MCC 4582	Airports, Airport Terminals, Flying Fields
Duty Free Shopping at Changi Airport	MCC 5309	Duty Free Stores
Don Don Donki	MCC 5411	Grocery Stores, Supermarkets
Tokyu Hands	MCC 5311	Department Stores

As mentioned above, there is no official confirmation on this, and the below MCCs are based on my research from forums, as well as the newly launched community-driven site, www.WhatCard.sg.

In other words, they could also be wrong…But they’re most likely correct, lah. Feel free to ping us with any corrections to improve this list.

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MCCs for online shopping & marketplaces (Qoo10, Lazada, EzBuy, Taobao and more)

Merchant	MCC	Description
Lazada	MCC 5311	Department Stores
RedMart (via Lazada)	MCC 5411	Grocery Stores, Supermarkets
Qoo10	MCC 5699	Accessory and Apparel Stores—Miscellaneous
Shopee	MCC 5699	Accessory and Apparel Stores—Miscellaneous
EzBuy	MCC 5691	Men’s and Women’s Clothing Stores
Taobao app	MCC 5311	Department Stores
Taobao website	MCC 5411	Grocery Stores, Supermarkets

There’s no MCC for online marketplace platforms, so they all kind of fall into different categories. Lazada is a department store, Qoo10 is an accessory and apparel store, while EzBuy is just “men’s and women’s clothing”.

These are mostly the same as retail shopping stores, so they’re likely to fall under online spending, shopping and online shopping.

The funny one is Taobao—according to WhatCard, there is difference between the Taobao app and website. If you order on mobile, it’s considered a department store. But if you order on your computer, it’s actually…a supermarket.

Yup. If that’s true, your cart of $4 dresses and $0.50 knick-knacks will count as grocery shopping.

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MCCs for Grab services (GrabPay, GrabFood and Grab rides)

Merchant	MCC	Description
GrabPay	MCC 7399	Business Services Not Elsewhere Classified
Grab rides	MCC 4121	Taxicabs and Limousines
GrabFood	MCC 5499	Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines

Since they have so many services, you may be wondering what the MCCs are for Grab.

For Grab rides and GrabFood, it’s quite straightforward. However, there’s a lot of speculation about GrabPay.

Some people think it may be considered stored value or quasi cash, but WhatCard says it’s “business services not elsewhere classified”. I have no idea who is right—@Grab, what say you?

Personally, I don’t think it matters because GrabPay is in all likelihood big enough for banks to just consider it a stored value top-up to be excluded at their discretion. Most credit cards don’t earn you cashback on stored value top-ups, with some exceptions being the UOB Absolute Cashback Card and Amex True Cashback Card.

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MCCs for food delivery apps (GrabFood, FoodPanda and Deliveroo)

Merchant	MCC	Description
GrabFood	MCC 5499	Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines
FoodPanda	MCC 5499	Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines
Deliveroo	MCC 5499	Miscellaneous Food Stores–Convenience Stores, Markets, Specialty Stores, and Vending Machines

It would seem most food delivery apps have the same MCC. It’s considered a convenience store of sort, so they may not be considered dining.

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MCCs for duty-free shopping at Changi Airport (and iShopChangi)

Merchant	MCC	Description
iShopChangi	MCC 4582	Airports, Airport Terminals, Flying Fields
Duty Free Shopping at Changi Airport	MCC 5309	Duty Free Stores

Changi Airport is interesting too—although the physical duty-free shop in Changi Airport is considered a “duty free store”, carting out online via iShopChangi is not.

That one seems to be considered a transaction with the airport, and will not earn you any rewards.

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MCCs for Japanese department stores (Don Don Donki and Tokyu Hands)

Merchant	MCC	Description
Don Don Donki	MCC 5411	Grocery Stores, Supermarkets
Tokyu Hands	MCC 5311	Department Stores

Lastly, I checked the MCCs for these 2 Japanese mega stores. They’re super popular, and I always wondered what they’d be classified as.

It seems that Don Don Donki is a supermarket, while Tokyu Hands is just a department store.

 

Share this article with your friends and family who are mapping out their credit card strategies. The game is on!