Partner Developer Center

After signing up you will receive an email welcoming you to BadCustomer. This email provides you with the necessary tools and information to query the BadCustomer database, and provide BadCustomer with your chargeback data.

Querying the BadCustomer database and providing Chargeback data each require 4 simple steps. For more detailed information on these steps please click on the links in the left side navigational menu.

Querying The BadCustomer Database

  1. WHAT YOU WILL NEED
    • Your 36 character API Key that was emailed to you after signing up with BadCustomer.
    • A server with a scriptable web interface that can parse JSON or XML using PHP5 with PEAR Base and PEAR HTTP_Request package installed.
  2. QUERYING GUIDELINES
    • Review the combinations of search parameters and decide which ones you want to use when querying the BadCustomer database.
  3. INTEGRATING THE API
    • Have a developer integrate the request call to the BadCustomer API into your payment processing interface.
  4. UNDERSTANDING THE API QUERY RESULTS
    • Response code of 0 means that a Chargeback was not found in the search results and the purchase is processed as normal. A response code of 1-14 means that a Chargeback was found in the search results. From here, it is solely your responsibility to determine what action, if any, should be taken, including but not limited to whether you wish to continue with or decline a sale for a potential customer based on information you have obtained.
    • An error code of 0 means that no errors were found. An error code of 1-12 means that an error was found when searching the database.
  5. NOTIFYING YOUR CUSTOMERS OF ADVERSE ACTIONS
    • If you decide not to accept business from a customer you have found on the list, you will need to provide an Adverse Action Notice Under Section 615(a) of FCRA For Use in Non-Credit Situation. If you are re-directing the customer to the BadCustomer.com site, the Adverse Action Notice will be displayed to them on the site. If you are not re-directing customers to the BadCustomer.com site after an adverse action is taken, you will need to display the following text:
    • [Describe the adverse action taken.] This decision was based in whole or in part on information obtained in a consumer report we received from BadCustomer.com. The agency played no part in our decision and is unable to supply specific reasons why we made this decision. You have a right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to know the information contained in your credit file at the consumer reporting agency. You also have a right to a free copy of your report from the reporting agency, if you request it no later than 60 days after you receive this notice. In addition, if you find that any information contained in the report you receive is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to dispute the matter with the consumer reporting agency.

Providing Chargeback Data To The BadCustomer Database

  1. WHAT YOU WILL NEED
    • Your SFTP Site, SFTP Login ID, SFTP Password, SFTP Key, GPG Key, and the location to upload the files that was emailed to you after signing up with BadCustomer.
    • A GPG with a user interface
    • An SFTP Client
  2. FORMATTING AND ENCRYPTING YOUR FILES
    • Review and format your files according to the BadCustomer file format instructions
    • Encrypt your files using a GPG
  3. UPLOADING YOUR ENCRYPTED FILES
    • Use your SFTP Client to upload your encrypted file to the location provided in the email you received after siging up with BadCustomer.
  4. NEW DATA INTEGRATION
    • BadCustomer.com integrates new data uploads into the database nightly (midnight PST). New data submitted to BadCustomer before that time will be available for query the next business day.