Merchant category codes

MCC 5085: Industrial Supplies, Not Elsewhere Classified

MCC 5085 is the merchant category code for industrial supplies. It tells every card network what kind of business you are, and that decides which interchange rates your sales can qualify for.

Written by Robert Day, Founder and Managing Partner of weAudit.com, previously an executive at Fifth Third Processing Solutions, later Vantiv and Worldpay, now part of Global Payments, the world’s largest card processor. Published October 2026.

MCC 5085 at a glance

5085

Name: Industrial Supplies, Not Elsewhere Classified

Distributors of industrial supplies such as bearings, fasteners, power transmission parts, tools and maintenance supplies.

Seeing it on your own card statement?

It means the business is classified as an industrial supplies distributor.

What MCC 5085 covers

MCC 5085 covers wholesale distributors of industrial supplies that do not have a more specific code: maintenance, repair and operations supplies, fasteners, bearings, power transmission parts, abrasives and similar products sold to businesses.

Code	Name	How it differs
5085	Industrial Supplies, Not Elsewhere Classified	Industrial and MRO supply distribution
5065	Electrical Parts and Equipment	Electrical and electronic components
5072	Hardware Equipment and Supplies	Hardware wholesale
5039	Construction Materials, Not Elsewhere Classified	Building materials wholesale

Why the code changes what a business pays

Industrial distributors are exactly the businesses commercial card programs were built for: business customers, purchasing cards and large invoices. The code tells the networks you sell to businesses, and the data you send with each sale decides whether you get the commercial rates you qualify for.

The code is set when the account is opened, usually by whoever filled in the application. Nobody checks it again unless you ask. A wrong code costs money on every sale for as long as the account is open, and it never appears on the statement as a fee.

Why the code matters more for B2B sellers

For wholesalers and distributors, the code is only half the story. Business, corporate and purchasing cards carry their own interchange, and the lower rates depend on Level 2 and Level 3 data reaching the card networks with every sale. On Visa corporate and purchasing cards, complete data can cut interchange by close to a full percentage point; on Visa business cards the gap is smaller, about a quarter of a point as of 2026. A correct code with incomplete data still leaves money on the table on every large invoice.

See Level 3 credit card processing, Visa’s Commercial Enhanced Data Program and the Credit Manager Toolkit.

Signs MCC 5085 may be the wrong code

Your statement shows a retail or general merchandise code
Purchasing-card invoices clear at standard rates
Large tickets downgrade on your statement
Your ERP sends card payments without line-item data

See the full merchant category code list, run your numbers with the fee calculator, or read why setup matters more than the rate you were quoted.

Common questions

What is MCC 5085?

It is the merchant category code for industrial supplies not classified elsewhere, typically business-to-business distributors.

What is the difference between 5085 and 5072?

5072 is hardware equipment and supplies. 5085 covers industrial supplies without a more specific code.

Why does Level 3 data matter for industrial distributors?

Because their customers often pay with corporate and purchasing cards, where complete Level 3 data can cut interchange by close to a full percentage point.

Can a distributor change its merchant category code?

Yes, by asking its processor, as long as the code matches what the business actually does.

Can the wrong code cost a business money?

Yes. The code decides which interchange programs a sale can qualify for, so a wrong one can cost money on every sale without ever appearing as a fee.

Send us a statement. We will check your code, and everything else.

Our first audit is free and takes about five minutes of your time. We check whether your account is coded and set up correctly, including the Level 2 and Level 3 data your business-card sales depend on, and if there is nothing to find, you will know that too.

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About this page: merchant category codes are defined by the ISO 18245 standard and published by the card networks, which occasionally add, retire or rename codes and do not always use identical names. Code names here follow Visa and Mastercard published lists, checked October 2026. Whether a code is right for a particular business depends on what it actually sells; your processor and the card networks make the final assignment.