Merchant category codes

MCC 5818: Digital Goods, Multi-Category

MCC 5818 is a merchant category code for digital goods: downloads and digital purchases sold across several categories. Visa and Mastercard name it differently, and the codes next to it split digital goods by type.

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 5818 at a glance

5818

Visa: Digital Goods: Large Digital Goods Merchant
Mastercard: Digital Goods: Multi-Category

Used by merchants selling digital goods across categories. Single-category sellers usually belong under 5815, 5816 or 5817.

Seeing it on your own card statement?

It usually means the charge was for a digital purchase such as an app, a download, or in-app content from a large digital store.

What MCC 5818 covers

The digital goods codes were created so the networks could recognize downloads and other purchases with nothing physical to ship. MCC 5818 is the broad one. Visa’s name for it, Large Digital Goods Merchant, points to big stores selling many kinds of digital content; Mastercard calls it Multi-Category.

Most digital sellers fit a narrower code next to it.

Code	Name	How it differs
5815	Digital Goods: Media	Books, movies and music
5816	Digital Goods: Games	Games and in-game purchases
5817	Digital Goods: Applications	Software applications, excluding games
5818	Digital Goods: Large Digital Goods Merchant / Multi-Category	Large or multi-category digital stores

Why the code changes what a business pays

Digital goods are almost always card-not-present and usually small-ticket, which makes per-transaction fees and fraud controls the main cost drivers. The code helps issuers recognize the sale, which can affect approval rates.

A digital seller in a general retail or catch-all code can see more declines and less favorable treatment than one coded for what it actually sells.

Digital sellers often launch on bundled platforms that assign a code automatically. It is worth checking what code you were given once your volume grows.

Signs MCC 5818 may be the wrong code

You sell one type of digital product but are coded as a large multi-category merchant, or the reverse
You sell digital goods but are coded as general retail or business services
Approval rates on small digital sales are lower than you would expect
Your per-transaction fees take a large share of each small sale

See the full merchant category code list and how to look up your own code, or read why setup matters more than the rate you were quoted.

Common questions

What is MCC 5818?

It is the merchant category code for digital goods sold across categories. Visa calls it Large Digital Goods Merchant and Mastercard calls it Multi-Category.

What is the difference between MCC 5815, 5816, 5817 and 5818?

5815 covers digital media such as books, movies and music, 5816 covers games, 5817 covers software applications other than games, and 5818 covers large or multi-category digital stores.

What does a 5818 charge on my card mean?

Usually a digital purchase, such as an app, a download, or in-app content from a large digital store.

Which digital goods code should my business use?

The one that matches what you sell. A business selling only one type of digital product usually belongs under the specific code for it rather than 5818.

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, along with every fee on the statement, 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.