Every merchant in Preczn is one record — business details, owners, bank accounts, and the credentials that tie it to each processor connection — identified by a merchant ID prefixed mid_. All four methods below produce that same record. Which one you want depends on how many merchants you're adding and whether they already exist somewhere else.

Create one merchant

Create a merchant in the Dashboard

The quickest way to add a single merchant is through the Merchant Vault.

1. Select Merchant Vault in the left navigation.
2. Select + New Merchant in the toolbar above the merchant table.
3. In the Create New Merchant drawer, enter the Merchant DBA Name. This is the only required field — we suggest the merchant's legal business name.
4. Optionally add Labels. A merchant can carry up to three, they're stored in capitals, and they may contain letters, numbers, and spaces. Labels are your own organizing scheme, so pick names that will still make sense across your whole portfolio. See Labeling Merchants.
5. Under Merchant Credentials, select a connection and enter this merchant's credentials, then save them to run verification. Preczn checks the credentials against the connection before the merchant is created.
6. Select Create Merchant.

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Merchant credentials aren't always needed here

Some processor connections require credentials at the merchant level; others provide them at the connection level and cover every merchant beneath. If your selected connection supplies connection-level credentials, you won't be asked for individual merchant credentials at this stage.

A few connections board merchants through Preczn rather than accepting credentials for a merchant that already exists at the processor. For those, no credential fields appear — the connection is created with the merchant and activates once boarding completes. See Merchant Onboarding.

Create a merchant with the API

If your platform is already integrated with Preczn, creating merchants over the API lets you onboard them as part of your own signup flow rather than as a separate manual step.

Start from the Merchant API endpoints — they carry the current fields and capabilities:

• Create Merchant
• Add Merchant Owner
• Add Merchant Bank Account
• Add Merchant Attachment

Many of these endpoints accept attachments on the child objects as well as on the merchant itself.

For a worked example that creates a merchant with its business, owner, and bank information in a single request, see the Creating a Merchant recipe.

Import merchants in bulk

Import merchants from a CSV file

CSV import adds many merchants in one batch. You run it yourself from the Dashboard; the file is encrypted before it leaves your machine because it can carry bank accounts, credentials, and personal information.

Run the import

1. Go to Import → Merchant Import and select Upload CSV.
2. Select Download CSV Template. The template is generated for your platform and the mode you're in, so it already contains a column for every connection you've configured.
3. Fill in your merchant data — see the column reference below.
4. Encrypt the file with Preczn's public PGP key.
5. Drag the encrypted .gpg file into the upload area. Files can be up to 100 MB.
6. Watch CSV Import Activity for the job to finish, then download its Response File.

Preczn emails the user who started the import when processing completes.

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Download a fresh template whenever your connections change

Adding a connection to your platform adds credential columns to the template. A file whose header doesn't match the current template is rejected as a whole — no rows are imported — so re-download the template rather than reusing an old file.

Columns

Two columns are required on every row:

externalId is optional and gives you a second reference value. Each externalId must be unique within the import.

Owners and bank accounts use numbered column groups. The template ships with one of each; add more by continuing the numbering:

Connection credential columns are named for the connection they belong to, and only appear for connections you've configured.

Three columns control what happens to the merchant after it's created:

Encrypt the file

Install PGP tooling if you don't already have it — GPG Tools on Mac, GnuPG on Windows and Linux.

Download Preczn's public key. The Public PGP Key link on the Merchant Import page points at the right key for your environment:

https://core.preczn.com/tokenImportPublicKey.asc

Import it, then encrypt your file:

gpg --import tokenImportPublicKey.asc
gpg -r [email protected] -a -e --output merchants.csv.gpg merchants.csv

Read the results

The response file has one row per merchant you submitted:

Rows are validated individually against the same rules as the Merchant API, so an invalid row fails on its own while the rest of the import continues. Invalid connection credentials fail that row only.

Two outcomes are worth checking for specifically. A plan is assigned only if the merchant has valid credentials for every connection that plan uses. A merchant is enabled only if it has both a plan and those credentials — merchants that miss either import successfully but arrive disabled.

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Support can run large imports for you

For a big migration, or if you'd rather hand off the file, work with your account manager or [email protected].

Import merchants from a connection

If your merchants already exist at a processor you've connected, Preczn can pull them across directly. Two methods are available, and support varies by connection — check Supported Connections for yours.

Both require the connection to be configured first. See Connection Configuration.

One-Time Merchant Import

A one-time import pulls the merchants that exist at the connection right now.

1. Go to Import → Merchant Import.
2. Select Connection API.
3. Choose the connection from the dropdown. Only connections you've configured that support import appear here.
4. Select Import.

Preczn imports the available merchant data and emails you when it finishes. The job appears in the table on the Merchant Import page, where you can follow its status and download the response file to review any merchants that failed and why.

Some connections also offer an Augment option in the same dropdown. Rather than creating new merchants, an augment import refreshes data on merchants you already have in Preczn from that connection.

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Imports take a few minutes

How long an import runs depends on how many merchants the connection returns. The table on the Merchant Import page shows progress once you've started it.

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Keep sandbox data in Test mode

Import sandbox data into Test mode only, and production data into Live mode. If something looks wrong, contact your Preczn representative or email [email protected].

Continuous Merchant Import

If your platform keeps adding merchants outside Preczn, a continuous import keeps them in sync without another manual pull.

Open the connection's configuration and turn on the Continuous Merchant Import toggle. From then on, Preczn listens for merchant webhook events from that connection and creates a merchant when one reaches an active, fully boarded state at the processor. Waiting for that state means the underwriting data is complete, so you don't end up with half-populated merchant records.

Preczn checks for an existing merchant with the same connection MID before creating one, so a merchant already linked to that connection won't be duplicated.

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Take care when you also create merchants yourself

If your platform creates merchants in Preczn programmatically as well as running continuous import, a merchant created without its connection MID attached can be created a second time when the webhook arrives. Contact Preczn Support if you need to run both.

Troubleshooting

Common import failures

For anything the response file doesn't explain — template questions, data formatting, or interpreting results — contact your account manager or [email protected].