What actually gets sent
Every card charge carries a merchant descriptor: the name your customer sees, plus a city or a phone number. Visa and Mastercard rules want cardholders to be able to reach the merchant from the statement alone, which is why processors collect a support phone and pass it along.
Stripe calls this field "Customer support phone" under Public details. Shopify Payments calls it the "Customer billing statement" phone. Both are required to activate payouts.
Where customers see it
| Place | Who sees it | Can you hide it? |
|---|---|---|
| Bank / card statement line | Every cardholder you charge | No |
| Stripe email receipts | Anyone who pays you | No |
| Hosted invoices and customer portal | Invoiced customers | No |
| Dispute evidence sent to the bank | Bank staff | No |
Why solo sellers end up exposing their cell
Most people set up Stripe in an afternoon and type in the only number they have. There is no warning that the number will be printed on thousands of statements. Later, the calls start: confused customers, spam, the occasional angry one at midnight.
What a good support number does
It picks up. A customer staring at an unfamiliar charge has two options: call the number or call their bank. If the number rings out, they call the bank, and you get a $15 dispute fee plus the lost sale. If someone, or something, answers and explains the charge, the dispute never happens.
That's the case for a dedicated inbound number: privacy, and a lower dispute rate.