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Advanced controls: Merchant category and time restrictions

Mia Szymnau avatar
Written by Mia Szymnau
Updated this week

This feature is currently in beta.

You can apply additional card restrictions based on merchant categories and time windows, both when creating new cards and when editing existing ones.

These advanced controls help Finance teams guide spend more precisely, reduce misuse, and manage a higher volume of cards without losing oversight.

This feature is available as part of the Advanced Controlling module.

Supported card types

Merchant category and time restrictions are available on all Moss card types except merchant cards:

  • Physical cards

  • Virtual cards

  • One-time cards

  • Project cards

Merchant category restrictions

You can choose to either:

  • Only allow specific merchant categories (e.g. fuel, hotels)

  • Not allow selected categories (e.g. alcohol, gambling)

This lets you tailor card usage to its intended purpose, for example, fuel-only cards for field teams or travel-focused cards for project leads.

To apply a category restriction:

  1. Open the card creation or edit screen.

  2. Under Spend controls, toggle "Merchant category restrictions".

  3. Choose the restriction type.

  4. Select one or more merchant categories.

  5. Save your changes.

See a full list of categories here.

Time-based restrictions

You can also define when a card can be used by setting:

  • Days of the week (e.g. Monday to Friday)

  • Time of day (e.g. 09:00–18:00)

  • Time zone (e.g. Europe/Berlin)

Use this to limit usage to working hours or block spend outside business days.

To set time restrictions:

  1. Open the card creation or edit screen.

  2. Under Spend controls, toggle "Time & date restrictions".

  3. Select the applicable days and times.

  4. Choose a time zone.

  5. Save your changes.

Example setup

List of merchant categories

Advertising & Marketing

Airlines, Car rental and lodging

Alcohol & Bars

Books & Newspapers

Charity

Clothing

Cloud Computing

Clubs & Memberships

Digital goods

Education

Electronics

Entertainment

Fuel & Gas

General Merchandise

Government Services

Insurance

Internet & Phone

Legal services

Medical

Office supplies & cleaning

Other travel expenses (misc)

Parking

Political Organizations

Professional Services, Consultant / contractor

Public Transport

Religious Organizations

Restaurants

Shipment, Freight, Moving and Delivery Services

Streaming Services

Supermarkets & Grocery Stores

Taxes & tax preparation + Fees, licenses, and taxes

Taxi & Rideshare

Toll & bridge fees

Utilities

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