How to Reduce Chargebacks – A Definitive Guide

A chargeback, by definition, is a demand by a credit-card provider for a retailer to make up the loss on a fraudulent or disputed transaction. If you’re business is taking mobile or online payment it’s important to be aware of this and have a chargeback prevention strategy in place to reduce chargebacks occurring.

If a costumer denies a payment illustrated on their bank statement or claims not to have received goods then they will be reimbursed immediately by their bank or credit card company. In the UK this applies to transactions worth less than £100, commonly known as the chargeback scheme.

Chargebacks can be a complicated and expensive problem, and a lot of merchants make mistakes when it comes to fighting chargebacks. Resolving a chargeback dispute can be lengthy so it’s important to know your chargeback rights as a merchant to help your case.

It isn’t possible to stop chargebacks completely if you want to know how to reduce chargebacks there are measures you can put in place.

We have created some tips to keep to try and avoid these as much as possible –

• Use a trading name that is easily recognisable when consumers are searching statements. It will help them connect this to the purchase and avoid an unnecessary chargeback dispute.
• There is chargeback insurance for merchants available – it may seem like an expensive outlay but worth the investment if you are stung with a bank chargeback fee. It’s important that there is chargeback protection for merchants in place, and more importantly that you use them.
• Provide your customer with as much information as possible at point of sale. This will help minimise returns or questions around the service your company has provided. Detail is key.
• Make sure you have a dedicated person or team in place to deal purchase queries and returns. This way, instead of issuing a chargeback immediately the customer can contact your company first to resolve any issues before a chargeback procedure is put in place.
• The period between the consumer paying for a service and product is also critical as people can get inpatient. If it’s taking weeks to receive an order (and the customer wasn’t expecting it) they are more likely to issue a chargeback. Communication is vital to manage expectations.
• Offer refunds. Chargebacks are in place to protect the customer and by offering refunds on products or services you are reinforcing your confidence in your brand and developing a sense of trust with the customer. IA product refund is much less hassle than dealing with a chargeback, so it’s worth considering.

Chargebacks can be costly and time consuming to businesses; a fixed administration fee will vary between suppliers. It is charged by the Payment gateway and merchant account providers, each time a chargeback occurs.

Typically the customer has 120 days to claim a chargeback – this depends on the type of goods that have been purchased. The time limit for chargebacks usually starts from the day a customer flagged a problem to the merchant. This time frame can vary but there is an overall cut off point for Visa transactions of 540 days.

If the purchase was made online then this timeframe would begin from the day the customer received their goods. The exception to this rule is when purchasing flights. If the airline or travel agent goes bust before the date of travel then the chargeback would be from breach of contract (the day the flight was due to happen.) However, if the passenger is informed that the flight wouldn’t go ahead prior to the date the contract hasn’t been broken therefore a chargeback wouldn’t apply.

Visa recently reported 70% of chargebacks were actually fraudulent. The majority occur when customers make payment for goods and claim they never receives the items this is done with their own card, more commonly known as ‘friendly fraud.’ The other type of fraud committed is done using stolen credit or debit cards.

These are our guidelines to help your business put chargeback prevention measures in place to help stop chargebacks altogether.

If you need advice on an existing chargeback claim or simply want merchant services chargeback information get in touch. Our team of experts are available to offer advice on measures you can implement to avoid chargebacks for your business.