Chargebacks and How to Fight Them
Chargebacks can happen for many reasons and fighting them can be tedious, time-consuming and they can be costly to your business. If your business continually has issues with chargebacks, you could potentially lose your ability to accept credit card payments. Having the capacity for credit card processing is essential in business today. Reading on, you can learn more about how to fight chargebacks and how to potentially avoid them in the future.
How to Fight Chargebacks
When you are in the merchant services business, you will eventually need to fight a chargeback. This is because there are cases of what is known as “friendly fraud”, as this has become a much easier process. This is where a person will claim that they never received a product, despite the fact they did. The good news is that you do have the ability to fight any chargebacks to recover compensation.
Merchants should do as much as possible to reduce the risk of getting chargebacks. As a business owner, it is important to maintain accurate and detailed records. Having signed receipts from all your customers increases your chances of winning chargebacks. Having the proper tools to avoid any fraud for your online business will help reduce the risk of getting disputes.
How to Prevent Chargebacks
There are things that you can do that can help you prevent chargebacks. One of the biggest things that you can do is to check the identity of the customer. It is important that you get signatures from your customers and take steps to verify their identity. When processing in-person sales, check the ID and the signature against the signature for the credit card. Having an organized system in place with signed invoices and other documents will benefit you. If possible, it is also recommended that you use the EMV chip reader for in-person sales. You can then take the extra step of emailing the receipt, which shows that the customer is aware of the purchases.
You also want to make sure that your merchant account is updated. If you have recently changed names, this could confuse the customer when a charge goes through. They may not recognize the name of the business when they look over their statements, which then causes them to file a chargeback with their credit card.
Conclusion
It is important to keep in mind that Card One and the chargeback department are two different entities. Merchant processors (Card One) cannot get involved with chargebacks because there would be biased toward their merchants. Chargebacks are initiated by the customer through their bank. It is important to keep in mind that the customer has their bank on their side fighting for them, having proper documentation to present to the chargeback department can increase your chances of getting your money back. These are some basic precautions you can take to help with chargebacks. Please note, that these steps will not guarantee you win your case.
For more questions please contact Card One at 310.826.700