Chargebacks: The Damaging Effects On Your Bottom Line

Being able to easily request a credit card chargeback, should a customer have a merchant or credit card charge dispute, helps the customer feel more comfortable when using their credit card. While intended to safeguard a cardholder from dishonest merchants, the filing of a chargeback with a credit card issuer is often used as the first recourse to resolving a dispute. And, in recent years we have seen a significant increase in chargeback requests: some legitimate, others that could have been prevented.

There are many reasons why customers initiate Chargebacks. The most common reasons are:

• Processing errors
• Dissatisfaction with products or services
• Fraudulent transactions
• Credits not processed
• Transactions not authorized or recognized
• Goods or services not received

So, why should your business defend itself against Chargebacks? Mainly because of the potential damage Chargebacks can do to your business. A business with too many Chargebacks will quickly experience a significant decline in profits from lost sales, unrecoverable shipping costs and unreturned products, plus fees and fines that often exceed the original purchase price. (Fees and fines can range from $20 to $100+ per Chargeback.)

Additionally, Chargebacks are one of the biggest reasons why e-commerce businesses get into trouble with their payment processors. Your business risks having its payment processing privileges suspended or terminated if Chargeback ratios are too high. For this reason it is very important to have a Chargeback management system in place to settle disputes before they become Chargebacks and to protect your business from unwarranted and fraudulent Chargebacks.

While some Chargebacks may be your fault, others are preventable and some have no merit.

Chargeback Expertz has a proven Chargeback Prevention Notification System with an outstanding customer service department that will protect your business from the damaging effects of chargebacks—most importantly your bottom line.