Chargebacks are often the bane of most merchants’ existence, as they take time and resources away from productive efforts. Businesses would love to close their eyes, click their heels three times, and have chargebacks go away. If only it were that simple, Dorothy! But preventing chargebacks is becoming that simple. Newer industry solutions are putting more control in the hands of merchants—control that merchants are warmly embracing. These solutions include dispute avoidance and chargeback avoidance.
Dispute avoidance helps banks clarify transaction details for customers
Most consumers contact their financial institution when they don’t recognize a transaction. A recent Aite Group study found that 24% of these dispute calls are legitimate transactions. There are several reasons why a consumer may not recognize the transaction. In some cases, the billing descriptor on the statement may not clearly identify the merchant. This is common when intermediaries like Square facilitate purchases or when the merchant uses its legal name instead of the name on the front of the store.
In other cases, a consumer may not recognize the amount charged. For example, a consumer may have purchased two items totaling US$100 (one item for US$60 and the other for US$40). The US$60 item shipped immediately, so the consumer was billed immediately. But the US$40 item was on backorder, so the consumer wasn’t billed. The consumer sees the bank statement and expects the US$100 charge, not a US$60 charge.
With dispute avoidance, a merchant can provide additional transaction details to the financial institution at the time of the consumer’s call. Knowing this data, the consumer may recognize the transaction, which resolves the issue. That means no dispute and no chargeback—a win-win-win situation for the consumer, the financial institution, and the merchant.
Chargeback avoidance notifies merchants as soon as customers initiate disputes
If the financial institution accepts the consumer’s dispute, traditionally a chargeback would immediately be generated. But a new resolution path called chargeback avoidance can resolve the issue. In this process, the financial institution informs the merchant of the dispute, allowing the merchant to refund the consumer and prevent a chargeback.
A merchant may take the opportunity to refund a purchase itself for a few reasons:
- The dispute is from a loyal customer, so the merchant wants to preserve the relationship.
- The dispute is a satisfaction issue with the product or service, and the merchant wants to avoid negative reviews.
- The merchant realizes it will have to refund the consumer if the dispute becomes a chargeback. Issuing a credit is less costly than the fees in the chargeback process.
- The merchant has an elevated chargeback rate and may want to issue a refund to proactively manage its chargeback levels.
With new industry solutions such as dispute and chargeback avoidance, merchants can finally influence the situation and have some control over the dispute process. Not only that, but they can also play a more proactive role in customer relationships, saving more sales and maintaining a good brand reputation.
Add new comment