Chargeback Gurus' Audio Blog

Merchants, banks, and card networks may dominate discussions about chargebacks and other challenges within the payments industry, but we should never overlook the other players in this ecosystem who make instantaneous global ecommerce possible. Payment processing companies perform the essential work of authorizing and settling transactions for merchants, handling all of the lightning-fast checks and communications that allow you to enter in payment credentials and see the “approved” message pop up within a matter of seconds. This is vital work, but in today’s competitive environment, it sometimes goes unrecognized. How can payment processors set themselves apart from the pack and strengthen their relationships with the merchants they serve?

The reality for payment processors is that the competition is fierce and plentiful—there are over 10,000 payment processing companies operating within the United States alone. So much competition means that profit margins are razor-thin for most processors, since there’s always another company willing to undercut you by a few fractional cents.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/3-payment-processor-tips-better-merchant-relationships

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Tyler DeLarm
Narration: Sarah Rife

What is a credit card chargeback?

Credit card chargebacks are initiated when you request a transaction reversal through your issuing bank. Because chargebacks can be detrimental to a business, it is very important you attempt to resolve any issues you may have with the merchant before requesting a reversal. Otherwise, you may be inadvertently committing illegal fraud.

As a merchant, you might feel like the chargeback process is weighted against you.  It can seem as though, with just a single call to his or her bank, a customer can snatch back the money from a completely legitimate sale, leaving you with the burden of proof to gather and present evidence that you're entitled to keep the proceeds from that transaction.  

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/what-rights-do-merchants-have-in-credit-card-chargebacks

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Tyler DeLarm
Narration: Phil Claffey

When it comes to chargebacks, the fewer there are, the better.  Whether they're legitimate or not, too many chargebacks can result in a merchant losing their ability to process credit card payments or ending up on the MATCH list.  Sometimes, a chargeback is initiated over an issue a merchant would have been happy to resolve, in the customer's favor, before getting the banks involved.

Fortunately, you can recover this opportunity by utilizing chargeback prevention alerts.

What are chargeback prevention alerts?

Chargeback alerts are guaranteed to reduce chargebacks. With chargeback alerts, you receive a notification each time the consumer initiates a dispute. Upon receipt, you will have an opportunity to resolve the dispute before it becomes a chargeback.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/a-merchants-guide-to-chargeback-alerts

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Tyler DeLarm
Narration: Phil Claffey

It’s often said that giving gift cards is “impersonal,” but consumers have spoken, and it turns out that as both givers and recipients, we’re perfectly fine with impersonal. Consumers love the flexibility and convenience of gift cards, merchants love consumers who buy their gift cards. Unfortunately, gift cards are prime targets for scammers and fraudsters, and gift card fraud can leave merchants vulnerable to damaging chargebacks from the credit cards that were originally used to purchase them. How can merchants protect themselves—and their customers—against gift card fraud?

Gift card sales were around $160 billion in 2018, and eyebrow-raising figure that keeps growing every year. Despite the risks, it makes sense that merchants would want to offer gift cards—consumers want them, they increase sales, and they can be a good marketing tool. The important thing is to understand the ways in which fraudsters can exploit gift cards so that you can take precautions to minimize the risk and empower your consumers to keep their funds safe.

Full Text:
chargebackgurus.com/blog/gift-card-fraud

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Tyler DeLarm
Narration: Sarah Rife

Here we are in 2020, and the deadline for compliance with the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) has passed. To any American merchants thinking “deadline? What deadline?” right now, don’t panic—the PSD2 is a directive from the European Union that only applies to merchants with a presence within the greater European Economic Area. Whether you’re subject to it or not, the PSD2 is mandating big changes that are likely to have a ripple effect on ecommerce worldwide. Many players in the industry are starting to wonder: how well is the migration toward PSD2 compliance faring so far?

First, a refresher on what, precisely, the PSD2 entails. There’s a lot to unpack in a set of rules that covers as much as the PSD2 does, but two of its requirements have emerged as the most significant:

1. Open Banking, which requires banks to make their payment initiation and account services accessible to third party service providers.
2. Strong Customer Authentication, which mandates the use of two-factor authentication and other security requirements to protect consumers from fraud.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/psd2-migration-status-update

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Tyler DeLarm
Narration: Sarah Rife

At the start of the 21st century, trend forecasters predicted that our homes would be full of desktop computers by now. Given how quickly we were all warming up to personal computing and internet technology, it was a reasonable expectation—but it failed to anticipate the rise of mobile devices. There’s no need to cover every available desktop surface with a computer when you’re walking around with a smartphone that can do whatever you need, but when it comes to cybersecurity most of us are still stuck in a PC computing mindset. As more and more shopping and payment processing is happening through phones and tablets, what can we do to promote a safe and fraud-free mobile payments environment?

The golden rule of fraud is that it follows the money. As consumers have warmed to mobile ecommerce, payment apps, e-wallets, and other technological conveniences, fraudsters have been right behind them, testing new systems for weaknesses and finding vulnerabilities in the hardware, software, and human behaviors that enable them.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/mobile-app-fraud-prevention-security-elements

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Tyler DeLarm
Narration: Sarah Rife

While the chargeback process is largely defined and structured by the heavyweight card networks like Visa and Mastercard, the issuing and acquiring banks that get involved in transaction disputes have some leeway to set their own unique rules and procedures. The right representment for one issuer might not pass muster with the next bank you deal with because of some small detail related to timing or documentation. We hate to see merchants lose out on revenue due to avoidable mistakes, so we want to arm you with the information you need to deal with all the major issuers. With that said, what do merchants need to know about Wells Fargo chargebacks?

As the seventh largest credit card issuer in the United States, Wells Fargo handles a commensurately high rate of chargebacks, so you can expect to be dealing with them fairly often. Wells Fargo has lost some market share in recent years because of the fallout from their 2016 account fraud scandal, and while that means they have extra incentive to keep their current customers happy, we would hope that it also motivates them to carefully abide by the card networks’ dispute rules.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/wells-fargo-chargeback

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Tyler DeLarm
Narration: Phil Claffey

By default, merchants bear the financial liability for chargebacks. When a cardholder gets a charge reversed, the funds to make them whole again have to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is the merchant’s bank account. This can make it feel very frustrating when chargebacks seem to originate from cardholders who are reckless with their account security, or from issuing banks that don’t push back against the more dubious or outlandish claims of friendly fraudsters. Merchants are regularly monitored for fraud and excessive chargeback activity—it’s fair to ask, where is the oversight on the other end of the equation?

As of October 2019, Visa has expanded its scrutiny of issuing banks and their fraud rates. That means they’ll be taking a closer look at how many incidents of fraud and fraud-related chargebacks are coming from specific issuing banks, and enrolling banks that exceed their fraud threshold in the Visa Issuer Monitoring Program (VIMP) until they are able to reduce the number of fraudulent charges they’re authorizing.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/what-is-the-visa-issuer-monitoring-program-vimp

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Tyler DeLarm
Narration: Sarah Rife

Merchants, do you know about TC40 and SAFE? No, they aren’t the droids from the new Star Wars movie. They’re part of Visa and Mastercard’s credit card fraud monitoring programs, and while it’s quite possible that you haven’t had to deal with TC40 and SAFE data firsthand, you might be generating a lot of it without even knowing it. Knowing how and why this data is collected can give you insights into how fraudsters might be targeting your business. In this FAQ we’ll try to answer the most pressing questions merchants have about TC40 and SAFE, including the most important one: can they help you avoid chargebacks?

What is TC40 Data?

TC40 Data is a Visa record containing information regarding consumer fraud claims. While it does not prevent chargebacks or fraud, merchants may be able to glean valuable insights from these reports.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/faq-fraud-monitoring-with-tc40-and-safe

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Tyler DeLarm
Narration: Sarah Rife

The life cycle of a chargeback can resemble a heist movie at times, with back and forth reversals of fortune right up to the very end. First the money goes back to the cardholder, then the merchant succeeds in representing the charge, but then the issuing bank takes it all the way to arbitration. First you have the money, then you don’t, and fees start getting tossed in at various points—it’s enough to make your head spin. Now, can you imagine what it’s like for your accounting team to try and make sense of all this activity at the end of the month?

Figuring out how to properly account for chargebacks may not carry the same urgency as figuring out how to fight and prevent them, but if you want to get an accurate handle on how chargebacks are impacting your bottom line, they need to be thoroughly and correctly recorded in your ledger.

Full Text:
https://www.chargebackgurus.com/blog/chargeback-accounting-how-to-get-it-right-and-why-it-matters

©Chargeback Gurus 2020
Production: Tyler DeLarm
Narration: Sarah Rife