Introduction to Chargebacks

The Basics

Chargebacks are an inescapable part of doing business. However, merchants shouldn't have to accept all chargebacks as a cost of doing business. BlueSnap gives merchants the power to customize a comprehensive strategy focused on chargeback prevention and fighting for revenue recovery. We've partnered with Verifi, Ethoca, and Chargebacks911 to help maintain your account's health.

Before we introduce them, let's start with a brief introduction to the dispute ecosystem:

• Chargeback: An issuing bank's assertion to the bank that processed your transaction for BlueSnap that a charge applied to a cardholder's account is in dispute, resulting in a credit to the shopper and a debit to the merchant. 
• Dispute: A shopper's claim to their bank that a charge to their account is not legitimate; could result in a retrieval request for information or a chargeback. The term Dispute can refer to a chargeback, and it can also mean the act of fighting a chargeback. 
• Pre-arbitration: The stage in the chargeback lifecycle when a won chargeback is re-disputed by the issuer, resulting in a credit to the shopper and a debit to the merchant. 
• Representment: A merchant's response to a chargeback; the evidence you provide when you dispute/fight a chargeback, proving the shopper's claim is unwarranted. 
• Retrieval request: A shopper's request for more details about a transaction on their statement. Retrieval requests are only applicable to Amex and Discover cards.
• Reversal: The return of money to the merchant after the shopper's bank determines the merchant's response to a chargeback is compelling. A won chargeback.

Merchants should fight chargebacks when they have the proper evidence or they will lose revenue. Merchants that accumulate too many chargebacks could face non-compliance fines and, ultimately, account closure. 

Liability 

BlueSnap is happy to advise merchants in their chargeback prevention or representment strategy, and we provide the tools to help you. As your payment processor, we are never liable for chargebacks. It is the merchant's obligation to address fraud and chargebacks.  

Fees 

There is a fee associated with chargebacks and a fee associated with fighting chargebacks. Refer to your merchant agreement for full details on chargeback-related fees.