Didyou know
Chargeback Representment is the process that allows a merchant to present evidence to the issuing bank that a chargeback is not warranted.
The success rate for fighting chargebacks can vary greatly from merchant to merchant and from industry to industry. Some vendors offering outsourced representment services claim to have an 85% success rate on the chargebacks they select to represent. These vendors do not fight all chargebacks, they are selective in which ones they do fight.
Chargeback Representmenttechnique overview
Chargeback representment is the process by which a merchant can dispute a chargeback with an issuing bank. The representment process allows merchants to present evidence to prove that a chargeback is not warranted. Key considerations when implementing or buying this functionality include:
- Before you decide to start fighting chargebacks, make sure you analyze your business case. Representment carries a fee from your acquirer, so you may end up spending more money than you will get back from the process. In general, if your loss is less than $25.00 than you should evaluate the costs of representment first.
- Make sure you are doing the right things in your order process such as AVS and proof of delivery, as these go along way with representment.
- Be selective on which chargebacks you fight, not all chargebacks are the same.
- Even if you are selling digital goods, there are chargebacks that are customer service related, that you still can win.
- Don't forget about authentication and verification.
- Check with your acquirer if you are in a high risk market, they can typically tell you if representing makes sense for you.
How does it work?
Merchants will need to gather information and evidence that can help their case that a transaction was legitimate or that the chargeback is not warranted. This evidence can include signed delivery receipts, proof the customer provided the correct Card Security Code (CVV2), the fact that the billing and/or shipping address matches what was on file with an AVS check or other evidence depending on the type of chargeback. For example, to dispute a Credit Not Processed or Duplicate Billing Chargeback the merchant can show evidence of when a credit was issued to the consumer. Keep in mind that merchants only have a short time frame to respond and dispute a chargeback.
How do you use the results?
If sufficient evidence is provided, and in the correct format, an issuer will reverse a chargeback and the merchant will be refunded. If the chargeback cannot be successfully re-presented than the merchant can elect to take the next step to resolve the issue: arbitration, which has additional fees for the merchant.
AdditionalResources
Introduction to Credit Card Chargebacks.
Covers the basic information about chargebacks everyone on a risk team needs to know from the manual review staff to the risk manager. Topics covered include basic definitions of chargebacks and other key terminology to the details of the representment process and evidence needed to dispute a chargeback.
introduction to ecommerce credit card payments.
Covers the credit card process flow defining each of the "payment players"; reviews payment concepts such as authorizations, settlements, reversals, chargebacks and the credit card association's high risk programs.
Advanced Analytics for Credit Card Chargebacks.
Introduces a methodology for performing chargeback monitoring and analytics including: how to classify chargebacks in terms of the underlying operational business functions from where they arise; performing chargeback impact analysis and interpreting chargeback data to identify specific problems to include types of fraud attacks.
keynotes
- Alternative Solutions - Chargeback guarantee, Chargeback Insurance, Chargeback Monitoring.
- Building this In-House - Reconcile chargebacks and compile evidence for representment disputing those that have a good chances of being successfully re-presented.
- Estimated Costs - If you are going to pay an outside company to re-present for you, the costs can vary greatly. Some vendors offer a pay-for-performance model, which means they only get paid if they win the representment.
- Vendors - Transmedia, Vindicia, Chargeback Experts, Verifi, Inc., SafeCharge
