Chargeback HelpWhen is it Time to Ask for Assistance?

Best Chargeback Help for Card-Not-Present Merchants

Are you considering whether you need chargeback help? If so, you’re not alone.

According to the 2023 Chargeback Field Report, merchants respond to roughly 53% of the chargebacks they receive. Their average base recovery rate, however, is far lower. The problem is that most merchants simply lack the experience and expertise to manage chargebacks on their own.

Fighting chargebacks (also known as disputes) takes a lot of time and money. These resources would be better spent serving customers and growing your business. That’s why merchants who seek help fighting customer disputes through the representment process tend to report lower chargeback rates and increased revenue as the top-line benefits.

When executed properly, chargeback assistance really does work. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at how and why you should consider getting help with your chargebacks.

Do You Need Chargeback Help?

There are two common reasons merchants don’t seek chargeback assistance: they either don’t think they need it or don’t understand that it’s available. Professional fraud prevention and revenue recovery do exist, though. Even businesses with just a few chargebacks per month may benefit from it.

Of course, many merchants don’t even consider chargeback help. They believe that customer disputes are an unavoidable cost of doing business. They simply write off the losses rather than take action.

The truth is that you can prevent chargebacks, both in the short term and over time. You can recover money and merchandise lost to post-transactional fraud. It’s difficult to accomplish on your own, though. That’s why partnering with a provider can have multiple advantages.

The right professional team can:

• Identify hidden chargeback triggers in your policies and processes
• Pinpoint the true sources of your chargebacks
• Help deploy the best combination of tools and tactics
• Give advance warning of upcoming chargebacks
• Offer actionable suggestions based on your specific situation
• Implement tools to ban known fraudsters
• Provide error/risk/threat notifications with real-time solutions
• Automatically handle representment on all invalid disputes
  

…the list goes on. To understand these a little better, let’s take a look at how professional chargeback help works and what it can accomplish.

How Professional Chargeback Management Works

You can split the science of managing customer disputes into two main components: prevention and representment. The latter is focused on what happens after you receive a chargeback. Prevention, however, covers a wider scope. Chargeback prevention includes steps you can take for immediate relief, plus long-term efforts to prevent chargebacks in the future.

Obviously, you want to prevent chargebacks from happening whenever possible. Despite your best efforts, though, a few customer disputes will likely still occur.

Some may be legitimate complaints, and you can learn from those cases. Others will be invalid claims coming from seemingly legitimate customers; a practice called friendly fraud. You need to be prepared to challenge all invalid chargebacks through the representment process.

Regardless of whether we’re talking about prevention or representment, you should judge all chargeback professionals on three key offers they bring to the table: information, experience, and expertise.

What Can Merchants Do on Their Own?

Now that we’ve discussed the advantages of professional chargeback assistance, you might wonder, “Can I do all this on my own?” Well, yes, you could...at least in theory.

Strictly speaking, all businesses are capable of managing chargebacks in-house. Banks and card networks provide all the guidelines. They've drafted literally thousands of pages of information on the topic. They also outline the tools you need to prevent and dispute chargebacks. In reality, of course, it’s not having access to the tools and information doesn’t mean it’s easy to implement them.

Understanding and adhering to all the requirements can make your head spin. Just keeping up with new threats and new regulations is a full-time job on its own.

Most merchants—even the ones who feel they have a handle on the process—find it more cost-effective to employ at least some outside chargeback help. So how do you decide what will work best for you?

Options for Implementing Chargeback Help

Regarding chargeback management, merchants have three options: managing in-house, outsourcing to a professional, or combining the two options. Outsourcing means professional handling, fewer internal resources, and a clear and measurable ROI.

Proponents of in-house management are convinced that their method accomplishes the same thing but is more cost-effective. They say it allows them to react faster to situational changes. They also appreciate that it puts the process in the hands of people familiar with the business.

Neither argument is inherently true or false. Part of the decision-making process depends on your specific situation. Here are some of the pros and cons of each method.

In-House

Managing chargebacks in-house is doable, but it can be tricky, at best. Some hire a chargeback analyst to focus solely on customer disputes. A competent in-house manager may work if there are only a few disputes or if obvious errors cause the chargebacks. That said, the odds of winning DIY reversals are statistically very low.

Positives	Challenges
Total control of the process	Ties up resources that could be better used elsewhere
Done by people most familiar with the business	Full responsibility for all aspects of management
Lower up-front cost	Limited data for decisioning
Internal control makes for greater consistency	Decidedly lower ROI
Can be scaled as needed	Less effective overall

Outsourced

Merchants relying on professional assistance from chargeback experts can take dispute management entirely off their plates. For the full effect, you must find an experienced provider who delivers a full range of services. For example, Chargebacks911® offers a turnkey solution that covers every stage of the chargeback process.

Positives	Challenges
More effective prevention	Service vary depending on the provider
Fewer chargebacks and more reversals	Many only offer certain services or rely on less-effective automation
More and better data for AI decisioning	Some require additional investment in hardware
Allows reallocation of internal resources	Many are not equipped to scale
Measurably higher ROI	May not have intimate knowledge of your operations

Combination

Outsourced chargeback help is almost always more effective. However, that does not always negate the benefits of in-house management. You could choose to handle some chargeback tasks in-house but outsource the rest to third parties.

Positives	Challenges
More overall control of the process	Could be less effective, depending on operations outsourced
Ability to be “hands-on”	Ties up some resources that may be used elsewhere
Potentially lower costs	Still have responsibility for certain operations

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Help

It’s simple: if disputes are being filed against you, professional chargeback help will provide some benefits. In a few situations, those benefits might not outweigh the costs involved. In the vast majority of cases, however, professional chargeback assistance can substantially raise your ROI. The key is finding the right partner.

Many chargeback companies rely solely on automated representment. This offers a few benefits. However, a “one-size-fits-all” solution with no human oversight can be dangerous. Other providers offer limited services, such as chargeback alerts or low-level representments. The most effective chargeback professionals can deliver customized solutions for chargeback help with every facet of your dispute management.

If you’re ready for help preventing or fighting disputes, Chargebacks911 can create a customized solution to fit your specific business. We can handle your chargebacks completely while maximizing your ROI. To learn more, contact us today.