How can merchants protect themselves from these retail pitfalls and still enjoy a record-breaking December? 10 Tampa Bay reached out to Chargebacks911’s founder Monica Eaton to gain some insight into wise shopping practices for this holiday season.
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Monica is a payments industry insider. With Chargebacks911, she helps clients in 87 countries manage their digital payments and disputes. When asked what merchants can do to help fend off returns, whether from incidental issues, buyer’s remorse, or even nefarious circumstances, she said, “Things can go wrong, maybe you didn't receive your purchase, maybe you didn't receive your merchandise, even if you receive your merchandise if it got sent late. That isn't very helpful either and you could have ended up buying something else, even the same exact item just to get you through the holidays.”
At the same time, Monica encouraged consumers to be patient with merchants during this period. Some things can be rectified with a brief phone call or online chat, and regarding ‘buyer’s remorse’, she urged consumers to give the merchant a chance to improve your purchasing experience. “Let’s face it, we all operate on budgets. If you find something that's dramatically lower, and it's the exact same product, the exact same quality, then I think, you know, it makes sense to give the original retailer an opportunity to meet or beat that price,” she said.
Monica also stressed the importance of not jumping into the fire too fast. Disputes can end up costing both the merchant and consumer a fair bit of change, and that’s exactly the sort of holiday no one wants to have. She argues the single best practice a merchant can promote is the willingness to work with their customers to resolve issues before they become chargebacks or refunds.
