New Guest Feature by Monica Eaton for The Retailer Magazine
Chargebacks911® COO Monica Eaton is one of the world’s leading experts on the topic of payment disputes. In a new feature for The Retailer Magazine, Monica examined the current state of chargebacks and offered some insight as to what we can anticipate in the near future.
The Retailer is a major industry publication associated with the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The magazine is distributed to members of the BRC who work for retailers and trade associations, reaching thousands of thought leaders and decision-makers in the retail space.
2020 was a difficult year for everyone. If there’s one bright spot, though, it was the surge in online retail activity. As Monica points out in the piece, though, this uptick came side-by-side with negative ramifications of its own.
“Chargebacks hit a new high last year, with some industries facing 10 times more claims than prior to the pandemic,” Monica says. “And this trend isn’t slowing down.”
Monica suggests that new business models like click-and-collect and so-called “fraud-as-a-service” providers were partly to blame. However, pre-pandemic threats like friendly fraud remained a persistent problem. And, it’s an issue that will continue long after the pandemic finally comes to an end.
“[Friendly fraud] is a growing issue, since 50% of customers that commit friendly fraud will do so again within 60 days of a successful claim, and the average person that commits friendly fraud will perpetrate nine separate incidents,” she says.
