Monica Eaton, CEO of Chargebacks911, and David Pirtle, VP of Enterprise Engagement at Chargebacks911, were recently featured in Chain Store Age discussing the findings of the company’s latest edition of the Chargeback Field Report. The article examines how friendly fraud has become an increasingly costly challenge for online merchants, with many retailers reporting a sharp rise in first-party misuse over the past several years.
The feature explores the growing disconnect between advances in fraud prevention and the continued increase in invalid payment disputes. Drawing on data from the Chargeback Field Report, the article explains that while merchants have made significant investments in preventing criminal fraud, friendly fraud remains a persistent threat that demands a different set of tools and strategies. It also highlights the role of AI and enhanced dispute management technologies in helping merchants better identify, prevent, and respond to first-party fraud.
“Friendly fraud has moved from being a back-office inconvenience to a material business risk,” said Monica. “It is influencing pricing, customer policies, staffing decisions and the economics of digital commerce. The problem is growing faster than many merchants’ ability to identify, measure and manage it.”
According to the report, merchants are increasingly prioritizing proactive dispute prevention, clearer customer communication, and more sophisticated data analysis to reduce unnecessary chargebacks. The findings suggest that organizations taking a holistic approach to post-purchase customer engagement are better positioned to protect revenue while maintaining positive customer relationships.
Pirtle emphasized that merchants must move beyond treating chargebacks as an unavoidable cost of doing business. “Merchants are being asked to manage a rapidly changing risk environment with limited staff, disconnected systems and incomplete visibility into where their losses originate. That is why reliable industry benchmarks are so important. This report gives merchants a clearer way to identify operational gaps, compare their performance with the wider market and determine whether their chargeback strategy is actually protecting revenue.”
