Monica Eaton’s Latest Guest Feature for InternetRetailing Magazine
Monica offers her keen perspective on Facebook’s chargeback controversy in a recent guest feature for InternetRetailing.
InternetRetailing is described as “the leading title for professionals in multichannel retail and ecommerce across the UK & Europe.” The publication represents the board-level conversation in all matters related to multichannel and online retail. InternetRetailing’s bimonthly print magazine has been a staple of industry thought leadership for years.
Is Facebook Really at Fault?
It’s commonplace in this discussion to put Facebook at the front of the line to receive blame. However, that may oversimplify the situation. “Like all merchants, Facebook cannot simply reject the transaction because it was made from a child’s account,” Monica explains. “If the social giant rejected this transaction – and others like it – it would have been bombarded with complaints. Businesses can receive more complaints from rejecting valid transactions than by accepting accidental ones.”
The current situation is the product of consumer demand. Buyers want ease of use, and to satisfy that desire, they opted to relax their verification standards. That’s not to blame customers; the problem that we simply don’t have the kind of balance we need.
As Monica explains, consumer education is the key. “More needs to be done to educate consumers to help them keep themselves protected online – and stop any misuse of the chargeback system that could have been prevented by proper parental or customer controls.”
