Category Archives for "Chargebacks"

Are You Affected by Mastercard’s New Free Trial Rules?

Last month, Mastercard made an announcement that left many subscription business owners wondering if their business would be affected — or to what extent. They later updated the announcement to clarify some of the rules, specifically around digital products, but in case you missed that or still aren’t sure whether it would affect your business, read on to find out what’s what. The details of the new requirements: Mastercard rolled out new consumer protections that apply to subscription businesses with free trials for physical products. In other words, if your subscription business only delivers digital products, these protections don’t apply to you. That said, it’s still worth paying attention to them and what they could mean for the future of the industry. Mastercard’s […]

The Full Cost of Chargebacks (Infographic)

When a customer successfully disputes a charge you’ve made against their credit or debit card, the card issuer will rescind the sale from you – and adds feed on top of it. This process is called a chargeback, and it costs businesses a fortune every year. Short of physically swiping every subscriber’s card, every month, it can be very difficult to prove that a charge is legitimate. That puts the word of your credit card issuer’s customer against yours, and the customer usually wins. It’s not just the money that’s at stake, either. In a higher risk business, it’s already hard enough to get new merchant accounts with reasonable rates and terms. Accrue too many chargebacks, and you can find yourself […]

Stop Losing Money to Chargebacks — Here’s How

As an online business owner, chargebacks are just part of your day-to-day life. But that doesn’t mean you have to accept them and move on. In fact, there are a lot of ways you can reduce chargebacks automatically, without having to respond to every single case by hand. First, let’s talk more about how chargebacks work and are classified. Chargebacks are typically classified into two distinct types: friendly fraud and criminal fraud. Friendly fraud is usually just buyer’s remorse or forgetfulness. Sometimes, it’s denial— “there’s no way my husband was looking at those kinds of sites!” Either way, it’s not organized, and not always intended maliciously. A customer simply wants their money back, and they’ve taken measures with their bank to […]