Chargeback Alerts Archives -

If you take credit card payments at your business, you will, inevitably, at one time or another, face a chargeback. And resolving those chargebacks can eat up a huge amount of time and resources — something most small businesses don’t have much of.

The good news: with a little preparation and education, you can put practices in place to make the chargeback process a lot less painful — and way more effective.

So, you got a chargeback notice. Now what? Follow these best practices:

1. Check the reason code

When you receive a chargeback notice, the very first thing you’ll want to do is check the reason code. The reason code will give you valuable details on the reason why the customer decided to dispute the payment in the first place.

Not only will this help you understand why the customer is disputing the payment, it may provide insight into how to prevent chargebacks for your business going forward.

For instance, one of the most common reasons for a chargeback is that the customer doesn’t recognize the charge on their statement. If that’s the case, you could consider using dynamic descriptors to make sure your charge descriptions are ultra-clear.

Side note: Dynamic descriptors allow a merchant to define what appears on their customer’s credit card statement regarding the purchase. You can include specifics like the product purchased, business name, business location, and contact information. An example of a dynamic descriptor would be: ABC Inc. Annual Membership Renewal 8885551212 versus a static descriptor like: ABC Inc. 8885551212.

2. Make note of important deadlines

After checking the reason code, you’ll want to make note of any important response deadline, since there is a limited timeframe to respond to a chargeback.

The typical timeframe to respond to a chargeback is 120 days; however, in some cases, the timeframe may be longer or shorter depending on the chargeback reason code.

Making note of the deadline to respond is useful in that it helps ensure you don’t miss the window to go to the dispute process, if that is how you decide to proceed.

3. Consider resolving through proactive customer service

Most times, a chargeback request is initiated by a frustrated customer that couldn’t easily recognize where the charge is from.

Before proceeding to the dispute process (a process that involves you, the merchant, having to provide proof that the transaction is valid and can also mean extra processing time and cost to you, and possibly a loss of revenue), consider taking a moment to contact the customer directly to resolve the problem.

Most times, the dispute process can be avoided by contacting the customer. Customers will appreciate that you took the time to proactively contact them and hear them out, and the customer will, most likely, reverse the chargeback by contacting their card issuer.

Again, this proactive contact could go a long way in not just providing stand-out service to your customer, but alerting you to issues that’ll help you prevent chargebacks from happening in the first place.

**Chargeback prevention is just as important**

While handling chargebacks in the most effective manner is important to your business, it’s also hugely important to put practices in place to prevent a customer from charging back a payment. For chargeback prevention tips, check out our blog article: 7 Ways to Proactively Prevent Credit Card Chargebacks.

If you’d like more information on chargeback prevention, and how Constellation Payments can assist, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 888.244.2160.

Last, but not least, sign up for chargeback alerts

How can you respond to chargebacks if you don’t know a chargeback occurred?!

A great layer of protection for your business is to sign up for chargeback alerts that notify you of any payment disputes posted to your account within 24 hours. You can choose to be notified by fax, or have the chargeback alerts sent by email and online alert. Setting yourself up with chargeback alerts helps ensure you can begin proactively handling chargebacks as soon as they occur.

To sign up for chargeback alerts, contact our Merchant Services Support team at 888.244.2160.

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Ever begin using an app that immediately becomes part of your everyday, leaving you thinking: “How DID I ever get along without this?”

That’s how you’ll likely come to feel about these three tools.

Incorporated into your business routine, they’ll quickly become your go-tos — making it far easier to keep your finger on the pulse of your business and its funds.

Before getting started, you’ll want to sign up for a My Payments Insider account, if you haven’t already. My Payments Insider is your primary source for managing your merchant account, and accessing all your business’ payment information.

To register, fill out the form here. A confirmation email will be sent to you with instructions to complete your account set-up.

Now, about those tools…

1. Interactive Online Statements

“How much was deposited to my account last month?” … “10 months ago?” … “What did I pay in chargeback fees?”

You can easily get answers to questions like these with My Payments Insider. Within the portal, you have access to statements from the past 13 months that can be viewed online and easily downloaded to PDF, CSV, or XLSX. No more waiting for paper statements to be mailed to you and storing paper documents at your facility. All statements are secure and in one spot for easy access whenever you need them.

Even better, the statements are interactive, meaning you can:

Filter by business location, statement type, and date range (3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and year)
Change views to deposits, fees, chargebacks and adjustment activity
Drill down to batch and transaction level to get greater detail

2. Funding Alerts

No doubt cash flow is the lifeblood of your business. And like a monitor records the activity of the heart, you need a tool to keep a pulse on cash flow. Funding alerts are a quick and easy way to do that.

With funding alerts, you’ll know the moment funds have been settled and processed to your account.

To sign up, follow the steps below or call our Support Team at 888.244.2160, option 2.

Click on the ‘Personal Information’ dashboard tile
Click ‘Notifications’
Check the ‘Funding/bank activity’ box
Enter your mobile phone number

Select your merchant ID (MID) or all business locations. You’ll receive one text message per MID.

3. Chargeback Alerts

Managing chargebacks and retrievals can be a difficult and confusing part of payment processing. And, if you don’t respond to a dispute within the allotted timeframe, the banks will simply process the chargeback. (Typical timeframe is 120 days, however, in some cases, the timeframe may be longer or shorter depending on the chargeback reason code.)

Chargeback alerts help you stay on top of payment disputes. With this service, you’ll be notified by fax, or by email and online alert, of any payment disputes posted to your account within 24 hours, so you can proactively handle chargebacks as soon as they’re made.

Also, within the portal, you can set preferences for your alerts whether it’s new chargeback and retrieval cases, status updates, high value amounts, and case aging. My Payments Insider also includes a broad selection of reports to manage your activities and measure your results.

To enroll for chargeback alerts, contact our Support Team at 888.244.2160, option 2 or open a ticket under the “Request a Change” reason and add notes to sign up for chargeback alerts via email.

The Tool’s In Your Court

Like outfitting a gym with essential equipment to train effectively, businesses need to incorporate the right tools to manage money effectively. Start using these three today to keep your finger on the pulse of your business and its funds, and make managing incoming payments a whole lot easier.

Have a question about the tools listed here? Post your question below or visit our Support Hub Portal.