What Your Website Needs to Accept Credit Cards

Why This Matters: Disputes & Chargebacks

Customer disputes and chargebacks are very costly to eCommerce merchants in terms of both time and money. Chargebacks typically cost $25 per incident, and you will also lose the funds associated with the sale. As a merchant accepting credit cards, you have agreed to abide by Visa/MC rules which are often slanted in the favor of your customer.

There are three primary causes for cardholder disputes:

• Customer expectations not met due to misinterpretation of products or services
• Merchant's DBA name not recognized on the cardholder's statement
• Refund/Exchange/Warranty/Cancellation policies missing, unclear, or unreasonable

All three can be effectively addressed with clear and specific product/service information and clear policies and procedures.

Customer Expectations

As a Visa/MC merchant you have agreed to abide by Visa/MC's regulations. Visa/MC will allow any cardholder to chargeback a purchase if the customer can demonstrate to any degree that they have not received the products or services promised in the quantity, quality, and time frame promised.

If anything is left unclear, it almost always falls in favor of the cardholder. We strongly encourage you to spell everything out clearly and take nothing for granted, even the obvious.

Refund / Exchange / Cancellation Policies

These policies must be clearly and specifically spelled out to avoid disputes. If there are any holes or "gray areas," Visa/MC will find in favor of the cardholder in most disputes.

It is perfectly acceptable for your policy to state there are no refunds, no warranties, or no cancellations — as long as it is clearly spelled out. These policies actually provide the greatest amount of protection to you as a merchant.