Glossary
The sale that un-sells itself.
A chargeback is a card payment your customer disputes with their bank — the money is pulled back out of your account, and a fee comes with it whether you win the dispute or not.
one chargeback = the order pulled back + a $15–$25 fee, win or lose
chargeback rate 0.4%
8 chargebacks a month cost you $1,160 — $1,000 in pulled-back orders plus $160 in fees — and you sit 0.5 points below the 0.9% monitoring line.
Why they cost double
A chargeback is worse than a refund. With a refund you lose the sale; with a chargeback you lose the sale, the product (usually already shipped), and a $15–$25 fee the bank keeps whichever way the dispute goes. Some are genuine fraud — a stolen card, a criminal order. Many more are friendly fraud: a real customer who did not recognize the name on their statement, got tired of waiting, or found disputing easier than emailing support. The bank hears their side first; you argue second. And past roughly 0.9% of transactions, the card networks move you into a monitoring program — extra fees, tighter scrutiny, and eventually the loss of your ability to take cards at all.
How to stay under the line
Most disputes are preventable before the bank ever hears about them. Set a billing descriptor that reads like your store's name, not your legal entity's. Upload tracking the moment an order ships, so "where is my package" has an answer before it hardens into a dispute. And keep support fast — a customer who can reach you has no reason to reach their bank. However the dispute ends, the money already counted once and left again, which is why chargebacks drag your net revenue below your GMV — the same slow leak that RTO, its shipping-world cousin, opens on the delivery side.
Made with care by Astral Commerce