Chargebacks in the circuly Operations Backend
What are chargebacks?
A chargeback is a term used to describe a customers request to reverse a payment by disrupting the charge on their account statement. Chargebacks were introduced to offer customers an easy way to dispute suspicious transactions and to protect them against financial fraud.
A chargeback need not always be due to fraudulent activities but can also be due to simple processing errors such as charging the customer twice or sending a damaged product.
A customer can file a chargeback with their bank. Once approved, the customer receives the amount back. But merchant have the option of disagreeing with the chargeback and claiming it back.
Chargebacks and refunds both involve the return of funds but a major differentiating factor between the two is that for refunds the customer directly gets in touch with the merchant while for a chargeback they contact their bank. The process also tends to be longer for chargebacks and the fees are often significantly higher.
How are chargebacks bad for business?
Chargebacks often come with additional fees which are to be paid by the merchant. Banks and card providers also tend to penalize the merchant if the chargeback ratio becomes too high.
Identifying chargebacks in your circuly operations backend
Background
Your customers typically receives an Order Confirmation email when they go through your checkout page and place an order. Additionally they receive a payment confirmation email when the initial payment is successfully charged and subsequent payment confirmation emails when the recurring payment is charged.
It can happen that the customer receiving the email does not authorize the payment and wants to requests a chargeback.
They click on the Payment Service Provider (PSP) link in the email to request a chargeback for the payment. The PSP conducts the chargeback and the customer receives the money back.
Chargebacks in the circuly operations backend
- In your circuly operations backend, the payment status of the order changes to “chargeback”.
- The order gets automatically cancelled and the cancellation reason is displayed as “chargeback”.
- The asset revenue is updated with the chargeback amount.
- If the customer has not received the asset then the subscription status is changed to “cancelled by customer”.
- If the customer has received the asset then the subscription status is changed to "cancelled by customer" and the customer receives the Order Cancellation email. Additionally the subscription status is changed to pending return and the customer receives the return instruction email.
Where can you see chargebacks in the circuly Operations Backend?
- Payments Tab
- Subscriptions Tab
Payments tab
To see the chargeback > Go to the Payments Tab > You’ll see a list of all the payments > Use the filter function to only display payments with the chargeback status. Here’s how you can use the filter function:
- Click on the filter icon
- Do the following: Under Field select Status, under Option select contains and under Value type chargeback.
- Click anywhere outside on the screen to go out of the filter window.
Subscriptions tab
Go to the Subscriptions tab and select a subscription from the Subscription List > In the Subscription Overview Window scroll down to Payments and Recurring Payments.
- When recurring payments are charged back, you can see it in the Recurring Payments section. The status of the payment is displayed as “failed” and the reason for the failed payment is marked as chargeback payment under the Failed Reasons column. (See image)
- When a non recurring payment is charged back, you can see it in the Payments section. The status of the payment is marked as chargeback. (See image)
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What can you do about chargebacks?
Follow up with your customer manually to find out why they have initiated a chargeback. Depending on the outcome of the call you can either agree to the chargeback or charge the customer a one-time payment if the chargeback was mistakenly reported.