When Credit Cards are Disputed

When you set up shop and allow for payments via debit and credit
cards, there are numerous advantages- including spontaneous shoppers,
and people who will buy more when they can put it on a credit card,
but there are also a few disadvantages as well. One issue many
retailers discover when they first start accepting credit cards is not
only will they be responsible for paying the various fees associated
with accepting credit or debit cards as payment, but accepting credit
cards means you also have to deal with the occasional credit card
dispute.

One common dispute will result in what's called a charge back. Credit
card charge backs happen when a customer disputes a charge made on
their credit card, and your bank transfers the liability to you and
requires that you pay the money back. There are two main reasons why a
charge back occurs-

Fraud
Poor Customer Service

If a cardholder decides to dispute a transaction they find on their
credit card statement because they say the card has been stolen or
someone used the card without their permission, then the retailer is
responsible to recover that money. The cardholder's credit card will
be refunded and the retailer is out the money from that sale.

If your company is not providing quality customer service, a customer
may not receive their ordered items or they might receive defective
items- in which case they're going to dispute the purchase and you
will be required to pay that money back when the bank submits the
charge back to your business bank account.

There are many levels of protection provided to retailers who accept
credit cards as payment. Technology provides us with a secure online
environment that encrypts the credit card details and personal
information of the cardholder as it's transmitted over the internet.
Technology also provides various card verification methods that ensure
that the person submitting the order has the card in hand- and
hopefully, they're the owner of the credit card account.

Unfortunately though, there is no fool proof protection to avoid all
types of credit card fraud, and a customer can submit a charge back up
to six months after the date of purchase.

To minimize the number of charge backs you get hit with, be sure your
online shopping cart or website takes the necessary steps to verify
the identity of the person placing the order. There are many different
ways to try and avoid fraudulent activity online, including address
verification, security code checking and for internet transactions-
you can use Verified by Visa and MasterCard's SecureCode.

Another step you can take to minimize the number of charge backs you
receive is to ensure that you are providing high levels of customer
service. Make sure each customer is getting the items they order, and
use processes that ensure that only quality items are being shipped.
Take time to make sure items are shipped in proper packaging as well,
to minimize damages that could occur during transit of orders.

For in person transactions, you can help minimize the charge backs by
requiring that customers sign their receipt and having your cashiers
actually take the time to compare the signature with the signature on
the back of the card. You may be surprised at the number of retailers
that skip this step! If the signatures match, the customer will not be
able to submit a dispute that results in a charge back at a later
date, so it's well worth the extra thirty seconds or so to compare the
signatures. If the cashier doesn't believe the signature's match, he
or she can require that the customer use another form of payment.

Disputing Credit Card Charges

Disputing Credit Card Charges
Let's imagine for a moment that you've just received your credit card
bill in the mail, and you think the only purchase you made with it the
previous month was at the gas station. What do you do then, when you
find three purchases at Old Navy, and a bunch of other purchases you
know you didn't make?

Do you know what rights you have regarding fraudulent purchases on a
credit card in your name? How about your rights if you purchased an
item with a credit card, but never received the products you ordered?

If these problems have not happened to you yet, you are lucky. These
are common situations credit card users face every day, and it can
help you to know before something like this happens to you what your
rights are, and what your responsibilities are in the matter.

When You Are Not Satisfied With Purchase

One of the benefits of using a credit card to make purchases is the
additional protection they provide if you make a purchase that you are
unsatisfied with. For example, maybe you used a credit card to pay
the contractors who were hired to repair your shower leak, but there
is still water on the bathroom floor. Obviously, you are not
satisfied with the work they completed, and you don't want to pay for
it. The problem is, you charged it on a credit card and now the bill
has come!

Your first step is to contact the contractor, or the merchant you made
your purchase from. Most of the time, the merchant is more than happy
to replace a broken item, perform the service again or refund the
purchase back to your credit card. If you make a phone call, document
it and follow up with a letter to cover your tracks in the event the
merchant doesn't follow through.

If for some reason the merchant decides they are not going to do
anything to correct the situation, you should immediately contact your
credit card company and report the information. Don't wait to report
the problem on a later date- most credit card companies require you to
report a problem as soon as you see it on the statement in order to
benefit from any of the protection they provide.

Charges You Didn't Make

Did you know that federal law is involved in helping limit credit
cardholder's responsibilities for charges on credit cards that they
did not make themselves? The Fair Credit Billing Act actually limits
your responsibility to just $50 for any charges you did not authorize.
If you open your credit card bill and find charges not made by you,
there is a process you should follow to get it resolved as quickly and
painlessly as possible.

Firstly, call the credit card company and explain the charges that
were not made by you. They will give you instructions as to what to
do next.

Then, you should take the time to find and review all of your recent
credit card statements in case there were other charges that you may
have missed.

The credit card company will most likely ask you to sign a form to
confirm that you were not the one who made the charges in dispute.
Don't use the card while you are disputing charges.

Once you finally get a resolution and get the charges removed, be sure
to order your credit report from all of the major credit bureaus in
order to make sure that the record has been updated there- because
chances are the time it takes to resolve fraudulent charges will have
caused late payments on that credit card that may have been reported.

You can get more information about credit card disputes from the Fair
Trade Commission, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fcb.pdf.

When Credit Cards are Disputed

When you set up shop and allow for payments via debit and credit
cards, there are numerous advantages- including spontaneous shoppers,
and people who will buy more when they can put it on a credit card,
but there are also a few disadvantages as well. One issue many
retailers discover when they first start accepting credit cards is not
only will they be responsible for paying the various fees associated
with accepting credit or debit cards as payment, but accepting credit
cards means you also have to deal with the occasional credit card
dispute.

One common dispute will result in what's called a charge back. Credit
card charge backs happen when a customer disputes a charge made on
their credit card, and your bank transfers the liability to you and
requires that you pay the money back. There are two main reasons why a
charge back occurs-

Fraud
Poor Customer Service

If a cardholder decides to dispute a transaction they find on their
credit card statement because they say the card has been stolen or
someone used the card without their permission, then the retailer is
responsible to recover that money. The cardholder's credit card will
be refunded and the retailer is out the money from that sale.

If your company is not providing quality customer service, a customer
may not receive their ordered items or they might receive defective
items- in which case they're going to dispute the purchase and you
will be required to pay that money back when the bank submits the
charge back to your business bank account.

There are many levels of protection provided to retailers who accept
credit cards as payment. Technology provides us with a secure online
environment that encrypts the credit card details and personal
information of the cardholder as it's transmitted over the internet.
Technology also provides various card verification methods that ensure
that the person submitting the order has the card in hand- and
hopefully, they're the owner of the credit card account.

Unfortunately though, there is no fool proof protection to avoid all
types of credit card fraud, and a customer can submit a charge back up
to six months after the date of purchase.

To minimize the number of charge backs you get hit with, be sure your
online shopping cart or website takes the necessary steps to verify
the identity of the person placing the order. There are many different
ways to try and avoid fraudulent activity online, including address
verification, security code checking and for internet transactions-
you can use Verified by Visa and MasterCard's SecureCode.

Another step you can take to minimize the number of charge backs you
receive is to ensure that you are providing high levels of customer
service. Make sure each customer is getting the items they order, and
use processes that ensure that only quality items are being shipped.
Take time to make sure items are shipped in proper packaging as well,
to minimize damages that could occur during transit of orders.

For in person transactions, you can help minimize the charge backs by
requiring that customers sign their receipt and having your cashiers
actually take the time to compare the signature with the signature on
the back of the card. You may be surprised at the number of retailers
that skip this step! If the signatures match, the customer will not be
able to submit a dispute that results in a charge back at a later
date, so it's well worth the extra thirty seconds or so to compare the
signatures. If the cashier doesn't believe the signature's match, he
or she can require that the customer use another form of payment.

Disputing Credit Card Charges

Disputing Credit Card Charges
Let's imagine for a moment that you've just received your credit card
bill in the mail, and you think the only purchase you made with it the
previous month was at the gas station. What do you do then, when you
find three purchases at Old Navy, and a bunch of other purchases you
know you didn't make?

Do you know what rights you have regarding fraudulent purchases on a
credit card in your name? How about your rights if you purchased an
item with a credit card, but never received the products you ordered?

If these problems have not happened to you yet, you are lucky. These
are common situations credit card users face every day, and it can
help you to know before something like this happens to you what your
rights are, and what your responsibilities are in the matter.

When You Are Not Satisfied With Purchase

One of the benefits of using a credit card to make purchases is the
additional protection they provide if you make a purchase that you are
unsatisfied with. For example, maybe you used a credit card to pay
the contractors who were hired to repair your shower leak, but there
is still water on the bathroom floor. Obviously, you are not
satisfied with the work they completed, and you don't want to pay for
it. The problem is, you charged it on a credit card and now the bill
has come!

Your first step is to contact the contractor, or the merchant you made
your purchase from. Most of the time, the merchant is more than happy
to replace a broken item, perform the service again or refund the
purchase back to your credit card. If you make a phone call, document
it and follow up with a letter to cover your tracks in the event the
merchant doesn't follow through.

If for some reason the merchant decides they are not going to do
anything to correct the situation, you should immediately contact your
credit card company and report the information. Don't wait to report
the problem on a later date- most credit card companies require you to
report a problem as soon as you see it on the statement in order to
benefit from any of the protection they provide.

Charges You Didn't Make

Did you know that federal law is involved in helping limit credit
cardholder's responsibilities for charges on credit cards that they
did not make themselves? The Fair Credit Billing Act actually limits
your responsibility to just $50 for any charges you did not authorize.
If you open your credit card bill and find charges not made by you,
there is a process you should follow to get it resolved as quickly and
painlessly as possible.

Firstly, call the credit card company and explain the charges that
were not made by you. They will give you instructions as to what to
do next.

Then, you should take the time to find and review all of your recent
credit card statements in case there were other charges that you may
have missed.

The credit card company will most likely ask you to sign a form to
confirm that you were not the one who made the charges in dispute.
Don't use the card while you are disputing charges.

Once you finally get a resolution and get the charges removed, be sure
to order your credit report from all of the major credit bureaus in
order to make sure that the record has been updated there- because
chances are the time it takes to resolve fraudulent charges will have
caused late payments on that credit card that may have been reported.

You can get more information about credit card disputes from the Fair
Trade Commission, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fcb.pdf.

When Credit Cards are Disputed

When you set up shop and allow for payments via debit and credit
cards, there are numerous advantages- including spontaneous shoppers,
and people who will buy more when they can put it on a credit card,
but there are also a few disadvantages as well. One issue many
retailers discover when they first start accepting credit cards is not
only will they be responsible for paying the various fees associated
with accepting credit or debit cards as payment, but accepting credit
cards means you also have to deal with the occasional credit card
dispute.

One common dispute will result in what's called a charge back. Credit
card charge backs happen when a customer disputes a charge made on
their credit card, and your bank transfers the liability to you and
requires that you pay the money back. There are two main reasons why a
charge back occurs-

Fraud
Poor Customer Service

If a cardholder decides to dispute a transaction they find on their
credit card statement because they say the card has been stolen or
someone used the card without their permission, then the retailer is
responsible to recover that money. The cardholder's credit card will
be refunded and the retailer is out the money from that sale.

If your company is not providing quality customer service, a customer
may not receive their ordered items or they might receive defective
items- in which case they're going to dispute the purchase and you
will be required to pay that money back when the bank submits the
charge back to your business bank account.

There are many levels of protection provided to retailers who accept
credit cards as payment. Technology provides us with a secure online
environment that encrypts the credit card details and personal
information of the cardholder as it's transmitted over the internet.
Technology also provides various card verification methods that ensure
that the person submitting the order has the card in hand- and
hopefully, they're the owner of the credit card account.

Unfortunately though, there is no fool proof protection to avoid all
types of credit card fraud, and a customer can submit a charge back up
to six months after the date of purchase.

To minimize the number of charge backs you get hit with, be sure your
online shopping cart or website takes the necessary steps to verify
the identity of the person placing the order. There are many different
ways to try and avoid fraudulent activity online, including address
verification, security code checking and for internet transactions-
you can use Verified by Visa and MasterCard's SecureCode.

Another step you can take to minimize the number of charge backs you
receive is to ensure that you are providing high levels of customer
service. Make sure each customer is getting the items they order, and
use processes that ensure that only quality items are being shipped.
Take time to make sure items are shipped in proper packaging as well,
to minimize damages that could occur during transit of orders.

For in person transactions, you can help minimize the charge backs by
requiring that customers sign their receipt and having your cashiers
actually take the time to compare the signature with the signature on
the back of the card. You may be surprised at the number of retailers
that skip this step! If the signatures match, the customer will not be
able to submit a dispute that results in a charge back at a later
date, so it's well worth the extra thirty seconds or so to compare the
signatures. If the cashier doesn't believe the signature's match, he
or she can require that the customer use another form of payment.

Disputing Credit Card Charges

Disputing Credit Card Charges
Let's imagine for a moment that you've just received your credit card
bill in the mail, and you think the only purchase you made with it the
previous month was at the gas station. What do you do then, when you
find three purchases at Old Navy, and a bunch of other purchases you
know you didn't make?

Do you know what rights you have regarding fraudulent purchases on a
credit card in your name? How about your rights if you purchased an
item with a credit card, but never received the products you ordered?

If these problems have not happened to you yet, you are lucky. These
are common situations credit card users face every day, and it can
help you to know before something like this happens to you what your
rights are, and what your responsibilities are in the matter.

When You Are Not Satisfied With Purchase

One of the benefits of using a credit card to make purchases is the
additional protection they provide if you make a purchase that you are
unsatisfied with. For example, maybe you used a credit card to pay
the contractors who were hired to repair your shower leak, but there
is still water on the bathroom floor. Obviously, you are not
satisfied with the work they completed, and you don't want to pay for
it. The problem is, you charged it on a credit card and now the bill
has come!

Your first step is to contact the contractor, or the merchant you made
your purchase from. Most of the time, the merchant is more than happy
to replace a broken item, perform the service again or refund the
purchase back to your credit card. If you make a phone call, document
it and follow up with a letter to cover your tracks in the event the
merchant doesn't follow through.

If for some reason the merchant decides they are not going to do
anything to correct the situation, you should immediately contact your
credit card company and report the information. Don't wait to report
the problem on a later date- most credit card companies require you to
report a problem as soon as you see it on the statement in order to
benefit from any of the protection they provide.

Charges You Didn't Make

Did you know that federal law is involved in helping limit credit
cardholder's responsibilities for charges on credit cards that they
did not make themselves? The Fair Credit Billing Act actually limits
your responsibility to just $50 for any charges you did not authorize.
If you open your credit card bill and find charges not made by you,
there is a process you should follow to get it resolved as quickly and
painlessly as possible.

Firstly, call the credit card company and explain the charges that
were not made by you. They will give you instructions as to what to
do next.

Then, you should take the time to find and review all of your recent
credit card statements in case there were other charges that you may
have missed.

The credit card company will most likely ask you to sign a form to
confirm that you were not the one who made the charges in dispute.
Don't use the card while you are disputing charges.

Once you finally get a resolution and get the charges removed, be sure
to order your credit report from all of the major credit bureaus in
order to make sure that the record has been updated there- because
chances are the time it takes to resolve fraudulent charges will have
caused late payments on that credit card that may have been reported.

You can get more information about credit card disputes from the Fair
Trade Commission, http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fcb.pdf.

The New Business Owners Guide to Accepting Online Payments

by: Debbie Dragon

As more people decide to try and increase their income by starting
online businesses, there is a greater number of individuals who
require methods of accepting online payments. It's necessary that an
online business appears professional, so potential consumers have the
confidence to trust and buy from them, and it's equally necessary that
the credit cards can be accepted over a secure connection.

Online business owners have a number of options for accepting online
payments, from PayPal to ProPay to a standard merchant account. While
it may be easier initially to go with a third party payment processor
like PayPal or ProPay, you may find the long term benefits of having a
merchant account worth the additional effort to get one set up right
from the start of your online business venture.

Benefits of having a merchant account with your new online business include:

Ability to accept the major credit cards that most everyone has in
their wallets: Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Not
only can you accept the credit card versions of these cards, but
you'll also be able to accept debit card payments from the millions of
American's with debit cards containing the Visa or MasterCard logo,
since they are treated just like credit cards.

Ability to obtain payments from your customers right from your website
over a secure connection, instantly. Online businesses that attempt to
accept payment by mailed check or money order will never achieve the
same level of success as a website that can accept payments instantly
online with credit cards. Customers will simply close your site and
find a website offering the same product or service that WILL take
credit card as payment – shopping online means customers want to pay
online and not wait for the mail to deliver their payment before the
transaction takes place.

Customers recognize businesses that accept credit cards as having a
higher level of professionalism and credibility.

Ability to receive your online payments transferred to your own bank
account by automatic wire transfer – quickly, securely, and with the
same level of security that your customers experience during the
purchasing process.

Ease of bookkeeping management thanks to reports and statements of
transactions made through your online merchant account and payment
processing system. May even reduce the need for a bookkeeper on staff.

Ability to use software that is included with your merchant account
for online businesses to quickly and easily set up price lists for
products and shopping carts on your website. This makes maintaining
your site a breeze for you, and the shopping experience intuitive to
your website shoppers.

If you should take your online business off the web at any point – to
a flea market or vendor event, for example, you can often rent a
terminal to accept credit card payments in person, manually. Some
merchant accounts include terminals as part of your monthly fee, and
if you feel your online business will have many vendor events, it may
be in your best interest to look for that service as part of your
merchant account to save money.

Reasonable processing fees. Merchant accounts have lower fees than
services like PayPal – which means you have a better profit margin.
Some merchant accounts have monthly fees with very low per-transaction
fees, and include a large variety of value added services that are
simply not offered as part of third party payment processing systems,
like PayPal.

Online businesses often operate globally. Your merchant account will
help you accept payments in a number of different currencies in order
to extend your reach to a greater number of potential customers.

Chargeback fraud is an increasing concern for online retailers, where
people buy something online with credit and then report the purchase
as fraud. As the retailer, your account will get deducted the amount
of that purchase and the product has still been delivered and you're
out that money! Merchant accounts can help you avoid chargebacks with
their fraud screening services, which is included in your monthly fee.