Achieving the balance between revenue & risk is key behind your risk-management strategy
Credit card fraud can lead to losses that can often be insurmountable for Mail order/telephone order (MOTO) merchants to recover. When consumers dispute charges or chargebacks for items purchased, merchants are liable. In addition, merchants are responsible for bank chargeback fees and other costs associated withbad transactions.
In fact, merchants with excessive chargebacks can even lose the right to accept credit cards – a risk no merchant can afford to take.
Providing accurate information
When communicating with your customers at any time during the sales cycle, ensure that the information you provide is as accurate and understandable as possible. Being upfront with the information will allow you to fulfill the expectations of your consumer, who understands what they are purchasing.
Use a second person to verify
If you are selling your product by phone, it is always beneficial, especially in the long run, to have another agent or supervisor reiterate the information relating to the sale. This will allow for the verification of inclusions, warranty information, return policies, and to meet all the legal requirements for processing the payment over the phone.
Support your customers
When advertising or providing information on your product, yourcustomer service hours should be included. In addition, maintaining an adequate number of trained customer service staff to answer inquiries will minimize chargebacks and disputes.
Free phone numbers
When providing customer service, a free phone number is obviously more attractive to consumers who want to inquire about your product or service. This is even more applicable when selling items of lower value. A customer who does not want to pay for long distance charges may instead decide to dispute the charge.
Track shipping and deliveries
When shipping goods, use traceableshipping methods that require a signature by the recipient.
This will be helpful when addressing claims that the consumer did not receive the merchandise.
Issue refunds quicky
When issuing credits for refunds, issue the credits as soon as possible, and advise the consumer that it may take up to 5 business days for the refund to appear on their credit card statement or in their bank account.
Don't just accept a chargeback
If and when you do get a chargeback, we suggest that you call the customer to find out the reason. Typical reasons that can be managed include billing the customer an incorrect amount, goods not received as advertised, or poor customer assistance tracking the delivery. In many cases when a consumer’s calls to cancel go unanswered, they decide to charge back the amount, and rarely return to purchase from the merchant again.
Refund policy provides confidence
When selling and fulfilling your product, ensure that your refund policy is clear. We recommend that your policy include the time allowable to return your product, and the procedure to follow. Your customer service agents should be well aware of your refund policies. Although there are some techniques to avoid losing a sale, the customer must be given the right to return the product without dispute.
Send items to the card address
When shipping merchandise, make sure you are sending the item to the mailing address associated to the consumer’s credit card. If sending goods to a shipping address that is different from the mailing address associated to the consumer’s credit card, we suggest that you call the consumer and have them fax a copy of at least one bill from the address, or a copy of the driver’s license of someone who lives at the address that was provided. We never recommend shipping to PO boxes
Set or liberal return policy?
When selling hard goods, a 14-day return policy is acceptable, however, for non-tangible goods or services, including service or information packages, a liberal return policy will allow consumers to receive,open, try, and test the product. This will minimize the returns for the product.