Merchant accounts.. Big ticket chargeback question
 

I've not got a merchant account.. but an associate of mine from the old days, does. .
If I take a payment for $xxxx to low low $xxxxx .. what happens if the asshole tries to charge it back? Can he just get away with it like they do on small adult purchases, or what?

I think that there are dispute procedures and that so long as I prove that product/service was delivered, he won't be able to charge back on me, right? What's the story?

Thanks

Back in the day when I had a mainstream one, the merchant could have to eat up to $5k.

Motherfucker.
Shit.
And if I don't take CCs they assholes won't trust me.
Fucking fuck.
Wires are still pretty standard, right?
I don't know about now but wires use to be able to be drawn against worthless checks.. how reversible are wires these days?

I'd take a wire over a CC any day of the week, if you are worried move the money from the account when the wire hits.

Absolutely agreed..
And you can damned well bet that I'm really very good about getting the money out and moved as soon as it lands in an account .. always have been :thumbsup

You are coherent as hell, wish there were more people like you around!

Thanks. :thumbsup

There have to be more than two coherent people around here..
Any other input from and of you monkies, for chrissakes?

Your associate should really talk to his merchant account underwriter to determine what will happen. Two merchants could have different merchant agreements.

With my Amex merchant account, I chose the worst chargeback option to get a better discount rate. With the option that I chose, any dispute from the customer is an automatic chargeback. If settled, the customer has to notify Amex that it?s settled for me to get my money. Amex will not take notification from me. On the other hand, with my Visa and MC agreement, if I obtain a signature and provide the product or service as described I will win the chargeback. My Discover merchant account agreement is similar to Visa/MC.

If your associate is not underwritten for the product/service that you?re trying to collect on the ?asshole? could win a chargeback as well as cause your associate to lose his merchant account. Only do it if you trust the ?asshole? to be honorable and you can get a signature.

Given the high ticket size it is advisable to collect a fax or scanned copy of the front and back of credit card along with customer ID and signature on some sort of agreement of terms and conditions of sale. This combined with full documentation on fulfillment of product/service should protect the merchant against any chargebacks.

Of fuck me man this shit is beautiful.. thank you for the lucid responses,
WoW
Thanks!!

I lost upwards of $100k in chargebacks in late 00-01 due to fraudulent cards and people doing chargebacks. One was professional football player in oakland that ordered some items that were custom one of a kind but when delivered he did a chargeback and returned them because he changed his mind and AMEX does not care they pull the money immediately no questions and then I have to convince them the customer signed and agreed to the deal. It was a long hard fight and did not win. Another one was a foreign military officer and it was a huge mess as well since euro visa operates different than us visa cards does.

Good luck and I would do a wire for sure for big bucks and if they are serious then a wire will be o problem.

no doubt a wire. proving delivery is a pain, not to mention they can charge back for quite a while after the sale. nothing worse than seeing your account depleted for $xx,xxx 2+ months after the sale.

and if it's visa/mc all they have to do is call and bam! instant chargeback. the onus is on the merchant to prove enough to have it reversed.

i always have my big customers pay by wire 1st, then they can use a charge card, after showing their intent to do legitimate business.

You're best option is to simply not offer CC as a payment method for larger ticket items...

depends on what you are charging for. if its a virtual good, better have a strong agreement in place.

with all of my clients that I charge their cc for monthly fees, I have an agreement that they sign clearly laying out what they are buying, etc. had an attorney write it up familiar in that area.

customers of ours have a TOS they agree to with a virtual signature, etc. we called the cc processor to ask what they recommened. anyone spending over $2k a month has to sign and fax an agreement.

going on 4 years now, we have had 2 disputes and easily won both.