Alerts

Alerts are an early warning that a customer has questioned a transaction (raised a dispute) and the merchant will be issued a chargeback if no action is taken.

For many merchants, it is more cost effective to simply issue a refund (“no questions asked”) than to pursue the matter. This then allows the dispute to be cancelled, and no chargeback recorded against the account.

Broaden your business reach by managing risk

Ethoca Alerts

Ethoca is a company owned by Mastercard. Because Ethoca had a thriving business in issuing alerts before their acquisition, they now provide an alert service for a large proportion of both Mastercard and VISA.  Their systems “front run” the alerts from VISA/Verifi by up to 48 hours, providing a greater level of protection.

Refunds are handled directly by the merchant or can be automated through PayShield, which has a related service called Express Resolve.  Express Resolve can do the refunds based on selected parameters, e.g. under $100, less than 60 days since the transaction, etc.  This combination has proven to be very effective for many high-volume, mid- to high-risk merchants, by maintaining chargeback ratios at a suppressed level.

Over time, the reduction in disputes is recognised by issuing banks, and the percentage of declined transactions goes down, sometimes by up to 50%.  Those increased acceptances translate into higher revenue and increased profits.

PayShield recommends Ethoca alerts and Express Resolve as an excellent starting point for a risk management strategy.

Add a revenue stream from risk management

VISA Verifi Alerts

Verifi has two systems for delivering and handling alerts. The first is similar to Ethoca alerts in that it covers a large proportion of VISA transactions and some Mastercard.  It is called Consumer Dispute Resolution Network or CDRN.  PayShield can provide automatic refund handling via Express Resolve. 

The second system is called Rapid Dispute Resolution or RDR.  This system handles automatic refunds, also based on merchant-selected parameters. However, RDR is VISA-only, so does not provide the same coverage as Ethoca or CDRN alerts. The cost of RDR is based on the risk of the product category, as defined in the MCC tables.