The next VDTA/SDTA Convention & Show will be in
New Orleans, LA
February 27 - 29, 2012
at the Ernest Morial Convention Center

Member Benefits

Merchant Processing 101: Managing Chargebacks

Keeping credit card processing costs to a minimum involves taking steps to prevent non-standard charges, such as a chargeback, that could have potentially been avoided.

Every time a customer uses their credit card to make a purchase, certain requirements fall to merchants for processing the card. These requirements are updated every year by Visa® and MasterCard® and directly affect at what level of interchange a merchant is charged. The requirements in simple terms are as follows:

• Obtain an authorization. This should be through your point-of-sale (POS) system whenever possible.
• Provide proof that the card was present either by swiping the card or by imprinting the card on the transaction receipt.
• Obtain a signature from the cardholder and compare it to the signature on the back of the card.

A chargeback is a dispute that is placed by the cardholder or Issuing Bank when one party believes that a merchant has made an error.

A Quick Response Can Help Prevent a Chargeback:
There are strict time limitations for providing the information required for a retrieval request. It is imperative that merchants respond to these requests immediately, so that your processor can present the supporting documentation to the card-issuing bank in the specified timeframe.

Tips for Protecting Your Business Against Chargebacks:

• Get an imprint whenever a card is manually keyed into a terminal.
• Obtain an authorization number for the full amount of the sale. Do not break the sale into several smaller amounts.
• Clearly state your return and exchange policy in plain view and have it printed on all sales drafts.

This information is brought to you by Elavon. Feel free to call Kimberly Layton with any questions or for more information on the credit card processing program at 1-866-638-8614.

Reprinted from Floor Care Professonal, July 2009