Writing a chargeback rebuttal letter takes a bit of work, especially if you’re unfamiliar with them. The good news is that writing the letters often becomes easier with practice. By following our chargeback rebuttal letter template, you can speed up the process and may also improve your success rate.
Keep in mind that depending on your business and the nature of the customer and/or dispute, you may want to make some adjustments. If you need further assistance or advice, feel free to reach out to the ChargebackHelp team.
Make Sure You Write Your Letter For the Card-Issuing Bank
Before getting into the specifics of how to write a rebuttal letter, it’s crucial to know your audience, which in this case is the staff at the card-issuing bank. These staff members will be reviewing chargeback claims and they are often short on time and under pressure.
Chargebacks have been on the rise in recent years, and as a result, many bank chargeback departments face high workloads. By making information easy to find and accessible, you’re making life easier for the bank staff and reducing the risk that they might overlook stuff or make mistakes.
Put the Basic Details Right at the Top
You should include the basic details of the chargeback at the top of your letter. Make sure you include the reason code, the chargeback date, and the amount in dispute, among other key details. This way, the staff reviewing your case can quickly and easily find the pertinent data and identifying information.
In our template, we open by arguing that the transaction was valid. You can customize this boilerplate to include details specific to your business and the dispute, including the payment gateway used and the products/services rendered. This way, you’re setting the stage and starting to make your case.
Provide a Concise Merchant Summary
Next, you can write out a summary for your business, including the types of products and services sold, as well as the channels through which you sell (online, brick-and-mortar, etc.) You should also provide details for the transaction, including that it was initiated by the customer and completed by your business, with the products or services delivered. You can also outline your argument explaining why the chargeback should be rejected.
Furnish the Customer’s Details
You’ll want to briefly provide the details for the customer, such as their name, address, and other pertinent information.
Transaction Information/Checks
This section will contain the details for the specific transaction.
Product/Delivery information
Here you’ll want to summarize the goods or services delivered, as well as how they were delivered (for example, did you use UPS to ship a product?).
Your Company’s Return Policy
One of the quickest ways to drum up chargebacks is to fail to offer a return policy. Not only are cardholders more likely to file a chargeback if a business doesn’t accept returns, but their banks will be more likely to side with their cardholders if filing a chargeback was their only recourse. By including your return policy in your rebuttal letter, you can make it clear that the customer had other options besides filing a chargeback.
Compelling Evidence
This section is in many ways the most important section. This is where you will provide evidence that the chargeback is illegitimate or fraudulent, and thus should not be approved. The evidence provided will vary depending on the reason code as well as the specifics of the dispute.
Evidence may include:
- Correspondence with the customer (such as emails)
- The purchase receipt
- Social media posts from the customer displaying your product
- Shipping information and delivery receipts
- IP addresses
Is It Worth Your Time to Dispute Chargebacks? (Yes!)
In an ideal world, you’ll never get hit with chargebacks and thus won’t have to worry about disputing them. There are many steps you can take to reduce chargebacks, but at the end of the day, you’ll likely have to deal with them.
If you’re guaranteed to lose the chargeback dispute, say because you failed to deliver a product, then it’s probably best not to expend resources on a dispute. However, if you have a strong argument that the chargeback is fraudulent or otherwise should be declined, then disputing the chargeback and writing up a rebuttal letter could help you recover revenue.
Further, if fraudsters and others know that your business takes chargebacks seriously and that you’ll dispute them, you can build a strong anti-fraud reputation. This could discourage scammers from targeting your business.
Chargeback fees, lost revenue, wasted labor, increased processing costs, and inventory loss can quickly add up. When you get hit with chargebacks, you may deal with all of the above and more. Ultimately, merchants should develop a multipronged approach to combating and preventing chargebacks. Effective chargeback rebuttal letters are just one of the many tools you can bring to bear.