Chargebacks can cost you not only money but time as well. Consider the following tips covered in the next two posts about preventing chargebacks and you should be able to reduce the amount of customers that dispute a transaction or wipe them out all together.

Obtain a signature from your customer authorizing the charge. If you have a terminal that prints out a receipt be sure to have them sign it and keep it on file for at least 1 year. If you take orders face to face but “key” your transactions buy a manual imprinter so you can capture an imprint of their card on a receipt and have them sign it. If you take orders over the phone or have a internet merchant account e-mail your customer a receipt and have them sign it and fax or e-mail back before shipping.

Have your shipper obtain a signature when delivering your product. Most major shippers offer this service and during the dispute process the burden of proof is on the merchant…not the customer.

Ship the product before capturing funds and depositing. If there is a long delay between the time the order is placed and actually shipped you can break up a credit card processing transaction into 2 steps. You authorize it at the time of the sale so you can be sure it’s a good card and funds are available and then capture the authorization once the product has been shipped.

Keep your customers informed of the status of their order. Let them know upfront how soon they can expect their order to be shipped and follow up with tracking information once shipped. Not only will this help reduce chargebacks but it will also cut down on unnecessary e-mails or phone calls.

I’ll give you more suggestions in part 3 of Internet Merchant Account – Preventing Chargebacks.