A dispute occurs when a Card Member contacts American Express to question a charge on their statement that they don't recognise. A chargeback occurs when, after investigation of the dispute, we debit your account for the amount of the disputed transaction and credit the Card Member with this amount. There are simple steps you can take to minimise the chances of a dispute and chargeback happening.
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There are many ways that you can protect your business from disputes and chargebacks. Watch the below video to learn about the things you can do for your business.
Advise Card Members of your return policy for damaged and unwanted goods or cancellations of any kind.
Ensure your trading name appears correctly on Card Member statements. To check your trading name, log in to your Merchant Account or call the Merchant Services Hotline at 1800-235-6755 (Monday - Friday, 9am to 6pm).
Itemise the bill (e.g. by room, restaurant or mini-bar).
Check the Card is not altered, damaged or expired.
Always obtain a valid authorisation code for the full value of the transaction.
Never split a charge to avoid your floor limit threshold or to skip authorisation.
Be suspicious of purchases with different delivery and billing addresses, orders for large numbers of identical items, and requests for immediate delivery of expensive items.
Ensure you keep all your records of sales and charges for 12 months, including receipts for delivery items.
Provide all supporting documents, as specified in the 'Request for Information' notification, within the stated timeframe.
There may be certain circumstances where we will make a chargeback without sending a 'Request for Information' notification or letter (for example, with Merchants who receive a lot of disputes, or where a Card Member provides proof of a refund that hasn't been processed to their account.
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1
If a dispute cannot be resolved directly with the Card Member, you'll receive a 'Request for Information' letter outlining your requirements.
2
Respond by the required date by post, fax or online. Otherwise we may deduct the amount of the transaction from your Merchant account.
3
After we reach a final decision, either the Card Member pays the charge, or your account is debited by the required amount.
American Express offers a suite of fraud tools including Verify It, American Express SafeKey® and Accertify Fraud Management that are designed to help your business minimise fraudulent transactions.
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