Deconstructing and Surviving Moving Industry Chargebacks

Moving is often a chaotic and stressful process where something is bound to go wrong. When this happens, the blame almost always falls on the moving company. Based on these conflicts, customers often dispute payments which might turn into chargebacks. 

Although some chargebacks may be valid, merchants who are clueless about fighting chargebacks can get overwhelmed with illegitimate chargebacks. In no time, chargeback-related costs might run their business into the ground.

Much is at stake, with over 27 million Americans having moved in the last year alone, and moving industry merchants should seek to understand chargebacks and how to fight and prevent them.

What’s a moving industry chargeback?

A chargeback is when a customer calls their issuing bank to dispute a transaction with your business. Customers have up to 120 days after the transaction to dispute it. The reasons for disputes can be:

• The moving service wasn’t provided
• The customer was overcharged
• The moving service offered wasn’t as advertised
• The customer doesn’t recognize the charge
• For malicious reasons

Once a chargeback is filed, the issuing bank will credit the merchant’s account and hold it in an escrow account until the chargeback is resolved. At this point, the burden of proving the legitimacy of a transaction lies on the merchant during representment. If the merchant wins, money is returned to their account, and if they lose, the money is returned to the customer.

If a merchant receives a lot of chargebacks, the issuing bank or payment processor might terminate their account.

Moving companies are high risk

Moving industry merchants are high risk for a couple of reasons, including:

• Large average tickets – generally, moving industry merchants make few large transactions every month. Since an average sale is a couple of hundred dollars, a single chargeback carries more risk for the payment processor than a business that handles thousands of transactions between $5 and $10.
• Card-not-present transactions – most moving companies close many payments through the website or over the phone. Unfortunately, such transactions have a higher risk of fraud than face-to-face payments.
• Inherently risky business – to a credit card processor, moving services carry more risk than an eCommerce or retail business since there is more room for a dispute. Add to this the high chance of something going wrong, including the loss of an expensive item with sentimental value, and the credit card processor’s risk is clear.

How to prevent chargebacks

One of the main reasons customers file disputes is that they don’t recognize the transaction or feel it’s illegitimate. You can reduce these instances by using clear payment descriptors and sending detailed receipts breaking down the transaction cost.

Moreover, add your company email and phone number so the customer can reach the business in case of a complaint. This way, you’ll have the opportunity to prevent a dispute. But even when the customer files a dispute, you’ll be better placed to prove they were aware of the charges.

Integrate chargeback alerts

Chargeback alerts will inform you when a customer files a dispute. This way, you will have between 24 and 72 hours to refund the customer and prevent the chargeback. While this isn’t so useful after the moving service is rendered. But in situations where the dispute is made before the service is provided, you have the chance to walk away from the deal.

List dispute and refund policies clearly

Regardless of how careful your moving team is, customers will always claim their furniture was lost or damaged. By clearly defining and disclosing the dispute and refund policies before the transaction, the customers cannot get away with a chargeback. Instead, they must play according to the rules stipulated in the dispute and refund policy.

While purchase agreements aren’t magic talismans against disputes, they can be good ammunition during chargeback representment.

Hire a professional chargeback company

Most moving industry merchants deal with friendly fraud chargebacks. This is when customers use chargebacks to get a moving service and keep their money. And since the chargeback process is heavily skewed in favor of customers, they often get away with it.

To fight this phenomenon, it helps to hire a professional chargeback mitigation company to help you keep money earned honestly.

Dealing with chargebacks

Fighting chargebacks is important for merchants, but it can be challenging to collect and submit correct evidence within stipulated timelines. It can be especially overwhelming if you have to deal with a large number of chargebacks.

With a professional chargeback mitigation company like Justt, you can keep your hard-earned money and focus on running your moving business.

Don’t let moving industry chargebacks get the best of you.