My first chargeback.. how cute

So, a guy orders a product 6 weeks ago worth $65. Today I get a letter notifying me of a chargeback. It states the claim of unauthorized purchase although the billing and shipping match. No email from the person. Is there anything I can do besides eat the cost? I emailed them and asked them to return the product.. not sure what else I can do. Thanks

Anyone know how I can get a "positive AVS" response?

How was it paid? CC or PayPal?
Did you ship with delivery confirmation?
Did you ship with signature required?
If PayPal, did the shipping address match the PP account address?

If credit card, it is the cost of doing business. Not much you can do. Been there. Done that. Don't like it. You could cross reference the IP address with physical address, along with other online database information but ultimately, you are out the $65 and $25-$50 chargeback fee depending upon your processor.
If PayPal and you followed PP rules, then PP Seller protection possibly applies.

Our AVS rules are set within our auth.net account and auth.net fraud filters.

CC, shipped USPS priority which does have tracking.

Called my processor (merchant e-solutions) and they said AVS was a mismatch although I probably wouldn't have been able to see it. Billing and Shipping matches in the ZC order FWIW.

IP was 50.113.83.157 - 50.113.83.157 but I have no idea how to locate that on a map.

Thanks

CosmosK:

Anyone know how I can get a "positive AVS" response?

Trying to obtain information related to this chargeback or dealing with future purchases?
What method(s) of payment are use/was used?

credit card, visa.

Yes. The letter I received said to show proof of a positive AVS response. I talked to my processor and it seems I can't see this but they can, but maybe I can have something setup in the future to stop orders that mismatch.

Okay, but was it PayPal, authorize.net, etc... By which the credit card was used? These services offer some of that at least in the quick internet search performed to try to help.

merchant e-solutions. There is a payment module for them that goes direct from ZC.

I have now found I can log into merchant e-solutions and see the transaction got a thumbs down for AVS. I see it's happened on a couple other order too, but this was the only chargeback I've had. Should I not fill orders that fail AVS? Thanks

CosmosK:

credit card, visa.

Yes. The letter I received said to show proof of a positive AVS response. I talked to my processor and it seems I can't see this but they can, but maybe I can have something setup in the future to stop orders that mismatch.
Most if not all credit card processors have fraud control or risk management settings. What they offer will differ from processor to processor. Setting those risk controls is a business decision based on how much risk you want to take versus how inconvenient you want to make it for your customers. You may be able to set your risk controls to reject a transaction if there is not a complete match on the AVS. There all sorts of things that might not match that would cause an AVS mismatch and those things could leave them struggling to complete a transaction while they try and figure out what's wrong. As a result they might abandon the cart and shop elsewhere. So where do you want to lose your money?

Is there any other option? Like i they fail to match, I request a email follow up or something? The processor says it goes off to Visa to make the actual decision. Maybe if I have an email that would help??

CosmosK:

Is there any other option? Like i they fail to match, I request a email follow up or something? The processor says it goes off to Visa to make the actual decision. Maybe if I have an email that would help??
That's really a question for your processor. Paypal for instance allows you to select from three choices. Accept all regardless of match, accept and report (partial match and indicate on the transaction that it should be looked at), or decline. No option for an email. Your processor may be different. Authorize.net IIRC has some email options.

CosmosK:

Should I not fill orders that fail AVS? Thanks

Like mentioned above, that is a business decision for you to make. There are a multitude of reasons to legitimately receive an AVS mismatch warning.

Our fraud protection suite (auth.net) allows varying setup parameters on 9 or 10 variables. We have all orders authorized & captured but receive email warnings for all fraud filters where we make the decision to ship, refund or report a potential fraudulent charge after the fact. If the order has a suspicious look or feel, then we contact the customer before shipping.

A positive AVS helps but many times will not win a chargeback dispute. CC disputes are much more difficult to win than a PayPal dispute.

No, I was thinking a manually written email. I get an order, I go login and double check. If no AVS, I follow up with customer and maybe that would be additional paper trail to help me be protected..

RixStix:

If the order has a suspicious look or feel, then we contact the customer before shipping.

And ask them what?

Whatever will make you feel comfortable shipping the order or cancelling the transaction. Maybe it's an email, maybe it's a phone call, maybe it's searching the internet to see if you can find any other matching information. My experience is that the credit card companies will more often side with the buyer. Even if you have all the shipping info and tracking data in the world. Set your risk controls to make you feel like you're filtering out the riskiest behavior and fight the chargebacks with all available information when they occur. If your want the least risk possible then set the highest level of risk controls and every possible receipt verification option you can on the shipping. It may have an impact on sales but what you sell will have less risk.

badarac:

Whatever will make you feel comfortable shipping the order or cancelling the transaction. Maybe it's an email, maybe it's a phone call, maybe it's searching the internet to see if you can find any other matching information.

My experience is that the credit card companies will more often side with the buyer.

Just about anything short of a delivery receipt signed by the credit card holder that matches the signature on file with the credit card will most often be determined in favor of the buyer. And that is no guarantee. PayPal will accept any delivery confirmation up to a package valuation of $750 as part of their seller protection IF you followed their rules.

CosmosK:

IP was 50.113.83.157 - 50.113.83.157 but I have no idea how to locate that on a map.

Thanks

This IP address is owned by
Time Warner Cable Internet Llc
www.timewarnercable.com

The server is located in San Diego California.

Cheers
RodG

Ok, I'll file this under "I'm a dumbass" I changed my LLC name a few months ago and it tool a couple months for things to catch up, so the guy saw the old name on the credit card bill and didn't recognize the charge. He's going to send me a check to settle up. I talked to him on the phone and we both feel like dumdasses.

Faith in humanity is now restored.. kinda. Anyway, thanks for the help. Interesting the AVS was a fail and had nothing to do with fraud.

CosmosK:

Ok, I'll file this under "I'm a dumbass" I changed my LLC name a few months ago and it tool a couple months for things to catch up, so the guy saw the old name on the credit card bill and didn't recognize the charge. He's going to send me a check to settle up. I talked to him on the phone and we both feel like dumdasses.

Faith in humanity is now restored.. kinda. Anyway, thanks for the help. Interesting the AVS was a fail and had nothing to do with fraud.

It would be much better if he contacted the bank/cc company and reversed the dispute so that it would not be on your processing record.

That would also reverse any chargeback fee imposed upon you by your cc processor.

Glad to hear all worked out.

CosmosK:

Interesting the AVS was a fail and had nothing to do with fraud.
There are a bunch of different things that can cause a mismatch. Here is a description of AVS and a look at the codes that can be returned by country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Verification_System

To give you an example of a possible mismatch. An area grows in population and the postal service decides to add a zipcode. Your customer puts in their new address during checkout but the address on his credit card has the old zip. That would trigger an AVS fail/warning. Take a look at the codes and you'll see a number of different possibilities.