Reducing chargebacks

Use Gurdx signals before and after an order to reduce disputed payments, and keep evidence that helps when you contest one.

The problem#

Chargebacks arrive weeks after the sale, cost fees on top of the lost goods and can put your processor relationship at risk. Most come from stolen cards, friendly fraud and account takeover. The cheapest defence is to catch the pattern before you ship.

Signals to combine#

• Payment fraud score for every order.
• BIN lookup for prepaid, commercial and cross-border cards.
• IP reputation and IP geolocation to compare the IP country with billing and shipping.
• Email scoring and phone validation for throwaway contact details.
• Blacklists: add the customer ID, email, BIN or IP of every confirmed chargeback.

Integration flow#

1. Score the order with the payment endpoint at checkout, sending a stable customer_id and a userID for traceability.
2. Store the returned score, the fired rules and the response time with your order record.
3. Hold orders in the review band until a person or a verification step clears them.
4. When a chargeback arrives, add the customer ID, email and the card's BIN to a blacklist so a repeat attempt scores higher.
5. Review monthly: compare scores of disputed orders with scores of good ones and adjust thresholds.

// Called from your dispute webhook handler
async function blacklistAfterChargeback(order) {
  // Add values through the dashboard or your own admin tooling, then re-score
  // future orders as usual. Gurdx marks them as blacklisted automatically.
  await db.disputes.insert({
    order_id: order.id,
    gurdx_score: order.gurdx_score,
    customer_id: order.customerId,
    email: order.email,
    bin: order.cardBin,
  });
}

Suggested thresholds#

Lower the review threshold for first-time customers and for high-value or instantly delivered items, where a chargeback cannot be reversed.

Evidence for disputes#

Keep the API request time, the userID, the IP and its country, and the score. Together they show that you evaluated the order and can support a representment. Do not store card numbers; keep only the BIN and last four digits.

Warning: Scores are probabilistic. Avoid declining on the score alone for loyal customers, and treat repeated declines from the same device as a signal worth investigating rather than proof.

Related guides: Payment fraud prevention and Account takeover. Set up alerts for high-risk orders.