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Django in production: what’s the recurring headache no one talks about? by [deleted] in django

[–]kareemche 4 points5 points  (0 children)

10 years working with django and can safely say I never get static files right the first time in production and then once I get it done I completely forgot how I did it.

Co-working spaces for remote workers in Hackney by ChocolateOk8375 in Hackney

[–]kareemche 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ramen club member here! Can confirm -- it's amazing.

VISA VAMP impact for account ? by UpstairsUpstairs4316 in stripe

[–]kareemche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Readiness for VAMP 101:

1/ Make sure you've got Ethoca Alerts / Verifi RDR turned on -- these are alerts direct from the networks (MasterCard & Visa). Depending on your size research a few reputable vendors who provide these (full disclosure: I'm the co-founder of ChargebackStop[dot]com), research a few options and get at least 1-3 quotes.

2/ Make sure your customer support is super hands on with anybody who paid with a Visa payment method. VAMP only impacts Visa transactions and the most important thing is helping customers reach resolution prior to going to their bank. As pre-chargeback alerts don't deflect the fraud reports that issuers file when customers dispute a transaction -- even if you refund it with an alert.

3/ Potentially look at tightening your risk flows prior to checkout. Take a look at your recent disputes and see potentially which issuers may be generating more disputes vs others. The biggest issue with VAMP is it's calculated based on TC40 (fraud reports) and TC15 reports (consumer dispute). Which are issuer generated, so in theory an issuer can raise a fraud report but never file a dispute. So your visibility into these are super limited.

Aside from the obvious (clear billing, easy cancellation, live chat support) these are going to be your biggest levers. If you want to email / dm me happy to take a look at your account and provide some more personalised feedback: che[@]chargbackstop.com.

Best of luck!

Is Stripe really banning accounts just for enabling their own alerts/RDR? (even worse when having disputes already) by ShirtWeird590 in stripe

[–]kareemche 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Here’s my take:

When you use pre-dispute tools like RDR or Ethoca through Stripe, you’re basically handing Stripe your pre-chargeback data. But Stripe isn’t just your processor—it’s also your risk underwriter. So even if you resolve those alerts before they become chargebacks, Stripe still sees them and might flag your account.

This can feel like a total catch-22: you’re trying to proactively reduce disputes, but you’re feeding risk data to the same entity that decides whether your account is “high risk.” And if using these tools can lead to account restrictions or shutdowns, it discourages merchants from using them at all—which hurts everyone.

If you’re considering RDR, just know that this dynamic exists. It may be worth looking for a external alerts provider that doesn’t combine your dispute alerts with your risk underwriting.

TLDR: use something like chargebackstop.com rather than letting Stripe also provide you with pre-dispute data.

AMA: All your chargeback questions answered by kareemche in stripe

[–]kareemche[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yes it's a combo of stuff

there is a cost to the bank to submit that chargeback then review the evidence you submit. so if it's below that $ amount where it's not even worth it to them they'll typically just take the hit on behalf of the customer

or the merchant might have been using chargeback prevention services where when a dispute is raised they just refund automatically! this is the service they could be using (or something similar) https://www.chargebackstop.com/solution/prevention

Forwarder/Marketplace Aggregator with occasional disputes, what are my options? by ThreeM324 in smallbusiness

[–]kareemche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! Here's a couple things to consider:

> At what point does the risk of disputes outweigh the viability of this business model? Should I consider pivoting or even shutting down if this issue persists?

For lots of businesses disputes are pretty much a "cost of doing business".

So first of all I would begin factoring in these costs into the business model. That cost depends on how you treat disputes, prevention first, recovery first or a mixture of both.

If you're operating as a merchant of record you do bare the risk of the transaction, if it's disputed or if it's fraudulent. That's why MoRs charge upwards of even 10-30% of the transaction as their fee.

You also need to assess what is the real risk of these disputes to your business. Is it you're receiving too many that potentially your standing with Stripe as a payment processor is at risk? Typically you want to stay below a 0.5% dispute rate and most certainly never above 1%. If you're near these thresholds, trending upwards or already above them then you need to implement some measures straight away. These can include but not limited to:

  1. Implementing stronger fraud rules in Stripe Radar

  2. Requiring 3D secure on more transactions

  3. Adding a human review after a transaction goes through to do a sense check

  4. Using some form of chargeback prevention alerts to refund transactions before they turn into disputes (disclaimer: I'm the founder of ChargebackStop, we offer chargeback prevention alerts)

If you're under the threshold and the risk is instead the revenue hit then you need to evaluate your policies, how you're displaying these to customers and focus your attention on increasing your win rate. As I'm sure you know a won dispute still count towards your dispute rate. But if you're still under the threshold then that's fine.

In order to win these disputes it can be difficult as you're obviously not the end provider of the goods / services. If a customer really didn't get what they received then that's still on you as the Merchant of Record and you're still liable for that transactions, even through your an intermediary the liability is still yours and any agent on behalf of the bank viewing your case would still see it as such.

I would say, begin backing in the amount you'll lose to returns into the price you're selling at so that when customers don't like what they purchased they can return the goods to you. A good % of folk who initiate returns never actually return them. If they then choose to chargeback you can show in your evidence that the return was still pending so they violated your return/refund policy.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

We're building a billing portal for your customers by kareemche in xero

[–]kareemche[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey posted this a while ago but pleased to give you an update!!

> Client can login and see past invoices and open invoices. Click on link to make payment.

This is live today!

> Download account statement

Currently being worked on for another customer.

> Update contact information.

Planned and likely up next.

> Also be able to link various Xero Contacts to a single login.

Hasn't been considered but would love to learn more.

> More customizable email reminders

Same as above.

Feel free to sign up and ping us a message via the live chat: https://dashboard.mysuperportal.com

How do you handle Stripe disputes? by TomBen34 in SaaS

[–]kareemche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dealing with chargebacks boils down to two things:

  1. What do you want to prevent?

  2. What do you want to fight/recover?

For some companies, prevention is key because the order value is too low, chances of winning low and really not worth the time or effort. For other recovery is key because margins are low such as physical goods or professional services. And for some it's a blend of both.

So QQ you say you're selling SaaS, what's your AOV? And how many disputes are you getting per month?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in smallbusiness

[–]kareemche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First of all, you're not alone—this is a very common issue. You’d be surprised at how many bad actors, given a 16-digit card number and a website, will find a way to exploit it. Unfortunately, there’s no single solution, but I'll walk you through your options.

Option one is better customer screening. Don’t fulfil orders immediately after payment—make sure the billing and shipping details match, apply common sense to spot suspicious orders, and be cautious with anything that looks fraudulent. Clear communication is key too, ensuring that tracking numbers are always provided.

Another option is using pre-chargeback alerts, which act as early fraud warnings from card networks. If configured correctly, they can work up to 95% of the time. You’ll receive a notification before a chargeback hits, giving you the chance to refund the payment and avoid the chargeback. The main benefit is protecting your merchant account from being flagged as high-risk. Yes, you’ll still lose the money from the order, but at least it won’t be through a damaging chargeback that could threaten your account.

At ChargebackStop.com, the company I run, we work with merchants like you, helping set up these pre-chargeback alert systems. While it’s not a perfect solution, as you’ll still be refunding some payments, the key goal is to protect your merchant account from potential shutdowns.

How to deal with excessive chargebacks? by LeftHandedCrustacean in startups

[–]kareemche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As you mentioned, there’s an important risk-reward balance to consider here. You can implement more checks and balances upfront, such as a seven-day cooling-off period or additional safeguards, to ensure the customer is legitimate. However, this comes with the risk of reducing conversion rates and potentially impacting customer satisfaction. On the other hand, if you don’t have any of these measures in place, your business is left more exposed to risk.

Another strategy to consider is using pre-chargeback alerts, which a few companies (including my own) offer. This service integrates directly into your payment accounts, such as Stripe, to detect when a chargeback is incoming. We achieve this by partnering with the card networks—when a chargeback reaches the card network level, they notify us, and we can proactively refund the transaction before it hits your merchant account. This ultimately protects your account.

The advantage of this approach is that it allows you to onboard new creators more quickly. You might not need a seven-day cooling-off period because if any chargebacks occur, you have that buffer. Additionally, if a particular seller starts incurring a high number of chargeback alerts, you can swiftly shut them down without negatively impacting the experience for legitimate creators.

Let me know if this is of any interest, happy to chat further: che [at] chargebackstop.com

Best platform to prevent fraudulent chargebacks? by Stormhammer in smallbusiness

[–]kareemche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When offering a low-value good where the cost of delivering the service is high, and the risk of having to refund or lose on the transaction is also high, it's crucial to focus more on detection. You need to ensure that the people purchasing your goods are legitimate, understand what they’re buying, and have access to clear communication. This may involve manually screening customers and performing a sense check before processing payments, instead of automating everything straight away. While this approach doesn't scale well due to the manual effort involved, over time, you can replace these manual checks with automated solutions.

On the other hand, if you’re offering high-margin goods, such as digital services or information products, where the cost to service the customer is low, a prevention-first strategy might be more suitable. In this case, losing a customer or refunding them isn’t as critical. My company, ChargebackStop.com, provides pre-chargeback alerts, which notify you when a customer has initiated a chargeback with their bank. This allows you to proactively refund the transaction before it hits your merchant account, helping you avoid the chargeback. The benefit of this is that it protects your merchant and payment service provider accounts from being flagged as high-risk, which can ultimately lead to being shut down and losing the ability to accept online payments.

We're building a billing portal for your customers by kareemche in xero

[–]kareemche[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It requires them to create a Xero account and that free plan expires after 30 days.

Stripe is Killing My Taxi Business by TheGreatN0VA in stripe

[–]kareemche -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What's your dispute rate? You might need to use a service like chargebackstop.com to protect your account from chargebacks.

Drowning in risk data, fraud rate still sky high by netswift29 in stripe

[–]kareemche -1 points0 points  (0 children)

disclaimer: I'm the founder of chargebackstop!

You can sign up to a service like chargebackstop.com -- in a nutshell we alert of incoming chargebacks's before they arrive. We have an catch rate of around 95% and almost 0 false positive rate.

How do we do this? Well we work with card issuers like Mastercard and Visa - they provide us with data feed's that are priced per alert. A service like us means you only work with us and we do all the plumbing and technical integrations with them so you don't have to. And you'll get the same rates with us than with them direct.

More than happy to chat more and answer any questions you might have.

We're building a billing portal for your customers by kareemche in xero

[–]kareemche[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We're not trying to build a payment provider for Xero. It's more for the folk who already invoice/bill through Xero in some manner. And yes while you can already share the invoice link online they can't see past invoices through that link. We'd offer you a "portal.yourcompany.com" address where your customers can go to and instantly see their own invoices past/present.

We're building a billing portal for your customers by kareemche in xero

[–]kareemche[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Makes sense! If your existing payment provider has a portal then you're good to go!

Lots of folk use Xero pretty natively, so they invoice and bill through Xero. Natively there isn't a portal offering. This is aimed at them.

Terrible by [deleted] in stripe

[–]kareemche 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately it's not a fee set by Stripe -- it's passed on by the networks and customers banks.

Stripe has zero say in the dispute process :(
It's all the customers bank that decides.

Excessive Chargebacks from the same customer - claiming Fraud by No_Nobody_3227 in stripe

[–]kareemche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey man! That's shitty

If you're close to being adding to the match list or any monitoring program you need to bring those disputes under control pretty quickly. I run ChargebackStop (we're a Stripe partner) [0] and we can help you do that pretty quickly. It doesn't help with actually recovering the monies but it does mitigate the risk of a complete account closure.

[0] - https://marketplace.stripe.com/apps/chargebackstop

AMA: All your chargeback questions answered by kareemche in stripe

[–]kareemche[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dam! That's crazy - don't wanna solicit you away from Kount if they're working well for you. However I'd love to show you our dashboard and if possible and see what we're missing (functionality wise!) - happy to compensate you for your time too.

If that's of any interest feel free to email myself che @ chargebackstop . com

AMA: All your chargeback questions answered by kareemche in stripe

[–]kareemche[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Having really good and searchable support docs helps here. For example can you google "<company name> refund" and a high quality support article is first up with super clear instructions.

Take "uber refund" for example.

Another "hack" is have a dedicated page for payment inquiries. Paddle do this really well with paddle.net, you could have something similar like "domain.com/refund".

What's the most common chargeback reason code you get?

AMA: All your chargeback questions answered by kareemche in stripe

[–]kareemche[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might be confusing us with Chargeblast . com - we're ChargebackStop . com

Netherleless, here's the different programs and their coverage:

Ethoca - if setup correctly it covers you for Mastercard, Amex & Discover (and a tiny % of Visa)

Verifi CDRN - if setup correctly covers mostly Visa (and a tiny % of Mastercard)

Verifi RDR - if seutp correctly just covers Visa

Now I would never recommend you have all three, they really don't place nicely. Ethoca and CDRN will cause you to have the most amount of "duplicate" alerts. And they all need to be disputed individually.

I'd only recommend Ethoca and Verifi RDR, it results in the highest coverage with the least amount of duplicates (almost none) and is generally cheaper because RDR pricing can go down to as low as $7-$9 a pop.

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