Whenever a customer reads their card and/or bank statements, they most likely see dates and amounts of transactions, perhaps the account balance after each of them, and – depending on the bank – maybe some additional information as well. But among this data, they surely see transaction descriptors. As the name suggests, a transaction descriptor is meant to describe a particular payment in order to help to identify the transaction.
If you’ve ever looked into accepting online credit card payments (and chances are that you have, the “Pay” in “PayLane” isn’t there just for funzies), you probably fear chargebacks more than a one-on-one meeting with your mother in law. That’s what friendly fraud is – a monster in the closet that you never knew about. For merchants, processing card not present transactions (so basically, all online credit card payments) the risk of receiving chargebacks is daunting, and rightly so, since it can be quite costly. But there is only so much that you as a merchant can do to protected yourself against them – sure, you probably have the friendliest customer support team in the whole wide world and a well worded terms of service agreement, but is that enough?
Well, it is.. sometimes. The biggest risk for any online retailer is selling non tangible goods, which are becoming more and more popular with every minute. Internet stores are basically flooded with all things digital, whether it’s a subscription to a magazine or that awesome new MP3 that’s stuck in the back of your head. These purchases that we often make with the click of only a few buttons (heck, with all these one click purchases, who isn’t tempted?) are perhaps the root of the problem.