Unless things have changed over the past several years, or unless this only applies to a certain class of merchant, the above is patently untrue. Why do you think that merchants prefer credit cards over checks? It is because as long as the merchant has gotten a transaction approval, the credit card company takes the loss, not the merchant. If the merchant doesn't get a transaction approved, then they do stand to lose the transaction amount. My father owned a retail jewelry business for a number of years; he preferred credit cards for exactly that reason and never had anything such as you describe happen (that's why he started accepting CC's, it was safer than accepting personal checks). The only requirement was that the merchant get a transaction approval number.[ Parent | Reply to This ]
Those stolen cards will be used primarily or online transactions. When the customer questions a charge the credit card company will ask for proof of the transaction from the merchant. Proof meaning the card holder's signature and delivery confirmation to the card holders address.
Even with card holder's signed acknowledgement that they ordered and recieved the product it can be a challenge to get a chargeback reversed. Then after proving the charge is valid the merchant is still charged a chargeback fee of $25 or more. [ Parent | Reply to This ]