Chargebacks and thresholds
The ratios the card schemes actually monitor, and what happens when you cross one.
- What chargeback ratio is acceptable? Below 0.65% of card-not-present transactions keeps you outside Visa's VAMP monitoring. Underwriters treat anything sustained above 1% as a serious problem, and above 1.5% you are into the excessive tier.
- What happens if I cross a chargeback threshold? You enter a card scheme monitoring programme: monthly fees, a remediation plan and a deadline to get back under. Sustained failure to exit leads to termination, and in some cases a MATCH listing that follows you.
- Do refunds count as chargebacks? No. A refund you issue is not a chargeback and does not count toward the ratio. A high refund rate is still read by underwriters as a fulfilment or expectation problem, and refunding after a dispute has been filed does not remove it.
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