This article applies to merchants who refunded a transaction after receiving an Ethoca or CDRN alert, but still received a chargeback.
This article explains why a chargeback can happen after an alert-based refund. It doesn't explain why a chargeback happened if you did not receive an alert.
Why This Happens
A chargeback can still happen after you refund an alert-linked transaction if one of these conditions is true:
Alert network had a service issue: If an alert does not process correctly, then the chargeback can continue.
Issuer continued the chargeback: If the customer’s bank moves forward with the chargeback, then the refund does not stop it.
Refund was delayed: If the refund doesn't reach the issuer before the chargeback process resumes.
What To Do
If you manually or automatically refunded the transaction and still received a chargeback, then contact Support and provide:
Alert ID
Screenshot of the transaction timeline
Support will review the case and apply an alert credit if the case qualifies. This review changes the alert fee outcome. It does not recover the refunded transaction amount.
After a refund is sent, Support, Verifi, and Ethoca cannot return that refunded amount to you.
Is This Preventable?
You cannot prevent this issue if the customer’s bank continues the chargeback or if the refund does not reach the issuer in time. Support and the alert networks cannot stop the chargeback after that point.
This issue is uncommon, but merchants should know that a refunded alert-linked transaction can still become a chargeback.
💬 Still need help? Contact Chargeback.io support.