Topic: Chargebacks (Read 3897 times)

When using an irreversible payment method, consumers have to make a conscious effort to transact with businesses that have a solid history of being honest and trustworthy,

or use escrow.

Believe me, in the US at least, every consumer I have come across knows about chargebacks. With my domain registration biz, I have had literally hundreds of threatened chargebacks, and dozens of actual chargebacks. As a merchant, it costs me a bomb. The consumer gets away without a scratch. And this is when they've done something stupid like register a domain with the wrong spelling and only notice a few weeks later, lol. They call and threaten a chargeback if I don't give them a refund. If I do the refund, I end up paying for the domain myself. If I don't do the refund and they do the chargeback, the merchant processor charges me a $100 fee.

I don't like chargebacks

I don't know how many normal people with credit cards really know about chargebacks. Most people only find out about them when something goes seriously wrong. I don't think I knew about them until I started working with e-commerce projects as a developer, and I'd had a credit card for many years before then.

I did my first chargeback last year, ~14 years after getting my first credit card. I suspect many people are like me.

Fraudsters on the other hand... it's a weapon for them!

Exactly. But most consumers are "protected" from knowing about chargebacks, how they work, how much they cost, how they stop people from buying things, how they increase prices. Too many people have been "educated" by credit card companies. Time for change.

So lets then assume consumers aren't willing to?  Where does that leave the proposition that Bitcoin use will become widespread common currency?  I agree with the OP, chargeback is an advantage of Bitcoin that only benefits seller and as most people are buyers, the advantage is overstated.

No, the advantage is clear and huge. Chargebacks are the main vector of credit card fraud and probably the biggest source of all fraud in the world.

This leads to higher prices for goods and services which are passed directly to the consumer.

By eliminating these excessive fees, Bitcoin allows businesses to operate with much lower margins which has a massive benefit to everyone.

Furthermore, credit cards as they exist today are simply exploitive of the 99%. I own a couple simply for credit score purposes.

If you cant afford to buy something or cant be sure you trust the company you are buying from, you shouldnt be buying the product at all. Period.

So lets then assume consumers aren't willing to?  Where does that leave the proposition that Bitcoin use will become widespread common currency?  I agree with the OP, chargeback is an advantage of Bitcoin that only benefits seller and as most people are buyers, the advantage is overstated.

In nearly all the posts I read regarding Bitcoin people mention that irreversible transactions are fantastic and the way forward.
 
I can understand this from the point of view of businesses but not from the point of view of the consumer. Why would people switch to start paying in BTC if they have no comeback should whatever it is they purchased not be as described or not received?

I read it all the time, people saying how they sent x thousands of $ to a random company they found on the internet in expectation that they would receive BTC in return - of course many people get ripped off and have no comeback as they are sending payments by non reversible methods.

If Bitcoin will continue to gain ground it will not only change how payments are sent and received but will change the very nature of how things are done leading to a survival of the fittest scenario where people not blessed with a large amount of common sense end up penniless and destitute.

I have read so many sob stories on this forum from people who have sent money for BTC to a company with no address listed on their site based in some backward country that it makes you think how could someone be so stupid? I have also read recently someone who sent money 3 times to the same company as each time they gave an excuse as to why they needed more? I mean come on!

Just wondering if the general consensus from long time Bitcoin users is that if someone is stupid enough to send money to a company that is so obviously not legitimate they deserve to loose their money?

The strategy is to become "trusted", and to offer + give refunds to unsatisfied customers. Not sure how this mechanism will develop with bitcoin but I'm sure some service will step in.

As a business owner, you should be delighted at the the prospect of accepting customers from round the globe that previously got turned down automatically by credit card companies because they come from "high fraud" countries. The age of truly global commerce is just about to happen.

Everyone is saying Escrow, but as a business owner, I don't want a middle man in my transactions with my customers.  No way.  I don't know what the alternative could be, but that will not fly IRL. 

Small businesses will need to develop a strategy to handle this concern from their customers, for sure.