I’ll try and keep it short.

I am a Canadian seller who has sold an item to a buyer in the USA. The customer has complaints about the function of the product. His complaints are not valid, they are technically nonsensical. Furthermore I have a no returns policy for cross-border sales clearly displayed on my site. The downside to me simply honoring his request for refund would the lost (2x)shipping cost + potential that I will have to pay duties when the item reenters the country.

If I deny the request for return/refund, I run the risk of him initiating a chargeback. I understand that he can claim a chargeback based on the item being unacceptable.

  1. If he is successful in his hypothetical chargeback, he would keep the product and also receive the money?

  2. Is there any chance of the card issuer siding with me since I can easily prove the item was received, or is the alleged defect sufficient for his chargeback to be successful?

Thanks for taking the time to read and for any insight.

  • AngiefromAccounting@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    He would receive the money, your merchant services provider would take the money out of the settlement or the account that it was deposited to. He wouldn’t need to return the item, just call his CC company to get a chargeback.

    There is an okay chance that you win the contest if he isn’t claiming fraud, if he is there is little chance that the issuer will give the money back in my experience.

    I once won a chargeback from my payment processor just for MasterCard to take the money back. My processor then told me it would be a $100 USD fee to escalate the contest to MasterCard. I ended up resolving it with the customer who paid as soon as I called. Turns out their card was compromised and my transaction was in the window of it.

    Alternatively to contesting a chargeback, you can send the account to collections since it effectively becomes an unpaid receivable. This is a nuclear option and you should try to resolve the situation before sending it off. Additionally, I would check if your collection company does cross-border collections since companies are structured differently between Canada and the US.