Business & Technology
Chargebacks911 & acceptcards partner on UK disputes
KAREN JOY BACUDO
Finance Editor
Chargebacks911 and acceptcards have formed a partnership to offer chargeback prevention and management services to merchants in the UK, as businesses face rising levels of disputed card payments.
Under the arrangement, acceptcards clients will gain access to Chargebacks911 tools and services designed to reduce disputes, recover revenue and manage post-transaction risk.
The move reflects mounting pressure on businesses that rely on card payments and online sales. UK Finance figures cited in the announcement show UK-issued debit and credit cards were used for 31.4 billion transactions in 2024, with a combined value of more than £1 trillion, making cards the country’s dominant payment method.
That scale has increased the financial impact of chargebacks, which allow cardholders to challenge a transaction through their bank. While the process can protect consumers in cases of fraud or error, merchants say they are increasingly dealing with disputes over legitimate purchases, often described as friendly fraud.
Industry figures cited in the announcement point to a sharp rise in the problem. A 2025 Mastercard report found that friendly fraud accounted for 45% of all chargebacks, while Chargebacks911 reported that 72% of merchants saw an average 18% increase in friendly fraud over three years.
For merchants, repeated disputes can lead to direct revenue losses and higher operating costs. Elevated dispute ratios can also bring greater scrutiny from card schemes and payment providers, particularly if businesses breach monitoring thresholds.
Wider pressures
The growth of eCommerce, contactless payments and digital checkout options has made post-transaction management a bigger issue for retailers and service providers. Disputes can arise long after a sale is completed, leaving merchants to prove a transaction was valid or absorb the loss.
Acceptcards, which describes itself as the UK’s largest independent payments broker, works with merchants across in-person, customer-not-present and eCommerce payments. Chargebacks911 focuses on chargeback prevention and remediation and says it supports more than 2.4 billion transactions a year for clients in nearly 100 countries.
Merchants using acceptcards will be offered chargeback-prevention measures, dispute-management processes, and analytical tools to identify the causes of disputes. They will also receive greater visibility into post-transaction performance and risk exposure.
Monica Eaton, Founder and Chief Executive of Chargebacks911, said changes in the payments market mean merchants need to pay closer attention to what happens after a purchase is completed.
“Merchants today are navigating a far more complex payments environment than ever before,” Eaton said.
“It’s no longer enough to simply accept payments. You have to actively manage what happens after the transaction. By partnering with acceptcards, we’re helping UK businesses take a more proactive approach to protecting their revenue throughout the entire payment lifecycle.”
The partnership also broadens the services acceptcards can offer clients at a time when payment providers are seeking to differentiate themselves beyond transaction processing and acquiring. In the UK, many merchants have focused on payment acceptance, but rising dispute levels have pushed post-sale issues higher up the agenda.
Richard Bradley, founder and Chief Executive of acceptcards, said the issue now extends beyond the point of sale.
“Getting paid is only part of the equation,” Bradley said.
“Our merchants also need to keep that revenue. Partnering with Chargebacks911 allows us to offer a more complete solution, one that not only supports seamless payments but also helps protect businesses from the growing impact of chargebacks.”
The partnership combines payment acceptance services with chargeback mitigation and representment, in which merchants challenge disputed transactions. For businesses operating on thin margins, recovering sales that would otherwise be written off can materially affect profitability.
It also highlights how fraud prevention is changing. Merchants are no longer dealing only with stolen card details or account takeover, but also with first-party misuse, including customers disputing valid payments or abusing refund processes. That shift has made transaction data, record-keeping and customer communication more important in defending payments after they are authorised.
Chargebacks911 says it supports more than 2.5 million merchants, while acceptcards says it has built a nationwide partner network since its founding in Yorkshire in 2005.
Oxford-based Peripear has secured an Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award and a £74,974 grant for its development of a wearable device designed to prevent perineal trauma during labour.
The funding will support continued product development ahead of the company’s planned first-in-human study.
Nina van Schaick, co-founder and COO of Peripear as well as a midwife who trained at Oxford Brookes, said: “I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to see this gap.
“I was incredibly lucky to meet my co-founder, Eviatar Natan, right as my frustration about the lack of translation of evidence into practice had peaked.
“There was a proven mechanism that could reduce injuries occurring in up to 90 per cent of vaginal births, and it was being left out of clinical pathways simply because no standardised tool existed to deliver it.”
Peripear is developing what it describes as the world’s first automated perineal thermotherapy wearable, designed to prevent perineal trauma during childbirth.
A perineal thermotherapy wearable is an emerging medical device.
It is a hands‑free warm compress device used on the perineum during the second stage of labour to reduce severe tearing and episiotomies while improving maternal comfort.
Ms van Schaick added: “I’m a farmer’s granddaughter, and when I started practising over 14 years ago, I asked: where is the tool I need to implement this evidence? I looked around and realised we were still asking clinicians to improvise.
“Peripear is what happens when the person who has lived the problem, both personally and professionally, meets the person who can help her build the solution.”
The company behind bikemaker Raleigh, which was founded 139 years ago and has supplied bikes to the UK’s cycling city of Oxford over the years, has filed to appoint administrators.
Accell UK and Ireland, part of Netherlands-based Accell Group, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators as the wider group kickstarted insolvency proceedings.
This follows a difficult spell for Nottinghamshire-based Raleigh, which confirmed job cuts in 2024 before reporting a £30m loss in financial accounts published the following year.
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The boss of Accell said it was a “deeply sad and frustrating situation” and that it had “tirelessly explored” every option for the future of the cycling business.
The company bought Raleigh in 2012 for around 100 million US dollars (£74 million), adding to its roster of bike brands throughout Europe including Haibike, Winora and Ghost.
Raleigh was founded in Nottingham in 1887 and was well-known for its Chopper model, which featured extended handlebars and is now part of its “retro” range.
It no longer manufactures bikes from Nottingham, and its head office has moved to Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, while the company has shifted to selling electric bikes under Accell’s ownership.
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Accell went through a restructuring in February, securing additional funding from shareholders and lenders and reducing debts.
The group said it had since “explored every possible avenue” for its future, including discussions with potential buyers, but that it had not been possible to find a solution which means the business can continue operating.
It has therefore initiated insolvency proceedings in the Netherlands.
Accell’s chief executive Jonas Nilsson said: “This is a deeply sad and frustrating situation given all the hard work and everything we have achieved, with the support of shareholders and lenders, to restructure Accell’s operations and finances.
“It is an especially difficult moment for our employees, creditors, customers, suppliers, and partners.
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“Every realistic option for the future of the business has been tirelessly explored, and none have resulted in a solution to continue the Group in its current form.
“Our immediate focus is to support an orderly process, provide clarity wherever possible, and work with the relevant court-appointed administrators to preserve viable activities and employment where circumstances allow.”
At its 1970s height, Raleigh employed more than 13,000 people across the UK, with around 8,000 working at its various Triumph Road sites in Nottingham.
The former factory land later became the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus.
Raleigh subsequently moved its headquarters to Church Street in Eastwood, before leaving that site and relocating to Durban House in 2024.
Celebrating both GCSE and A-Level Results Days, the chain will offer the popular dish to students who buy one of its bubble teas.
The free offer is available at all 42 Rosa’s Thai restaurants across England and Wales.
To avail of the free noodles, students need to register on Rosa’s Thai website for a unique code, which they should present at the restaurant together with a copy of their results.
Rosa’s Thai has a new range of bubble tea flavours, including Ube-Taro, Matcha-Coconut, Mango Sticky Rice, and Milo Chocolate Milk, as well as favourites like Home-brewed Thai Tea with Tapioca, and Lychee Mango with mango boba.
Students can sign up for their free Pad Thai at rosasthai.com/result-day-free-pad-thai and find their nearest restaurant at rosasthai.com/locations.
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