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.