Ethoca Alerts

Ethoca Alerts provides a way for Vesta to notify you of disputed transactions and manage communications with the issuing bank on your behalf. While Vesta’s transaction protection virtually eliminates chargebacks, Ethoca Alerts gives you a way to repair relationships with customers and resolve fraud cases quickly.

Ethoca Alerts provides the following benefits:

  • Improved Customer Relationships - By finding out about chargebacks or fraudulent transactions early, you have a chance to engage with the cardholder directly to reach positive resolutions.
  • Enhanced Fraud Detection - With Ethoca Alerts, Vesta receives additional details about fraud signals and denied transactions at your business, which improves the recommendations we make for each transaction that you process.
  • Automated Chargeback Management - Vesta identifies the transaction associated with the chargeback and files any documents required for the chargeback dispute if applicable.
  • Refund Recommendations - Vesta makes a recommendation about whether to refund or dispute a chargeback based on our knowledge of your businesses history, the probability that you will win the dispute, and the potential costs associated with losing the dispute. Vesta’s refund recommendation makes it easy for your business to make the right decision when handling chargebacks.

Use Cases

Ethoca Alerts gives your business the information needed to make decisions about how to handle chargebacks and fraud notifications on transactions.

Chargebacks

If a cardholder files a chargeback, Vesta posts a notification to a webhook URL that you set up during onboarding. The notification includes a refund recommendation based on the probability of your business winning the dispute, your business’s excessive chargeback status, the costs associated with chargeback fees, and any likely cost increases on your merchant account.

At that point you have an opportunity to pursue one of the following resolutions:

  • Refund the customer - Refunding the customer resolves the chargeback and does not cause any adverse action to be taken on your account. If Vesta recommends a refund, and if you subscribe to one of our guaranteed services, Vesta will cover the cost of the refund.
  • Dispute the chargeback - If you choose to dispute the chargeback, Vesta will handle researching the transaction and submitting the dispute. When the dispute is resolved, Vesta will notify you of the issuer’s decision. If Vesta recommends a refund, but you choose to dispute the chargeback, Vesta will not cover the costs associated with the chargeback.

Fraud Notifications

If the chardholder’s bank issues a fraud notification, Ethoca Alerts gives you a chance to work with the customer to correct any mistakes and maintain a good relationship. The typical resolution for a fraud notification involves the following actions:

  • Refund the cardholder - Merchant’s are responsible for refunding the cardholder for any fraudulent transactions. If you subscribe to one of our guaranteed services, and if we approved the transaction when it was submitted, Vesta will cover the cost of the refund.
  • Halt order fulfillment and reclaim inventory - Because Vesta notifies you of fraudulent activities within 10 to 40 hours of the transaction posting, you have a chance to halt fulfillment if the goods have not left your warehouse, or recall the products from your shipping provider. If the cost of the refund is covered by your subscription and you are able to recover your inventory, it is possible for you to come out ahead on the transaction.

Onboarding and Integration

To get started with Ethoca Alerts, contact your Vesta integration specialist to have Ethoca Alerts enabled on your account. During onboarding you will need to supply a URL for the webhook that you will use to receive alerts.

When a chargeback or fraud alert is issued for one of your transactions, Vesta sends a notification to the webhook with the following details:

  • PaymentCorrelationID - A unique identifier for the transaction associated with the chargeback or fraud.
  • RefundRecommendation - A recommendation about whether you should dispute the chargeback or resolve it by issuing a refund and following up with the customer.
  • AlertType - Identifies whether the issue is related to a chargeback or fraud.

Use the contents of the notification to decide how to handle the chargeback or fraud. Once you have resolved the issue, notify Vesta of the resolution using the EthocaAlertResponse API endpoint. Vesta will handle any required communication to the issuing bank.