Beware of Shady Holiday Shoppers

This holiday season, there's rising concern about "chargebacks". For those of you (like me) who don't know what that means, here's a breakdown: Now and again, customers will purchase items from your retail store, but when their credit card bill comes, they will dispute the charge. Not only does your business lose out on the cost of the merchandise, most credit card companies charge a $100 fine to the merchant for "wrongfully" billing someone for the item. It might sound like something that can't happen at your small business, but recent research might surprise you, says this Wall Street Journal article.

According to the article, "a 2009 study from LexisNexis found chargebacks are of particular concern for e-commerce retailers, accounting for 35% of all fraud-related losses for online merchants in 2008, topping all other categories including identity fraud (19%) and fraudulent returns (18%)."

This is just another form of theft to keep your eye on this holiday season. If you do suffer a chargeback? Be sure to report it on BadCustomer.com, so your fellow small business owners can receive fair warning.