May 17, 2023

What Will Changes to the FTC Negative Option Billing Rules Mean for Merchants?

Just recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed changes to their Negative Option Billing rules for merchants. These changes could bear significant implications for subscription-based businesses. The FTC’s Negative Option Billing rules govern scenarios where customers are charged on an ongoing basis until they cancel a service. This is a common practice for subscriptions, trial offers, continuity plans, and pre-notification …

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May 4, 2023

How Chargebacks Affect Tax Accounting

Taxes were due earlier this month. That got me thinking: what about chargebacks? Chargebacks can have a significant impact on your business’s reportable revenue. However, even a lot of skilled accounting professionals are unclear about how chargebacks, and the revenue lost as a result, should be reported for tax purposes. It’s important to know how to report chargebacks to the …

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April 20, 2023

Shopping Decisions are Based on Habit, but That’s Not the Only Factor

For a lot of value-conscious shoppers, certainty in what they’re buying is more important than getting a deal on an unfamiliar product that may not work or that they may not like. Of course, that’s only true to a point. Many decisions that consumers make are based on habit. However, that habit is cross-referenced against a kind of internal “risk-and-reward” …

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April 6, 2023

Will New Visa Dispute Rules Reduce Chargeback Issuances?

There’s an increasing need for powerful tools to help fight these financial crimes. Enter Visa’s Compelling Evidence 3.0 (or “CE 3.0”), a ruleset designed to provide strong evidence to help combat fraud. CE 3.0 offers a significant step forward in the fight against invalid chargebacks. However, it’s a bit overly-optimistic to believe that this will be the “silver bullet” against …

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March 29, 2023

Inspiring Girls to Enter STEM Begins in Elementary School

Here’s a striking statistic: women are 23% more likely to drop out of STEM fields in college. This is despite the fact that they inherently embody strengths such as empathy and collaboration, which are vitally needed by corporations in tech industries. Globally, women represent only 33% of researchers, 22% of professionals working in artificial intelligence, and 28% of engineering graduates. …

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March 23, 2023

With Economic Headwinds Ahead, is the Travel Industry Prepared?

With markets still recovering from the pandemic, and the economic outlook being increasingly uncertain, confidence in the travel space is on shaky ground at the moment. Regardless, opportunities for growth are still plentiful. The American Automobile Association recently reported spring break international travel bookings are up 30% over last year. International bookings, in particular, seem to be leading the pack. …

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March 16, 2023

I’ve Been Selected as a “Businesswoman of the Year” for 2023!

Great news! I’ve been selected as one of the Businesswomen of the Year for 2023 by the Tampa Bay Business Journal! It’s an incredible honor for me to be included among these incredible women. It’s a validation of everything we do at Chargebacks911, and of our hardworking staff who consistently bring their expertise, enthusiasm, and passion with them to work …

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March 8, 2023

Mediating the Crypto Market: What’s the Takeaway from the FTX Collapse?

With the recent high-profile collapse of the crypto exchange FTX, the future is looking shaky for crypto enthusiasts. FTX’s collapse represents the largest cryptocurrency failure to date. No one is absolutely sure what the fallout will look like. This clearly underscores a core problem in crypto payments: value is volatile. Although blockchain technology does allow for greater transactional transparency, in …

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February 22, 2023

Card Shimmers: Are You Ready for “Skimming 2.0?”

I had the opportunity to discuss the problem of card skimming at length in a recent interview with Fox 26 Houston. The piece hinged on a particularly startling new stat: there’s been a 700% spike in the card skimming activity since 2021. What’s most concerning is that this surge in skimming attacks have occurred even despite EMV mandates. So, what’s …

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February 8, 2023

Responding to a Data Breach: 10 Steps to Safeguard Your Data

Data breaches are a real and present danger for everyone, but they’re particularly troubling for consumers. An estimated 254 million people were exposed during attacks on various financial organizations in 2022, with 9.4 million of those affected hailing from the US. Add to this targeted attacks conducted on popular social media platforms like Facebook, which was fined $277 million in …

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