Gitnux/Report 2026

Chargebacks Retail Industry Statistics

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Chargebacks Retail Industry Statistics
Samuel NorbergWritten by Samuel Norberg·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

An editor sets the topic, the inclusion criteria, and the evaluation framework before research starts.

02Source Research

AI search agents locate sources and extract each figure together with the document it came from.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 31 days

01 Industry overview

The chargebacks retail industry at a glance

Retail chargebacks are a growing payments-loss category: $34 billion in card transactions was disputed and charged back to merchants in 2025, while retail chargebacks were 43% fraudulent globally.

$34B[27]
Disputed transactions, 2025
324M[27]
Global chargebacks, 2028
43%[27]
Retail chargebacks fraudulent
0.57%[4]
Average chargeback rate, 2026
Market size
Javelin Strategy & Research estimated that $34 billion in debit and credit card transactions was disputed by cardholders and charged back to merchants in 2025. Mastercard separately estimated total global chargeback-related losses at $33.79 billion in 2025.[27]
Forecast & CAGR
Global chargeback volume is forecast to increase 24% from 2025 to 2028, reaching 324 million transactions annually. Mastercard forecasts chargeback-related losses to rise from $33.79 billion in 2025 to $41.69 billion in 2028, equivalent to approximately 7.3% annual growth in losses over the period.[27][64]
Market share & regions
The United States had the highest average chargeback value among countries studied at $110, compared with $94 in Brazil, $91 in Australia and $82 in the United Kingdom. Mastercard also reports that third-party fraud represented 22% of merchant chargebacks in Australia, while U.S. and Brazilian merchants reported higher first-party-fraud shares.[27]
Segmentation
By merchant industry, Mastercard reported that fraudulent chargebacks represented 43% of retail chargeback volume in 2025, alongside 19% classified as low-dollar write-offs. The comparable fraudulent-chargeback shares were 46% for travel and hospitality, 43% for subscription services and 43% for digital goods.[27]
Pricing
The average retail chargeback amount was $84 in Mastercard’s benchmark data. Retailers reported annual chargeback-technology spending of $100,000 to $500,000; 50% managed chargebacks fully in-house, 34% outsourced chargebacks but retained internal fraud management, and 16% outsourced both functions.[27]
Trends, drivers & challenges
Juniper Research expects cardholder-requested chargebacks to reach 616 million globally by 2031, more than 50% above the comparison period, driven by consumer awareness through social media and deliberate friendly fraud. In Sift’s data, retail e-commerce chargeback rates rose 233% during 2025, while average rates across its network reached 0.26% in Q3 from 0.17% in Q1.[26][64]
Consumer behavior & competition
First-party and third-party fraud together accounted for approximately 45% of merchants’ chargeback volume globally in Mastercard’s 2025 study. Chargebacks911 reported that 38% of merchants passed fraud-related costs to consumers in 2026, up from 32.5% in 2024, increasing pressure on retailers to balance dispute prevention with customer retention.[27][4]
Regulation
Visa’s June 2024 merchant guidelines define dispute conditions including card-absent fraud, merchandise not received, defective or misrepresented goods, cancelled recurring transactions and credits not processed. Visa also provides a compliance process for rule violations that fall outside standard dispute conditions and can cause direct financial loss.[65]
Latest news
In August 2026, Juniper Research forecast that global chargeback requests would reach 616 million by 2031 and said the increase was driving demand for automated chargeback-management solutions. The report emphasized automated evidence collection and decisioning, while recommending human oversight for quality control.[26]

02 Ranking

Top 9 Companies in the Chargebacks Retail Industry

The leading companies in the chargebacks retail industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 11, 2026 · Next review December 11, 2026

Verdict

Mastercard leads Gitnux's 2026 chargebacks retail ranking with an Overall score of 9.9, with revenue growth 16.4% and operating margin 57.6% signaled in leading providers. Equifax is the highest-ranked fraud and risk tooling provider at 8.9, driven by revenue growth 6.9% and operating margin 18% in dispute-prevention signals.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in network dispute services

    Mastercard

    US

    Ranked #1 · 9.9 · Network dispute services

    Why we picked it: They quantify retail chargebacks, including 43% fraudulent of retail chargeback volume in 2025.

    See in ranking ↓Visit mastercard.com ↗

  2. Leader in fraud and risk tools

    Equifax

    US

    Ranked #2 · 8.9 · Fraud and risk tools

    Why we picked it: Their Kount business is listed among leading chargeback-management vendors for prevention and disputes.

    See in ranking ↓Visit equifax.com ↗

  3. Leader in chargeback management

    Fiserv

    US

    Ranked #4 · 8.7 · Chargeback management

    Why we picked it: They focus on merchant acquiring and payment disputes, positioned as one of the top five.

    See in ranking ↓Visit fiserv.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Picks 2 and 3 are the highest-ranked companies in the top 5 that add a new segment.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 9 companies in the chargebacks retail industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

Mastercard

Network dispute services · US

9.9
2

Equifax

Fraud and risk tools · US

8.9
3

ACI Worldwide

Fraud and risk tools · US

8.8
4

Fiserv

Chargeback management · US

8.7
5

FIS

Chargeback management · US

8.7
6

Signifyd

E-commerce chargeback guarantees and recovery · US

8.5
7

Justt

Automated chargeback prevention and representment · IL

8.3
8

Sift

Digital trust, fraud and chargeback prevention · US

8.3
9

Riskified

E-commerce fraud and chargeback protection · IL

8.2

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).
  • Performance (20%): recent revenue growth and operating margin; an analyst assessment where a company does not publish them.
  • Momentum (20%): growth trajectory and future potential.
  • Innovation (15%): R&D intensity and how technologically advanced the company is.

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 11, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Top 9 companies in the chargebacks retail industry. In Chargebacks Retail Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/chargebacks-retail-industry-statistics/#top-companies

report visual · Comparison

Revenue of the largest chargebacks retail companies

Mastercard leads with $32.8B in annual revenue (group level, converted to USD).

Mastercard$32.8B
Fiserv$21.2B
FIS$10.7B
Equifax$6.1B
ACI Worldwide$1.8B
Riskified$345M
source-verifiedpreview.mastercard.com · investors.fiserv.com · investor.fisglobal.com · investor.equifax.com · investor.aciworldwide.com · ir.riskified.com2025

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

Automation and AI drive interest, with 65% of eCommerce chargeback managers citing potential to revolutionize dispute resolution. AI-enabled evidence fabrication and high friendly-fraud concern raise the bar for evidence collection.

AI in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 65% of global eCommerce chargeback managers said automation and artificial intelligence could revolutionize dispute resolution in 2024.[1]
  • Generative AI enabled attackers to fabricate hyper-realistic product-defect evidence for refund claims in Chinese e-commerce, based on interviews with 17 merchants and 13 platform workers in 2026.[2]
  • One large retailer averaged more than 1,000 AI-generated fraud calls per day in 2025.[3]
  • 37% of merchants planned to adopt AI-based fraud-prevention tools in 2026.[4]
  • 74.4% of retailers described friendly fraud as a significant concern in 2026, increasing demand for AI-enabled prevention.[5]
  • Three in ten fraud attempts targeting major retailers were estimated to be AI-generated in 2025.[3]

Automation in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 76% of global eCommerce chargeback managers reported stable or increasing chargeback rates year over year in 2024.[1]
  • 55% of merchants said their chargeback-management process was too time-consuming, complex and manual in 2024.[6]
  • Retailers won 47% of the disputes they challenged in 2024.[7]
  • Retailers challenged 39% of their disputes in 2024, according to a global fraud-trends survey.[7]
  • 95% of U.S. eCommerce merchants expressed interest in innovative tools to combat friendly and chargeback fraud within the following year in 2024.[1]

Digital Transformation in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 80% of financial services firms reported active AI use in 2026, up from 31% in 2025.[8]
  • 27% of financial services firms reported financial benefits from AI in 2026, up from 14% in 2025.[8]
  • 84% of financial services firms said integrating front-, middle- and back-office systems into one platform is important in 2026.[8]
  • 26% of financial services firms reported using agentic AI in 2026, according to a global digital-transformation study.[8]
  • 43% of financial services firms said they will need an entirely new technology stack to succeed in the age of AI.[8]

Technology Adoption in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 35% of financial institutions adopted or improved generative-AI capabilities during the 12 months covered by the 2024 survey.[9]
  • About one-third of financial services companies reported using generative AI by January 2025, compared with 21% a year earlier.[10]
  • 61% of financial institutions recently adopted AI or improved their AI capabilities, based on a 2024 survey across 11 markets.[9]
  • 54% of surveyed financial services companies had deployed AI initiatives by January 2025, up from 40% one year earlier.[10]
  • 59% of finance leaders reported using AI in their finance function in 2025, according to Gartner’s survey of 183 senior finance leaders.[11]

Cloud Computing in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 82% of financial services firms used a hybrid- or multi-cloud strategy in LSEG’s 2025 global survey.[12]
  • 43% of banking and financial services organizations were moving toward a cloud-first analytics approach in the WNS-Forrester survey.[13]
  • 33% of financial services firms were highly satisfied with cloud-related reductions in operational costs in Capgemini’s 2024 survey.[14]
  • 87% of financial services firms increased cloud investment during the two years preceding LSEG’s 2025 global survey.[12]
  • 91% of financial organizations had at least one cloud platform in 2023, up from 37% in 2020.[14]

Big Data in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 11% of surveyed bank marketers were very confident in the accuracy of the data they regularly used in 2024.[15]
  • 18% of finance firms adopted big-data analytics in the OECD’s cross-country comparison; the European data refer to 2019.[16]
  • 37% of surveyed bank marketers said their bank was on the way to using data and analytics to support strategic goals in 2024.[15]
  • 43% of financial services firms had adopted customer-data platforms at least partially or were scaling them, based on Capgemini’s 2024 survey.[14]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

Teams report fragmented operations: 55% used multiple systems in 2024 and many still want centralized management. Data accuracy and usability remain priorities alongside governance gaps.

Business intelligence in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 55% of global e-commerce chargeback managers used multiple systems to address chargebacks in 2024, indicating fragmented operational intelligence.[1]
  • 65% of global e-commerce chargeback managers recognized automation and artificial intelligence as having potential to transform dispute resolution in 2024.[1]
  • Half of global e-commerce chargeback managers said they wanted a centralized platform for chargeback management in 2024.[1]
  • 95% of U.S. e-commerce merchants expressed interest in new tools to combat friendly fraud and chargeback fraud within the following year in 2024.[1]

Data analytics in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 73% of merchants believed at least 20% of their chargebacks were caused by first-party fraud in 2024.[1]
  • 74% of merchants reported an increase in friendly-fraud chargebacks in 2024, according to Chargebacks911’s 2026 field-report summary.[4]
  • 83.4% of enterprise merchants reported an increase in friendly fraud during the three years preceding the 2026 report.[17]
  • 76% of global e-commerce chargeback managers reported consistent or increasing year-over-year chargeback rates in 2024, increasing the need for trend analysis.[1]

Data Quality in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across U.S. banking and capital markets, 94% of respondents named data accuracy and reliability as a priority in 2024.[18]
  • Across global financial services, 34% of organizations rated their data excellent for accuracy and integrity in 2024.[19]
  • Across significant European banking institutions, 32% did not apply data-quality-management principles to end-user computing in 2023.[20]
  • Across global financial services, 36% of organizations rated their data excellent for quantity and completeness in 2024.[19]
  • Across U.S. banking and capital markets, 86% of respondents named data access and usability as a top concern in 2024.[18]
  • Across banks supervised by the European Central Bank, 28% reported that all data used by critical functions came from golden sources in 2023.[20]

Data Governance in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across financial-services organizations surveyed globally, 43.7% lacked a standardized certification process for analytics content in 2025.[21]
  • Across 35 surveyed banks, insurers, and financial-services firms in 38 countries, 54% had adopted a semantic layer for organization-wide data governance in 2025.[22]
  • Across financial-services organizations surveyed globally, 57.1% identified BI-content testing as the top future investment in analytics governance in 2025.[21]
  • Across global financial services, 54% of companies rated data governance at one of the two highest maturity levels in 2024.[23]
  • Across financial-services organizations surveyed globally, 82.9% had implemented governance policies specifically applying to business intelligence and analytics in 2025.[21]

KPIs in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 55% of merchants said their chargeback-management process was too time-consuming, complex or manual in Riskified’s 2024 global survey.[24]
  • Only 26.4% of disputed transactions were resolved before becoming chargebacks in the four-country merchant survey published in 2025.[25]
  • 44.6% was the average merchant chargeback win rate reported for 2026, while the average net recovery rate was 10.7%.[4]
  • More than 40% of online retailers left chargebacks undisputed in Riskified’s global survey published in 2024.[24]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Request growth increases demand for automated evidence collection and decisioning, with projections to 616M requests by 2031. Adoption interest centers on centralized platforms and AI for some or all tasks.

Growth in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 76% of global e-commerce chargeback managers reported consistent or increasing year-over-year chargeback rates.[1]
  • 65% of e-commerce chargeback managers recognized automation and artificial intelligence as having potential to improve dispute resolution.[1]
  • Chargeback requests are projected to reach 616 million globally by 2031, creating demand for automated management solutions.[26]
  • The global chargeback-management market research suite contains more than 49,000 data points across 61 countries.[26]
  • 50% of e-commerce chargeback managers wanted a centralized platform for chargeback management.[1]

Differentiation in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 73% of merchants believed that at least 20% of their chargebacks were first-party fraud.[6]
  • More than 65% of merchants wanted AI and automation for some or all of chargeback management.[6]
  • 43% of retail chargebacks were fraudulent, while 19% were low-dollar write-offs, in Mastercard’s industry comparison.[27]
  • 26.7% of merchants reported using AI-based fraud-prevention tools, while 37% planned to adopt them in the future.[4]

Strategic partnerships in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 2 Verifi products—Rapid Dispute Resolution and Order Insight—were included in the Austreme partnership expansion into Asia Pacific.[28]
  • 1 global reseller partnership was announced in 2024 between Austreme and Verifi, a Visa solution, to expand dispute-management services in Asia Pacific.[28]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Workforces and change capacity matter for chargeback operations as firms invest in new technologies. For context, Chargebacks911 reported more than 300 global employees in 2026.

Hiring in the chargebacks retail industry

  • Chargebacks911 reported approximately 400 employees worldwide in 2024.[29]
  • Chargebacks911 reported more than 400 employees across North America, Europe and Asia in 2021.[30]
  • Chargebacks911 reported more than 300 global employees in its company profile in 2026.[31]
  • Chargebacks911 reported about 200 U.S. employees in 2023.[32]

Remote Work in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 68% of U.S. financial services workers said they would consider seeking new employment if remote and hybrid flexibility were reduced in 2023.[33]
  • 52.5% of workers in U.S. financial activities teleworked in June 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.[34]
  • 87% of U.S. financial services employees said remote work helped them balance home and work responsibilities in 2025.[23]
  • Across U.S. financial services, 82% of companies offered some form of work-location flexibility in 2025.[35]

Hybrid Work in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 42.2% of remotely workable finance and insurance jobs were hybrid in July 2025 in the United States.[35]
  • 28.7% of U.S. finance and insurance workers were in hybrid work arrangements as of September 24, 2024.[36]
  • 39% of financial services companies offered corporate employees full flexibility over work location in 2024.[37]
  • 54% of U.S. employees with remote-capable jobs worked in a hybrid arrangement in 2025.[38]
  • 52% of financial services companies used a structured hybrid model in early 2024, up from 41% in March 2023.[37]

Employee Engagement in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 20% of employees worldwide were engaged at work in 2025, according to Gallup’s World Poll.[38]
  • 12% of employees in Europe were engaged at work in 2025.[38]
  • 16% of employees worldwide were actively disengaged at work in 2025.[38]
  • 31% of employees in the United States and Canada were engaged at work in 2025.[38]

Change Management in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 60% of financial services executives planned to invest in new technologies as a strategic business change over the next 12–18 months in 2024.[39]
  • 43% of banks reported that senior leaders lacked a clear understanding of transformation in 2025.[40]
  • 53% of banks identified a significant change portfolio requiring prioritization and coordination over the next two years in 2025.[40]
  • 45% of banks reported issues resourcing change agents and stream leads for transformation workstreams in 2025.[40]
  • 49% of financial institutions cited continuous learning and development as a way to prepare for technological change in 2024.[9]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Operational dispute handling connects to customer retention: 62% of e-commerce businesses reported increased customer churn from fraud-prevention measures in 2025. Customer experience and payment-method issues appear as drivers of abandonment.

Customer experience in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 79% of U.S. retail businesses rated improving customer experience and loyalty a high or critical business priority in 2025.[41]
  • 47% of U.S. retail and ecommerce businesses identified payment-method restrictions or issues as a customer-abandonment driver in 2025.[41]
  • 40% of U.S. retail and ecommerce businesses identified pricing confusion as a customer-abandonment driver in 2025.[41]
  • 60% of UK retail customers said a generous returns policy would make them less likely to file a chargeback in 2022.[42]
  • 37% of U.S. retail and ecommerce businesses identified poor user experience as a driver of customer abandonment in 2025.[41]

Customer retention in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 25.9% of U.S. consumers who disputed a charge said the dispute negatively affected their likelihood of purchasing from the same merchant again in 2024.[43]
  • 41% of U.S. sporadic card users said they would not continue using their card after dealing with a charge dispute in 2024.[43]
  • 62% of U.S. e-commerce businesses reported increased customer churn resulting from fraud-prevention measures in 2025.[41]
  • 53% of Canadian e-commerce businesses reported increased customer churn resulting from fraud-prevention measures in 2025.[41]
  • 40.8% of U.S. baby boomers and seniors who disputed a charge said it reduced their likelihood of shopping with the same merchant again in 2024.[43]

Customer loyalty in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 74.2% of U.S. consumers satisfied with a dispute resolution were very or extremely likely to continue using the disputed card in 2024.[43]
  • 68% of frequent U.S. card users who encountered an unexpected charge disputed it with their bank, card provider or merchant in 2024.[43]
  • 28% of U.S. e-commerce businesses ranked improving customer trust and loyalty through seamless experiences as their top fraud-prevention priority in 2025.[41]
  • 86% of frequent U.S. card users who disputed a charge were very or extremely likely to continue using that card in 2024.[43]
  • 60% of UK retail customers said a generous returns policy would reduce their likelihood of filing a chargeback in 2022.[42]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Consumer notification channels shape dispute start points, including 21.0% noticing unclear charges via order-confirmation email in 2024. Brand signaling is less central than evidence visibility and communication timing.

Digital marketing in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 21.0% of U.S. consumers who disputed an unclear charge first noticed it through an order-confirmation email from the merchant in 2024.[43]
  • 13.0% of U.S. consumers who disputed an unclear charge first noticed it on a digital bank statement in 2024.[43]
  • 12.1% of U.S. consumers who disputed an unclear charge first noticed it through a phone alert from their card provider in 2024.[43]
  • 9.3% of U.S. consumers who disputed an unclear charge first noticed it on their bank’s website in 2024.[43]
  • 10.6% of U.S. consumers who disputed an unclear charge first noticed it in a banking app in 2024.[43]

Influencer Marketing in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 7% of financial-services marketers reported folding creator or influencer marketing into other channels rather than maintaining a dedicated budget in 2026.[44]
  • 60% of financial-services marketers reported dedicated and growing budgets for creator or influencer marketing in 2026.[44]
  • 5% of financial-services marketers reported dedicated but shrinking budgets for creator or influencer marketing in 2026.[44]
  • 23% of financial-services marketers reported dedicated but flat budgets for creator or influencer marketing in 2026.[44]
  • 37% of banking executives in a survey of 102 finance respondents recognized influencer marketing as a potent tool for authentic consumer connections in 2023.[45]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Operational friction remains a key constraint: 55% of merchants found chargeback management too time-consuming, complex, and manual in 2024. Evidence demands and undisputed shares limit throughput even as automation interest rises.

Process optimization in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 55% of merchants found their chargeback-management process too time-consuming, complex, and manual in 2024.[6]
  • 65% of merchants worldwide wanted AI or automation for some or all chargeback-management tasks in 2024.[6]
  • 50% of merchants wanted to consolidate disparate chargeback platforms into one centralized platform in 2024.[6]
  • Nearly 60% of merchants left at least two in five chargebacks undisputed in 2024.[6]
  • 53% of cardholders disputed transactions with their bank without first contacting the retailer in the 2024 merchant survey.[46]

Operational efficiency in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 25% of global merchants reported annual chargeback volumes above 1 million transactions in Mastercard’s 2025 survey.[47]
  • 13% of global merchants reported chargebacks averaging at least 2% of total transaction volume in 2025.[47]
  • 39 million chargebacks were prevented by Mastercard Ethoca Alerts in 2025.[27]
  • 110 million chargebacks had been prevented by Mastercard Ethoca Alerts since 2011, according to Mastercard’s 2026 report.[27]
  • Nearly three-quarters of surveyed retailers reported an average 18% increase in friendly fraud over the three years through 2024.[46]

Quality management in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 19% of retail chargebacks were classified as low-dollar write-offs in Mastercard’s 2025 industry breakdown.[47]
  • 43% of retail chargebacks were identified as fraudulent in Mastercard’s 2025 industry breakdown.[47]
  • 64% of retail businesses used chargeback-management software in Adyen’s 2024 U.S. retail report.[48]
  • 73% of merchants believed at least 20% of their chargebacks were first-party fraud in Riskified’s 2024 survey.[6]
  • 68% of retail businesses were considering a payments provider offering a chargeback-liability guarantee in Adyen’s 2024 U.S. retail report.[48]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the financial services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across surveyed finance organizations, 17% were evaluating nearshore locations for future operations in 2026, compared with 13% evaluating offshore locations.[49]
  • Among significant European banks, 67% of outsourcing contracts were sub-outsourced to external service providers in the 2024 analysis.[20]
  • Among significant European banks, outsourcing services accounted for 7.2% of administrative expenses at year-end 2023, up from 6.8%.[20]
  • Among U.S. banks surveyed, 57% had considered outsourcing information technology departments in 2024, the highest share among listed departments.[50]
  • Among significant European banks, 27% of critical ICT contracts were outsourced to external providers located outside the European Union in the 2024 analysis.[20]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Cost pressure is measurable at the unit level, with $84 average retail chargeback amount in Mastercard’s 2026 cost analysis. Rates and spend patterns show how dispute operations flow into budgets.

Pricing strategy in the chargebacks retail industry

  • Retail chargeback rates reached approximately 0.31% of transactions at the 2022 peak in Chargeback Gurus’ retail analysis.[51]
  • The average chargeback amount for U.S. merchants was $110 in Mastercard’s 2025 survey.[47]
  • 52% of retail businesses said fraudulent transactions and chargebacks were a significant business cost in Adyen’s 2024 U.S. retail report.[48]
  • The average chargeback amount for U.K. merchants was $82 in Mastercard’s 2025 survey.[47]
  • The average chargeback amount for Brazilian merchants was $94 in Mastercard’s 2025 survey.[47]

Cost reduction in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 12% of large enterprises reported chargeback-technology costs increasing by more than 25% over the prior 12 months in 2025.[27]
  • 32% of merchant chargeback-management expense was labor cost in Accertify’s merchant study.[52]
  • $84 was the average chargeback amount in retail in Mastercard’s 2026 cost analysis.[27]
  • 27% was the reduction in chargeback write-offs reported in an Adyen Forrester Total Economic Impact study.[53]
  • $82 was the average internal cost per chargeback for merchants in Mastercard and Javelin’s 2026 analysis.[27]

Profitability in the chargebacks retail industry

  • $8 billion to $11 billion in chargebacks were estimated to have been presented to U.S. merchants in 2023.[54]
  • Three in four merchants recovered less than half of their chargebacks, according to Riskified’s 2024 analysis.[24]
  • 324 million annual chargebacks were forecast globally for 2028 in Mastercard’s 2025 outlook.[27]
  • 24% growth in global chargeback volume was forecast between 2025 and 2028 in Mastercard’s 2025 outlook.[27]
  • 60% of merchants left at least 40% of chargeback claims undisputed in Riskified’s 2024 research.[24]

Financial planning in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 27% of merchant chargeback-management expense consisted of chargeback fees in Accertify’s study.[52]
  • 12% of merchant chargeback-management expense consisted of dispute fees in Accertify’s study.[52]
  • 30% of merchants’ chargeback-management costs went to actual chargebacks in Accertify’s study.[52]
  • 43% of chargebacks were disputed by merchants in Accertify’s study.[52]
  • 60% of disputed chargebacks were reportedly won by merchants in Accertify’s study.[52]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Merchants link dispute outcomes to pricing and operating costs, with 38% reporting chargeback costs influenced goods or services prices in 2026. Dispute handling also shifts how much of the transaction base becomes contested.

Product lifecycle in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 38% of merchants said chargeback costs influenced the prices of their goods or services in 2026, up from 32.5% in 2024.[4]
  • $76 was the average cost per disputed transaction in the retail sector in 2024, including lost merchandise, revenue and dispute-handling costs.[1]

After-sales in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 53% of cardholders disputed a transaction without contacting the merchant first in 2024, limiting retailers’ opportunity to resolve complaints through customer service.[4]
  • 81% of cardholders said filing a chargeback felt easier than asking the merchant for a refund in 2024.[4]
  • More than half of small U.S. businesses reported that chargebacks had a detrimental impact in 2024, increasing the burden on post-purchase operations.[1]

Value proposition in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 25% of merchants reported more than 1 million chargeback transactions annually in Mastercard’s four-country survey published in 2025.[27]
  • 13% of merchants said chargebacks averaged at least 2% of their total transaction volume in 2025; the proportion reached 20% among Australian merchants.[27]
  • $110 was the average chargeback amount reported by U.S. merchants in Mastercard’s 2025 global survey.[27]
  • $94 was the average chargeback amount reported across merchants in Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom and the United States in 2025.[27]
  • $54.5 billion was the estimated annual cost of chargebacks to merchants in 2024, including lost sales, merchandise, fees and administration.[1]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Abuse patterns are growing concerns tied to refund or policy misuse, with 64% of merchants reporting increasing first-party misuse in 2026. This increases operational burden for dispute teams.

Ethics in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 38% of merchants said chargeback costs influenced the prices of their goods or services in 2026, up from 32.5% in the previous report.[4]
  • 64% of merchants reported increasing first-party misuse in 2026, while 25% reported increases of at least 25%, globally.[55]
  • Only 3% of merchants reported no incidence of the specified refund or policy abuse types in 2026, globally.[55]
  • 55% of global e-commerce chargeback managers used multiple systems to address chargebacks in 2024, diverting operational resources from core business activities.[1]
  • 61% of merchants reported increased refund or policy abuse in 2026, with 20% reporting increases of at least 20%, globally.[55]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

Digital purchases drive exposure: 63% of merchants’ transactions are digital purchases globally. Chargeback volume is forecast to reach 324M in 2028 and 616M requests by 2031.

Globalization in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 45% of merchants’ chargeback volume globally is attributed to combined first-party and third-party fraud.[27]
  • 324 million chargebacks are forecast globally in 2028, up 24% from 2025, according to Datos Insights.[27]
  • 63% of merchants’ transactions are digital purchases globally, making card-not-present fraud a dominant source of chargebacks.[27]
  • 616 million chargeback requests are projected globally by 2031, representing growth of more than 50%.[26]
  • 61 countries are covered by Juniper Research’s chargeback-management market research suite.[26]

Stakeholder management in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 56% of financial institutions and 59% of merchants reported that chargeback volume increased by more than 10% in the prior year.[27]
  • $17.90 was the average low-dollar chargeback write-off value for financial institutions in the study.[27]
  • 16% of merchants’ chargebacks were low-dollar write-offs, reflecting merchants’ decisions not to pursue some disputes.[27]
  • 55% of global e-commerce chargeback managers use multiple systems to manage disputes.[1]
  • 72% of disputes were identified as fraudulent by issuers across the countries studied, compared with 45% identified as fraudulent by merchants.[27]

Distribution channels in the chargebacks retail industry

  • 95% of U.S. e-commerce merchants expressed interest in innovating tools against friendly and chargeback fraud within the following year.[1]
  • 55% of merchants reported that their chargeback-management process is too time-consuming, complex, and manual.[6]
  • 84% is the estimated potential time saving from automated chargeback dispute resolution tools compared with traditional methods.[1]
  • 63% of merchants’ transactions globally are digital purchases, increasing exposure to card-not-present chargebacks.[27]

Key questions about the chargebacks retail industry

How large is the retail chargebacks problem in 2025, and what share is fraudulent?
Retail chargebacks reached $34 billion in disputed and charged back card transactions in 2025. Retail chargebacks were 43% fraudulent globally.
How fast is chargeback volume and losses expected to grow through 2028?
Global chargeback volume is forecast to increase 24% from 2025 to 2028, reaching 324 million transactions annually. Mastercard forecasts losses rising from $33.79 billion in 2025 to $41.69 billion in 2028, about 7.3% annual growth in losses.
Which companies lead the chargebacks retail industry?
Mastercard leads Gitnux's 2026 chargebacks retail ranking with an Overall score of 9.9, with revenue growth 16.4% and operating margin 57.6% signaled in leading providers. Equifax is the highest-ranked fraud and risk tooling provider at 8.9, driven by revenue growth 6.9% and operating margin 18% in dispute-prevention signals.
What technology shifts are shaping dispute resolution decisions in this category?
Automation and AI are expected to change dispute resolution: 65% of global eCommerce chargeback managers said automation and AI could revolutionize dispute resolution in 2024. By 2026, 74.4% of retailers described friendly fraud as a significant concern.
How is the operating model split between in-house and outsourced chargeback handling?
Retailers reported annual chargeback-technology spending of $100,000 to $500,000, and 50% managed chargebacks fully in-house. Another 34% outsourced chargebacks but retained internal fraud management, while 16% outsourced both functions.
What is a practical benchmark for chargeback outcomes and dispute resolution timing?
The median share of eligible chargebacks disputed and won was 6.65% in a 2026 chargeback-management survey. Only 26.4% of disputed transactions were resolved before becoming chargebacks in a 2025 merchant survey.
Reference

Cite This Report

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APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Chargebacks Retail Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/chargebacks-retail-industry-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Chargebacks Retail Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 11 Nov 2026, https://gitnux.org/chargebacks-retail-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Chargebacks Retail Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/chargebacks-retail-industry-statistics.

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