Determining Chargeback Liability
For users of Fraud Protection, Bolt indemnifies all orders our system approves that charge back as fraud. We’ll also represent you in merchant-liable disputes. Indemnification means that you’ll never have to spend time or money on fraudulent transactions again.
Learn which transactions qualify for Bolt’s indemnification and which transactions are merchant-liable.
INFO
Merchants who don’t use Fraud Protection are liable for all chargebacks.
Bolt-Liable Chargebacks
If the liability resides with Bolt (usually in the case of fraudulent chargebacks), Bolt assumes responsibility for all fees and costs associated with the chargeback.
Bolt-liable transactions meet all the following requirements:
- The transaction was processed through Bolt
- The shopper paid by card or with Apple Pay
- The purchaser completed checkout themselves (as opposed to a merchant’s agent completing checkout on the purchaser’s behalf)
- For physical goods, the merchant has retained tracking numbers and relevant shipping documentation to help Bolt fight chargebacks.
Examples
- Unauthorized charges: Lost or stolen cards, hacked accounts
- Friendly fraud: Family/friend using card without explicit consent
Submit Bolt-Liable Chargebacks
To qualify for indemnification, the chargebacks team needs access to information about disputes and transactions. Some payment processors automatically send dispute information to Bolt, but for others, you’ll input each Bolt-liable dispute into the Bolt Merchant Dashboard for our chargebacks team to handle.
Use the following table to understand the set up and submission steps for your processor:
| Processor | How to grant account access | How to submit dispute info |
|---|---|---|
| Adyen | Automated dispute handling | n/a |
| Authorize.net | n/a | Manual dispute submissions |
| Bolt Payments | n/a | n/a |
| Braintree | Automated dispute handling | n/a |
| CardConnect | n/a | Manual dispute submissions |
| CyberSource | n/a | Manual dispute submissions |
| NMI | n/a | Manual dispute submissions |
| PayPal PayFlow Pro | n/a | Manual dispute submissions |
| Radial | n/a | Manual dispute submissions |
| Rocketgate | n/a | Manual dispute submissions |
| Stripe | n/a | n/a |
Merchant-Liable Chargebacks
Merchant-liable transactions meet any of the following requirements:
- Product received was not what the customer ordered
- Product was not delivered on time, was never delivered, or was damaged upon delivery
- Customer returned the merchandise but did not receive a refund
- Other merchant errors (poor customer service, unwanted recurring payments, authorization errors, or faulty product fulfillment)
Examples
| Scenario | Description | Bolt Recommends |
|---|---|---|
| Force-approved transactions | Bolt rejected the order, but the merchant overrode the rejection. | Only override rejections if you are confident that the shopper is not attempting fraud. |
| Merchant-placed transactions | Phone orders or in-person orders that the merchant placed on behalf of the customer. | Always use the Virtual Terminal to create orders. Do not go through Bolt Checkout on behalf of your shoppers. |
| Transactions on the merchant’s IP address | Orders placed using the merchant’s IP address generally indicate that the merchant placed the order on behalf of a customer within the merchant’s physical location. This type of backoffice order is not indemnified by Bolt. | Always use the Virtual Terminal to create orders. Do not go through Bolt Checkout on behalf of your shoppers. |
| Altered transactions | Transactions where the order details, such as shipping address or recipient name, are changed after Bolt has approved the order. | If you’d like to change order details and retain fraud coverage, please email Bolt Support with your requested change and we will re-review your order. |
Representment
Follow your payment processor’s dispute representment process.
Bolt Payments users qualify for Bolt’s dispute representment.
NOTE
If you are booking a transaction on behalf of your customer (i.e. phone orders), we highly recommend using the Virtual Terminal rather than booking through your website checkout. Bolt charges only processing fees on orders placed through the Virtual Terminal, and does not charge a Bolt fee. Orders placed through the website checkout will be charged both the processing fee and the Bolt fee, and the merchant is liable for any chargebacks.