Based in the United Arab Emirates, Dropship is a global SaaS platform that helps micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), including early-stage direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, launch and grow. The company operates through a business to small and medium business (B2SMB) model, where customers pay membership fees for access to platform resources, including tools that help them find products to sell, track competitors and analyze ads.

Dropship was experiencing high fraud and chargeback rates driven by common B2SMB issues like recurring billing problems, fraudulent or unauthorized payment claims and possible first-party misuse. In mid-2024, their chargeback rate peaked at 0.93%, approaching the 1% threshold set by their payment processor. Every chargeback potentially incurred a fee of $15–30 and took staff an hour to process, so Dropship needed to take control of its chargeback rate and avoid: 

• Paused payouts or limited payment processing
• Revenue loss from failed account signups or renewals
• Elevated churn and a surge in customer support requests
• Financial, operational and other impacts on customers

Dropship sought to lower its dispute rate to the ~0.15% industry benchmark and worked with partner Chargeback to implement Verifi, a Visa Solution. Using Resolve dispute solutions, Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR) and Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN), Dropship had control to customize decision criteria and resolution pathways with real-time dispute data.

With RDR, eligible Visa transactions are automatically refunded before a chargeback is filed, saving Dropship considerable time and effort since Visa transactions represent more than 50% of its dispute volume. CDRN sends real-time alerts, enabling Dropship to resolve issues with Visa and non-Visa cardholders before chargebacks are initiated. Chargeback's integration of CDRN allows automatic refunds of eligible transactions based on pre-defined thresholds, reducing missed responses and preventing alerts from escalating.

Verifi, a Visa Solution, helped Dropship streamline and automate dispute handling, avoiding high-risk merchant lists that may trigger fines and limit future processing options.

Within three months of implementation:

• All Dropship’s dispute metrics improved: their dispute rate fell from 0.93% to 0.16% and their fraud rate dropped from 2.22% to 0.59%. Over the following 12+ months, the rates stayed within normal industry ranges while payment volume increased 105%.
• Dropship saved $26,000+ in avoided dispute fees — more than $52,000 when representment fees and administrative costs are included — and avoided ~900 hours of manual work, equaling ~$20,000 in labor cost savings. Automating the match-and-refund step also helped reduce missed responses and prevent alerts from escalating.
• Dropship can now easily meet their payment processor’s compliance threshold and is no longer at risk of paused payouts, limited processing or being added to high-risk merchant lists.
• Significant automation combined with early intervention allows Dropship to scale safely while maintaining financial stability and trust with its payment processor.