Online payments quietly moved the cost of fraud onto you
None of this is your fault — it’s structural. Card-not-present removed the one thing that protected merchants in store: proof the cardholder was actually there. Here are the numbers, and the verification methods that are meant to help but block your sales instead.
What a chargeback really costs a merchant
The dispute is decided against you
In roughly 85% of chargeback cases the merchant cannot prove the cardholder made the transaction. With no proof, you refund — even when the purchase was genuine.
You lose more than the sale
A single successful chargeback costs about 2.5× the sale value once you count the refund, the shipped goods or delivered service, scheme fees and the staff time to fight it.
And it’s getting worse
Chargebacks grew roughly 45% in 2024. Volume, “friendly fraud” and card-not-present exposure are all trending the wrong way for merchants.
Every dispute has an admin bill
The average chargeback costs around $74 just to process and contest — before the value of the sale itself is written off.
Repeat chargebacks don’t just cost money — schemes penalise merchants who breach dispute thresholds, and can ultimately withdraw your ability to accept cards online at all.
Card-present vs card-not-present
In store — Card Present
- Physical card tapped or inserted
- PIN authenticates the real cardholder
- Fraud liability sits with the bank
- Typically settles same day
Decades of Chip & PIN made this the safest way to take a payment.
Online — Card Not Present
- No physical card, no PIN
- Only stealable data is entered
- Fraud liability sits with the merchant
- Settlement measured in weeks
CPoI closes this gap by making the online payment card-present.
The checks that are supposed to protect you — and block your sales instead
3-D Secure / OTP
Blocks salesOne-time passcodes add friction, arrive late or never, and are a leading cause of abandoned baskets. When they fail, the sale is lost — not the fraudster’s.
CVV / AVS
Blocks salesThe three digits on the card and a billing postcode are trivially available to anyone holding stolen details. They prove data, not a person.
Anti-fraud AI scoring
Blocks salesRisk models decline first and ask questions never. Around 65% of what they block is a real customer — the single most expensive error in the funnel.
Biometric / app step-ups
Blocks salesFace and fingerprint checks depend on enrolment and the right device. They stall unfamiliar shoppers and still leave the merchant liable.
CPoI doesn’t score the risk. It removes it.
Instead of guessing whether a shopper is genuine, CPoI has them prove it the way they do in store — tap the card, enter the PIN. A card-present authentication means there is nothing to dispute and nothing to wrongly decline. The liability moves to the bank, and your good customers get through.
See it for merchantsThe facts point one way.
Bring card-present security to your checkout and stop underwriting card-not-present fraud.