❓ What Is a Chargeback?
A chargeback is a request from a customer's credit or debit card provider to reverse a transaction following a fraudulent or disputed payment.
The bank will retrieve the funds from Skiddle and return them to the customer unless evidence can be provided to show that the fraud or dispute did not occur.
🎟️ Example
A customer purchases a £40 ticket for your event through Skiddle but is refused entry without receiving a refund.
The customer later disputes the transaction with their bank. The bank refunds the customer and raises a chargeback with Skiddle to recover the funds.
🔍 What Happens When Skiddle Receives a Chargeback?
When Skiddle receives a chargeback:
🔒 The customer's order is automatically placed under manual checking to ensure the funds aren't remitted.
🕵️ Our Finance team reviews the order for potential fraudulent activity.
🛡️ If we believe the chargeback is inaccurate, we have 7 days to defend it with the bank on your behalf.
Skiddle handles the defence of chargebacks free of charge as part of our ticketing service. ✅
💰 Why Do I Have Charges on My Account?
When a chargeback is received, two charges will be applied to your account:
💷 Face-value reversal — the face value of the original disputed order.
🧾 £12.50 + VAT administration fee
These charges are applied as soon as the chargeback is received.
If we successfully defend the chargeback on your behalf, the face-value charge will be reversed/cancelled from your account.
⚠️ Please note: The £12.50 + VAT administration fee remains, as this is a fee passed on to Skiddle by the bank.
💸 What If the Funds Have Already Been Remitted?
If you've already received your remittance before Skiddle receives the chargeback, the charges will still be applied to your account.
You can pay the outstanding charge by selecting the relevant link on your Promotion Centre dashboard. 💳
🛡️ How Can Promoters Avoid Chargebacks?
Chargebacks are commonly raised when:
💳 A cardholder doesn't recognise a transaction.
🎟️ A customer believes they didn't receive the goods or services they paid for.
Skiddle has several fraud-prevention measures in place, including 3D Secure.
We also clearly display your event name on the customer's card statement, helping customers recognise the transaction. 🔐
🎟️ Make Sure Customers Can Attend
It's your responsibility to ensure customers who have purchased tickets are admitted to your event.
If you deny a customer entry, you should issue them a refund through the Promotion Centre.
The most effective way to prevent chargebacks is to make it easy for customers to receive refunds where appropriate. This can help avoid disputes and negative customer experiences. 👍
⏰ How Long Can a Chargeback Be Raised?
A chargeback can be raised up to 180 days after the transaction.
⚠️ These timescales are set by card issuers and may change in the future.
💳 Does This Apply to DirectPay via Stripe?
If you use a third-party payment processor such as Stripe, Skiddle is not involved in the chargeback process, as we are not the merchant of record.
Your agreement is directly with Stripe, meaning you are responsible for handling chargebacks.
Stripe will notify you directly if a chargeback is raised.
Stripe will also notify Skiddle's servers, at which point we will automatically mark the affected order as under review to prevent the ticket from being used. 🔒
Stripe provides its own anti-fraud tools to help prevent chargebacks.
If you need additional evidence to help defend a chargeback, we're happy to provide this where possible. 📄
📚 More Information
🔗 Want to learn more about chargebacks and how to avoid them? See our full guide here.