Ethoca, a Mastercard company, launched Consumer Clarity to help tackle the growing chargeback crisis. Now, with this tool available, merchants have a powerful asset to stop many types of chargebacks before they are ever filed.

This is good news for merchants… as well as the banks who represent them.

What is Consumer Clarity?

Consumer Clarity (formerly known as Ethoca Eliminator) provides merchants the ability to prevent many chargebacks before they happen.

If a cardholder has an inquiry, the Consumer Clarity can provide an automatic response in real-time. Responses provide buyers with additional information such as shipping confirmation, cancellation number, or product name, preventing those inquiries from becoming chargebacks.

The simplification of this transaction inquiry response helps merchants and acquirers differentiate between valid and illegitimate disputes. It can streamline the dispute process and even prevent many disputes from happening.

Consumer Clarity Benefits for Acquirers

For acquirers, the benefits of Consumer Clarity are twofold.

First, the platform improves the dispute resolution process for merchant clients by allowing them to respond to and resolve disputes that might otherwise have become chargebacks. Merchants are less likely to see chargeback-related problems with business continuity, which benefits the acquirers who work with them.

Second, Consumer Clarity benefits merchants directly by streamlining overall chargeback operations. It improves communication between merchants and issuers and simplifies the transmission and reception of documentation. It also automates as much of this internal processing as possible.

How Does Consumer Clarity Work?

Under the previous system, merchants and acquirers would only be notified of a dispute upon receipt of a chargeback notification. By contrast, Consumer Clarity cuts straight to the heart of a dispute before a chargeback is filed:

The process begins with a transaction inquiry that is automatically communicated to the merchant. Banks and card networks can recall critical information quickly and efficiently. This lets the merchant supply the buyer with details about the transaction that could eliminate the need for a chargeback.

Complaints that cannot be successfully resolved through Consumer Clarity will proceed as a normal chargeback. This happens only as a last result if no other resolution can be reached.

There are two key functions of Consumer Clarity:

• Self-Service: When reviewing their online statement, a cardholder can simply click on the transaction in question. This lets them see in-depth transaction details to hopefully identify transactions easier. This way, they can resolve questions without filing a chargeback.
• Real-Time Transaction Lookup: If a customer contacts their bank about a transaction, the issuer can consult Consumer Clarity and receive the relevant transaction details. Again, this will hopefully provide the details necessary to avoid a chargeback.

Sharing Information Through Consumer Clarity

Consumer Clarity operates in a manner similar to Verifi Order Insight but applied to Mastercard transactions. It lets you share detailed transaction information in real-time, including:

• Merchant name and company logos
• Merchant contact information
• Customer name and billing address
• Transaction total
• Transaction date
• Item names and descriptions
• Quantity of items
• Shipping confirmation
• Authorization code
• Merchant terms, conditions, and refund policies
• Cancelation number or refund status

Essentially, banks should encourage merchants to include any and all details relevant to the disputed transaction. In this case, more is always better.