Understanding Chargebacks

Understanding Chargebacks We are all FFW readers for one reason: to make our writing career profitable. We seek answers to the big picture dilemmas. How much should I charge for my writing services? Where can I get good writing leads? Am I financially ready to scrap my day job? Unfortunately, many small details get lost among the bigger issues. One of those details is chargebacks. Understanding Chargebacks As a serious writer, you can learn about the chargeback process here. A general overview is this: a chargeback is a credit card refund initiated Chargebacks were originally created for consumer protection. For example, if a hacker stole your credit card and bought a million pairs of shoes, you aren’t responsible for the bill. However, this consumer protection has evolved into a form of fraud. Many people want something for free- and they use a chargeback to get it. How Chargebacks Affect Writers As a writer, your business model is different than a traditional merchant. However, if you process credit card payments, you are technically a merchant, and as vulnerable as any other business owner. Nearly all merchant processors, including PayPal, Square and similar companies, assess chargeback fees from $20 to $75 each. So if a client hits you with a chargeback in attempt to get your work for free, youve lost the expected money from the gig, fees were charged, and you sacrificed your writing. Bummer. Tips for Preventing Chargebacks First, try to deter fraudulent transactions from happening. 1) Only work for reputable clients. Do your research before agreeing to the deal. See if anyone has posted a scam report online. Review the clients website. Call the company and do a mini phone interview. Or, if the client has an office, drop 2) Have important conversations via email. To fight a chargeback, you need written documentation. Email is a great way to prove your case. 3) Draft an air-tight contract, sign it and make sure both parties have a copy. Next, provide outstanding customer service to prevent a client from claiming the quality of work wasn’t as expected. 1) Don’t accept more work than you can handle. 2) Promptly acknowledge all emails and phone calls. 3) Adhere to deadlines, or at least keep the client abreast of changes. 4) Provide a detailed invoice with the completed assignment. Fighting Chargebacks Fighting chargebacks to get your money back is quite difficult. That’s why prevention is so important. If you dispute a claim, provide written documentation (like your emails and contract). For example, you can use an email conversation to prove the writing was received on time. Also as a writer, you have one very valuable chargeback tool at your disposal that isn’t available to other business owners. The â€Å"products† you sell have copyright protection. Let’s say you wrote an article for an online magazine. The site owner published it, but never paid you. Technically, you own the copyright for that article until you’re paid. If this happens, you can contact the website’s host company and demand a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown. If the site owner doesn’t pay or remove the violating content, the site can be closed down. Therefore, when you draft your contract, add a line that says copyright transfers to the client upon payment in full. This simple phrase could help prevent the client from filing a chargeback (and will expedite a DMCA takedown, if needed). Implementing chargeback prevention strategies now can prevent you losing a lot of money down the road.