Alerts model
How pre-chargeback alerts from Ethoca and Verifi prevent chargebacks, and the two integration models for handling them.
A pre-chargeback alert is an early warning that a cardholder has questioned or disputed a transaction, sent before the dispute becomes a formal chargeback. Alerts give merchants a short window to resolve the issue, usually by refunding the transaction, so the chargeback never posts. Preventing a chargeback this way avoids the chargeback fee, protects the merchant's dispute ratio, and keeps the account in good standing with the networks.
Chargeflow receives alerts from the card networks and makes them available through API endpoints and webhook notifications in real time. You can retrieve alerts, check their status, and follow each one through to its outcome: prevented, escalated, or otherwise resolved.
Where alerts come from
Two alert networks supply most pre-chargeback alerts.
| Network | Owned by | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Ethoca | Mastercard | Distributes fraud and customer-dispute alerts from issuers across many card brands, giving merchants a chance to refund before a chargeback is filed. |
| Verifi | Visa | Provides Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN) alerts and Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR). RDR can resolve eligible Visa disputes automatically against merchant-defined rules, so no chargeback is created. |
Ethoca and Verifi cover different issuers and brands, so using both widens the share of disputes that can be caught early.
How alerts prevent chargebacks
When an issuer or the alert network detects a dispute or fraud report, it sends an alert instead of, or just ahead of, a chargeback. If the merchant refunds the transaction within the alert window, the cardholder's complaint is satisfied and the issuer does not proceed to a chargeback. The merchant trades the disputed amount (which would often be lost anyway) for the avoided chargeback fee and a cleaner dispute ratio.
Outcome flow
Consumer makes a purchase
A normal transaction posts to the cardholder's account.
Consumer raises an issue
The consumer makes an inquiry or disputes the purchase with their card issuer.
Chargeflow receives an alert
Chargeflow gets a pre-chargeback alert from Ethoca or Verifi, an early notification about the case.
Chargeflow matches the alert
Chargeflow associates the alert to a merchant and matches it to the corresponding transaction or order.
The case is resolved
Chargeflow resolves the case, typically by refunding the transaction, and updates the alert outcome.
The issuer is informed
The outcome is reported back to the issuer or alert network. The case is resolved without escalating to a chargeback.
Integration models
The Alerts API supports two models, depending on how much control you want over the refund.
Chargeflow Alerts (most common)
Chargeflow automates the full handling of alerts, including transaction matching and refunds where applicable. Merchants and platforms act as passive consumers of the API. The API and webhooks serve as an informational layer that lets you:
- Retrieve alerts and outcomes via the API.
- Embed alert data into your own dashboards, reports, or customer portals.
- Receive event notifications for alert creation and outcome updates, without performing manual actions.
This option requires minimal development effort, since Chargeflow runs the mitigation flow end to end. You can still build automations on top of the webhooks, such as customer tagging or subscription cancellation.
Merchant-managed handling
Chargeflow provides the alerts, but the merchant or platform executes the refund.
Receive the alert
Subscribe to the alerts.created webhook. If you need transaction-level data, also subscribe to alerts.transaction.linked.
Locate and validate
Find and validate the corresponding transaction in your systems.
Perform the mitigation
Issue the refund (or other mitigation) in your payment processor or order management system.
Update the outcome
Update Chargeflow with the final outcome using the Alert Outcome Update endpoint, so Chargeflow can report back to the issuer correctly and the chargeback is prevented.
This option gives you full control over refunds and business logic, but requires more implementation and monitoring to ensure outcomes are updated reliably.
Which model to choose
If your team does not need to control the refund flow, use Chargeflow Alerts. It needs the least code and Chargeflow handles everything. Choose merchant-managed handling only when you must apply custom business logic before issuing refunds.