The Green Sheet Online Edition

December 14, 2020 • Issue 20:12:01

Readers Speak: Help for the ecommerce crunch

Michael B. Cohen, vice president of global operations at MyChargeBack, reached out recently to inform us about a white paper he published on a timely topic. "Coronavirus social distancing guidelines have resulted in record levels of online consumer spending with online retail purchases increasing by over $100 billion this year. Global consumers plan to do all their holiday shopping online, and scammers see that as an unprecedented opportunity. Consumers, merchants and banks all need to prepare differently to be safe.

"To provide insights into this situation, I've released Network Effect: The Consequences of COVID-19 on Banking, Commerce, and Consumers May Be Permanent and Profound, a white paper available at https://mychargeback.com/whitepaper-coronavirus/. Following are excerpts of note:

• Ecommerce purchase volume rose globally by 15% over the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in the previous year. And Morgan Stanley expects that 2020 will see ecommerce account for a full 23% of U.S. retail sales. Once consumers get used to a new and more convenient way of shopping, there may be no going back.
• Even with the best of intentions, it’s clear that when purchases are made online, with less opportunity to closely examine the purchase or discuss it with the seller, the chances of dissatisfaction go up. In the shadow of the coronavirus, these disputes have become their own pandemic, with April 2020 seeing a shocking 27% increase over the previous year.
• Bank dispute departments are tasked with processing chargebacks pertaining to the credit cards they issued. These departments were already swamped before the shutdown. This will only get worse as volume increases even as staffing grows tighter.

"Mastercard and Visa give consumers the right to dispute charges, but you need to know how to navigate the system to get your money back, especially now. MyChargeBack has helped consumers get refunds on $20 million in credit card spending that they otherwise couldn’t get on their own."

How are you helping?

What are you doing to help people during record-breaking online shopping this holiday season? Tell us about your initiatives at greensheet@greensheet.com.

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