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Chargebacks911 warns merchants of three-way returns trap

Thursday, November 12, 2026 — 17:21:14 (UTC)

Chargebacks911 warns merchants of three-way returns trap

Preventable return fraud and abuse costs US retailers $100 billion annually, according to Appriss Retail's 2026 Total Retail Loss Benchmark Report, representing 14.2% of the $706 billion in merchandise returned each year

Nearly two-thirds of consumers admit to at least one costly returns behavior, according to the NRF and Happy Returns 2025 Retail Returns Landscape Report, while separate research found return fraud increased for 44% of merchants after introducing return fees

Chargebacks911's 2026 Chargeback Field Report finds 27.1% of merchant returns involve some form of abuse, with 62% of merchants describing refund abuse as a moderate or significant concern

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 12, 2026 — Black Friday is coming and for most retailers, the returns conversation is already the wrong one, according to Chargebacks911, a global leader in dispute resolution and chargeback management.

The industry is focused on how to tighten policies, add friction and cut losses and that is understandable. According to Appriss Retail's 2026 Total Retail Loss Benchmark Report, US retailers processed $706 billion in returns last year, of which $100 billion, or 14.2%, represented preventable fraud and abuse. That splits into $14 billion in outright fraud and $86 billion in policy abuse: wardrobing, bracketing and the full spectrum of behaviors that exploit generous return windows without technically breaking any laws.

The response from merchants has been logical: tighten up. Add return fees, narrow the window and require proof of purchase but the problem is that the results are anything but straightforward. The NRF and Happy Returns 2025 Retail Returns Landscape Report found that nearly two-thirds of consumers admit to at least one costly returns behavior anyway. And separate research reported by eMarketer found that 44% of merchants who introduced return fees saw fraud go up, compared with only 42% who saw it fall.

The commercial consequences extend beyond fraud losses - according to Appriss Retail's 2026 Total Retail Loss Benchmark Report, eight in ten shoppers say a positive returns experience makes them more likely to purchase from a retailer again. Tightening returns policies may help address abuse, but retailers also need to consider how those changes affect legitimate customers and future sales.

"Here is the trap retailers keep falling into," said Monica Eaton, Founder and CEO of Chargebacks911. "They make returns easier and abuse goes up. They make returns harder and customers walk away. And some of that dissatisfaction can resurface as a chargeback instead. That is not necessarily a better outcome as it can be a more expensive problem dressed up as a solution."

The chargeback consequence matters because it is not always immediately visible. Chargebacks911's 2026 Chargeback Field Report, found that 27.1% of merchant returns already involve some form of refund abuse. And 61.8% of merchants report that chargebacks have increased over the past three years, with friendly fraud growing faster than overall chargeback volumes.

"We talk to merchants every day who are absorbing losses from both sides," said Eaton. "Returns abuse on one side, chargebacks on the other. Treating them as completely separate problems makes it much harder to see the patterns connecting them. If you only look at one side of the customer journey, you are only seeing half the problem."

The merchants who handle this period most effectively are not those with the strictest return policies but those that can see the connection between what happens at the point of return and what happens weeks later in the dispute system, which customers are appearing in both, which patterns are repeating and where an earlier conversation with a customer might have prevented a chargeback entirely.

"Peak season is not the time to discover that your returns data and your dispute data live in different systems and nobody is looking at both," said Eaton. "The question retailers should be asking right now is not how do I stop returns but has to be how do I tell the difference between a genuine customer and a pattern of behavior that is costing me money. That distinction is where the problem actually gets solved."

The complete 2026 Chargeback Field Report is available at chargebacks911.com/chargeback-field-report.

For more information about Chargebacks911 or its chargeback prevention and remediation solutions, visit chargebacks911.com or email info@chargebacks911.com.

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About Chargebacks911 Founded in 2011, Chargebacks911 is the first global company fully dedicated to remediating chargebacks at scale. As industry-leading innovators, Chargebacks911 is credited with developing the most effective solutions for helping businesses manage disputes, remain compliant, and reduce loss in various industries and sectors within the payments space. 

Chargebacks911 provides comprehensive and highly-scalable platform solutions for issuers, acquirers, and their customers - managing chargebacks, related services and post transaction workflows. The company helps decrease the negative impact of chargebacks and provides real-time API connectivity, configurable white-labelled interfaces, and actionable insights, thereby improving revenue retention using data-driven technology to help ensure sustainable growth for every member of the payment channel.     Chargebacks911’s unparalleled category experience and patented Intelligence Source Detection (ISD™) technology help identify the true source of chargebacks, automatically remediates fraudulently filed disputes, safeguards reputations, monitors feedback 24/7 and provides insight to proactively prevent future fraud. www.chargebacks911.com

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Source: Company press release.

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