Mastercard and Worldpay have formed a new partnership they claim will help merchants to resolve transaction disputes faster and with fewer chargebacks.

Chargebacks – a request for a refund triggered when a consumer disputes a transaction on their account – are a growing issue: industry-wide chargeback volumes are expected to reach 337 million by 2026, a 42% increase from 2023 levels.

Through the partnership, Worldpay, a global payment technology and solutions company, will offer Mastercard’s Ethoca Alerts to its 1 million merchants worldwide. The service provides an early warning system that helps prevent a dispute from becoming a chargeback and reduce potential financial losses due to fraud.

Ethoca Alerts, by Mastercard, works across all payment brands and delivers insights that merchants can use to stop the fulfilment of goods and services. Merchants do not need to change their existing infrastructure or processes to take advantage of Ethoca Alerts. 

The collaboration will also help improve authorization rates for merchants, enabling more of the $2.3tn total transactions Worldpay processes to be completed successfully thanks to fewer erroneously declined transactions.

Johan Gerber, Executive Vice President, Cyber and Intelligence at Mastercard said: “With ecommerce thriving, we’re working to make transactions as safe and as seamless as possible for all parties. This partnership with Worldpay extends our powerful technology to even more merchants around the world, reducing fraud. By working together, we will advance our shared goal of building trust and powering the global digital economy.”

Gabriel de Montessus, Executive Vice President, Global Enterprise at Worldpay said “We’re pleased to bring this solution to the market in partnership with Mastercard to deliver more value and innovation to our clients. Creating more accessible, more flexible and more seamless ways to reduce fraud, while accelerating commerce and protect consumers and merchants is what drives us at Worldpay.”

Between 2022-23 Ethoca Alerts enabled the prevention of $1.6bn in fraud due to chargebacks, helping to protect retailers from fraudulent claims.