What is an Ethoca alert?
An Ethoca alert is an early notification that a customer has disputed a charge with their bank. Ethoca is owned by Mastercard, and Ethoca alerts mainly cover Mastercard transactions.
When you receive an Ethoca alert, you have a short window to refund the transaction. If the Ethoca alert is refunded in time, the dispute is resolved before it becomes a formal chargeback and does not count toward your chargeback ratio.
How do Ethoca alerts work?
Ethoca has partnered with thousands of banks worldwide. Ethoca alerts work in four stages:
A customer disputes a charge with their bank (the issuing bank).
If that bank is an Ethoca partner, Ethoca is notified right away.
Ethoca matches the transaction to your business using your billing descriptor and sends you an Ethoca alert.
The transaction is refunded through your connected gateway or CRM, and the dispute is closed before it becomes a chargeback.
Note: Ethoca alerts reduce chargebacks, but they don't eliminate them. Coverage is strongest in the US, where most banks are partnered with Ethoca and Verifi. Coverage is lower outside the US, especially in Asia, Africa, and South America.
Are Ethoca alerts refunded automatically?
Ethoca alerts can be refunded automatically or handled case by case, depending on your settings:
Auto-refund on: We refund your Ethoca alerts automatically on your behalf.
Auto-refund off: You choose which Ethoca alerts to refund and which to let proceed to a chargeback so you can fight it.
Important: Ethoca doesn't check whether a customer's dispute is valid or whether the order was delivered. An Ethoca alert only signals that a dispute was filed. Even if you win a chargeback, it still counts toward your chargeback ratio, so refunding the Ethoca alert is the only way to keep that dispute off your ratio.
How are Ethoca alerts different from RDR and CDRN?
The table below compares Ethoca alerts with the two Verifi (Visa) alert programs you can enroll:
Program | Owned by | Card networks covered | Counts in Shopify's chargeback rate? |
Ethoca | Mastercard | Mainly Mastercard | No |
CDRN | Verifi (Visa) | Mainly Visa | No |
RDR | Verifi (Visa) | Visa only | Yes |
Ethoca alerts usually arrive 6–8 days earlier than RDR cases for the same dispute, and an Ethoca alert never appears as a lost dispute in your processor dashboard.
How long do Ethoca alerts take to go live?
Ethoca alerts usually go live 2–3 business days after you select Ethoca as an enrollment program. Ethoca activates independently, so it can go live before your other programs.
To learn how to find your billing descriptor and make sure it's specific enough for enrollment, see What is a billing descriptor, and why does Disputifier need it?
What do I need to enroll in Ethoca alerts?
To enroll Ethoca alerts, you need:
A billing descriptor that is specific to your business, since Ethoca uses it to match transactions to you
A connected gateway/CRM, so Ethoca alerts can be refunded
Ethoca selected as an enrollment program
Need help?
If you have questions about Ethoca alerts, or your Ethoca alerts haven't gone live within 2–3 business days, contact our support team through live chat.