Which Type of False Decline Happened to You

False declines are fraudulent transactions that credit card companies will classify as declined due to the risk of fraud. However, for many merchants, these transactions can be falsely classified as declines and they may not know it until long after the sale has gone through. There are three types of false declines: chargeback, pre-authorization hold removal, and post authorization hold removal.

Chargeback means that the customer called their credit card company to report that they did not authorize or receive a purchase. This can happen because a merchant has a much stricter return policy than the customer expected, and it is possible for customers to attempt chargebacks if they do not want to go through with returning an item.

Pre-authorization holds occur when your business’s account settings prevent transactions from going through immediately after processing them – this type of decline happens without any notification, so you may be wondering why all of your sales are being declined!

Post authorization holds occur when a customer’s credit card is authorized after processing, but before completing the transaction – if the hold has not been removed within 30 days or so, it will be classified as a false decline by your merchant account provider! To prevent these types of declines, make sure to immediately remove post-authorization holds for all transactions so that you do not lose any more sales than necessary! We recommend doing this manually through your gateway (most gateways have instructions on how to do this) because there are no tools available yet that currently allow merchants to automate their removal process easily.

Also, check your settings on your merchant account – if you have a very strict return policy, this may result in chargebacks.

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