Ethoca, a Mastercard company, has announced an expansion of its collaboration with Microsoft that will bring Microsoft customers simple access to their digital purchase receipts through their banks’ mobile applications, enabled with Ethoca’s Digital Receipts service.
The move is designed to give customers more transparency about their online purchases, to eliminate transaction confusion and simplify the overall payment journey.
Ethoca notes that it is not uncommon for digital goods providers to experience false claim rates of 80% or higher from consumers who often fail to recognize their own purchases, or those of family members who have access to payment credentials. This results in a growing number of consumers using the dispute cycle unnecessarily.
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According to Mastercard, this growing phenomenon accounts for an increasingly large share of global chargeback volumes estimated to reach more than 615 million by 2021.
It also adds friction for consumers who unknowingly contest legitimate transactions that result in unintended fraud claims, as well as future false declines from their bank. Mastercard estimates that card issuers and merchants alike incur $15-$70 in operational costs for every dispute.
US Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin and US Small Business Administration According to a recent Ethoca-commissioned study by research firm Aite Group, 93% of surveyed consumers said more information, including a picture of the printed receipt, would have been helpful for transactions they ended up reporting to their financial institution as unrecognized or unauthorized.
Ethoca’s Digital Receipts service enables businesses including Microsoft to make this information available to their customers through card issuing banks currently enrolled in Ethoca’s service.
Typically, consumers access this enhanced digital receipt through their bank’s mobile app. The solution is currently live with a Top 5 US bank, with plans for further global expansion throughout the year. Ethoca’s service has been shown to reduce inbound transaction inquiries from consumers to their bank by 15-30%.
“Ethoca is thrilled to be working with Microsoft to solve this challenge upstream – in the bank’s mobile app where consumers have the instant purchase clarity they need to avoid making a false claim,” said Keith Briscoe, Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Ethoca. “The only way the industry can solve this growing and costly problem is through industry-wide collaboration between card issuers, merchants and card brands sharing purchase insight in real time through the channels consumers know and trust.”
"This initiative aligns with Microsoft’s commitment to providing the best customer experience at every occasion, including access to Microsoft’s own Azure-based digital receipt and purchase information,” said Stuart Dwyer, Payments Director at Microsoft.
Better information about the transaction at the moment when any doubt arises – typically when the customer is checking the card statement – can be effective for online purchases. It also ties in with Microsoft’s commitment to provide customers with insights on how to prevent fraud by using tools such as spending notifications or spending limits, available for example via Xbox family settings.
Microsoft is also actively collaborating with the industry to address the broader problem presented by first-party misuse and fraud to enhance the purchase experience for all customers.”
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