How to work out your chargeback rate
- Count this month's disputesChargebacks received, won or lost. Inquiries that never moved money don't count.
- Count this month's ordersCard transactions on every network.
- DivideDisputes ÷ orders × 100. Twenty disputes on 2,000 orders is 1%.
- Repeat per processorEach processor and network counts its own way, so check them separately.
- Compare with the linesThe chargeback ratio calculator shows your rate against Visa's and Mastercard's.
The lines that matter
- 0.5%: where Visa's acquirer portfolio thresholds start, which is why acquirers watch merchants well below the merchant levels.
- 0.75%: Stripe describes dispute activity above 0.75% as the industry's "excessive" marker.
- 1%: processors and card networks start flagging stores at around 1% of orders disputed.
- 1.5%: Visa's and Mastercard's merchant levels, each with a minimum count (1,500 fraud reports plus disputes for Visa in most regions, 100 chargebacks for Mastercard).
Why an average would mislead
- Volume changes everything. One dispute in 45 orders is about 2.2%; the same dispute in 1,000 orders is 0.1%.
- Each network counts differently. Visa's VAMP adds fraud reports to disputes; Mastercard divides by last month's transactions.
- Won disputes still count, so a store that wins often can still have a high rate.
- What you sell matters. Subscriptions, digital goods and high-ticket electronics are among the categories acquirers often treat as higher risk.
Example: 19 disputes on 3,200 orders
A store with 3,200 orders and 19 disputes in a month has a rate of about 0.59%. It is under Stripe's 0.75% marker, but 6 more disputes would take it past that, and 13 more would put it at 1%. That headroom, not an industry average, is the number to watch.
More questions
What chargeback rate does Stripe consider excessive?
Stripe describes dispute activity above 0.75% as the industry's excessive marker. The card networks have their own lines: Visa's merchant Excessive level is 1.5% with at least 1,500 counts in most regions, and Mastercard's ECM level is 1.5% with at least 100 chargebacks.
Should I compare my chargeback rate with other stores?
Only loosely. Rates depend on volume, products, processors and how each network counts, and won disputes still count, so another store's figure tells you little. Compare your own rate month to month against the published lines instead.
See it on your own orders.
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Sources
- Stripe Docs: Measuring disputes (checked October 5, 2026)
- Visa: Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program fact sheet (2025) (checked October 5, 2026)
- Stripe Docs: Dispute and fraud card monitoring programs (checked October 5, 2026)
Last reviewed by Verdikx Research.