⚠️ Chargeback Cost Calculator
Add up the fee, the lost goods, and the non-refunded processing cost to see what a single chargeback truly costs — then project the annual impact from your chargeback rate and monthly volume.
Informational estimates only — not financial advice.
🧮 Cost Out Your Chargebacks
⚠️ The real cost of chargebacks
What is a Chargeback Cost Calculator?
A chargeback is more than a refund — it's a reversal that takes back the sale while you keep none of the costs. You've already shipped the product, you're charged a dispute fee, and the processing fee on the original payment never comes back. This calculator stacks all three into the real per-dispute cost, then scales it to a year using your chargeback rate and transaction volume.
Seeing the annual figure is often the wake-up call that justifies investing in fraud screening, clearer billing descriptors, and faster dispute response — each of which chips away at the rate that drives the total.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a chargeback cost more than the sale?
Because you lose several things at once: the disputed amount and the goods or service you already delivered, a flat chargeback fee from the acquirer or network, and the original processing fee — which is not returned when a payment is reversed. Add them up and the true cost routinely runs well above the transaction value.
How do I estimate the annual impact?
Enter your chargeback rate as a percentage of transactions and your monthly transaction count. The calculator finds your monthly and annual number of chargebacks, then multiplies by the true cost per dispute to project the yearly hit.
What's a healthy chargeback rate?
Card networks generally flag merchants once chargebacks climb toward roughly 1% of transactions, and monitoring programs can add fees or restrictions above that. Lower is always better — this tool shows how quickly even a fraction of a percent compounds over a year.
Is this a precise figure?
No. Actual costs vary by network, acquirer, product margin, and how many disputes you successfully represent. Treat the result as an informational estimate — not financial advice.