Ethoca is Mastercard’s pre dispute alert network, now branded Mastercard Ethoca, that notifies a merchant when a cardholder disputes a charge or confirms fraud with their issuer, before that dispute hardens into a chargeback. The alert opens a short window to refund the transaction and stop the chargeback from ever being filed. On the Visa side the same job is done by Verifi through its Order Insight and CDRN tools and Rapid Dispute Resolution.
Why it matters
Like all chargeback alerts, Ethoca protects the chargeback ratio itself and not just the disputed amount, because a dispute settled through an alert never reaches the count that network monitoring programs measure. That makes coverage valuable to any Mastercard heavy merchant sitting near a threshold. The cost needs managing, since each alert carries a fee and refunding every alert without screening hands genuine fraudsters a free product. The disciplined approach pairs Ethoca with fraud checks so honest confusion gets refunded while clear fraud is still fought.
Related terms
- Chargeback alerts
- RDR (Rapid Dispute Resolution)
- Order Insight (Verifi CDRN)
- Chargeback
- Chargeback ratio