How Certified Email Reduces Chargeback Risk in Ecommerce

E-commerce faces one of its greatest structural risks: the proliferation of friendly fraud and unjustified chargebacks. Although merchants strengthen their anti-fraud systems year after year, it remains practically impossible to predict when a customer will open a charge dispute.

The problem is especially serious in sales where neither the card nor the cardholder are present, such as online reservations, digital products, remote services, or express deliveries.

A Growing Phenomenon

The most recent data (2024–2025) shows a worrying trend:

• Friendly fraud represents between 70% and 75% of all chargebacks.
• 79% of merchants claim to have suffered first-party fraud in the last year.
• Total claim volume has grown more than 19%.
• More than 50% of consumers initiate the dispute directly with the bank, without contacting the merchant.

The economic impact is devastating: in addition to the refund, merchants bear fees, penalties, product loss, and an increased risk of being classified as “high risk” by payment providers.

Why Merchants Lose Most Chargebacks

To reverse a chargeback, it’s not enough to “be right”: card networks require what is known as compelling evidence, that is, convincing evidence that the transaction was legitimate.

Many merchants limit evidence to a purchase confirmation email, but a conventional email cannot be considered reliable evidence since its content is alterable, attachments can be modified, and metadata lacks technical guarantees. When the customer denies having received a product or confirmation, ordinary email offers very little defense.

What is needed is certified, immutable, and verifiable evidence of each relevant communication.

How eEvidence Generates “Compelling Evidence”

eEvidence acts as an independent third party that certifies the content, sending, and delivery of key emails in the sales process.

The operation is simple:

1. The merchant sends their usual email (purchase confirmation, digital delivery, invoice, ticket…).
2. eEvidence receives the message as a technical proxy.
3. Generates an immutable evidence of content, attachments, and metadata.
4. Calculates SHA-256 cryptographic fingerprints of the email as a whole and any attachments it contains.
5. Issues an evidence certificate (eEvid) in an electronically signed PDF.
6. Delivers the email to the customer without them noticing anything different.

The merchant thus obtains evidence about:

• What was sent
• When
• To whom
• Complete copy of the message and attachments
• SMTP record of delivery at destination

The customer receives a normal email, but the merchant obtains robust legal proof ready to be presented as evidence in a dispute.

Recognition by Visa and Mastercard

Both Visa and MasterCard have declared that they will accept certain electronic probative data as proof that the chargeback should not be allowed. This type of documentation is known as “compelling evidence”.

Card networks recognize and validate eEvidence’s certificate as the type of compelling evidence that merchants can present to dispute various Chargeback Reason Codes.

Specific Reason Codes:

The electronic certificate provided by eEvidence is accepted in disputes associated with:

• RC.30 — Merchandise not received: This code is used when the customer claims not to have received the purchased goods. By registering communications, the merchant can demonstrate the existence of the confirmation communication, which helps challenge this claim.
• RC.83 — Disputed digital transaction: This code relates specifically to disputes involving digital services or content.
• Other codes related to deliveries, services, or digital content: In essence, eEvidence’s certificate proves that communication between merchant and customer actually existed.

Proof of Delivery for Digital Products:

In the context of ecommerce, one of the main areas of concern and friendly fraud are electronic goods.

• While in the case of physical goods (products shipped by mail), there is at least the possibility of identifying that the recipient received the merchandise (for example, through courier tracking), with electronic or digital goods (such as music, videos, travel tickets, or event tickets), the dispute often comes down to the customer’s word against the merchant’s.
• This is where the eEvid proves invaluable: in the case of digital products such as flights, tickets for a sporting event, or any other type of digital product, the certificate also proves that the customer received the item.

The goal of possessing this immutable probative documentation is to quickly and extremely cost-effectively demonstrate that the buyer’s claim lacks merit, thus getting the customer to withdraw the claim and pay what they owe. This is essential, as friendly fraud (a practice where a customer fraudulently requests a chargeback, which can reach 86% of claims according to some research) costs retailers $2.40 for every dollar lost, considering penalties and administrative costs.

By using an external provider like eEvidence, an immutable copy of the email and its metadata is created, which shifts the burden of proof from merchant to buyer, decreasing the appeal of attempting a fraudulent chargeback. eEvidence’s certificate is irrefutable, guaranteeing that the authenticity of content and delivery cannot be disputed.

In summary, eEvidence’s certificate acts as the definitive courier tracking for the digital world. Just as a delivery signature proves that a physical package reached its destination (RC.30), the eEvid immutably certifies that communication and, therefore, access to the digital good or service, was completed correctly (RC.83), ending disputes at the earliest possible stage.

Real Impact: Doubling the Recovery Rate

A documented case:

A leading online travel agency in Europe implemented eEvidence to register all purchase confirmations sent to its customers.

Results in 6 months:

• Chargeback recovery rate increased from 8% to 18.7%.
• Significant reduction in open disputes.
• Faster resolution of fraudulent claims.

With a cost per email that can be as low as a few cents, even low-amount disputes become profitable.

The practical recommendation: Certify all emails related to online sales, as any customer could initiate a chargeback at any time.

Conclusion

Conventional email is like a receipt written on a napkin: disputable, alterable, and without legal value.

eEvidence’s certified email, on the other hand, is a digital fingerprint sealed by a third party, verifiable and admissible as proof before banks, card networks, and courts.

In an environment where chargebacks and friendly fraud grow unchecked, preventive certification of communications is not an extra:
it is strategic armor to protect revenue, reputation, and operational continuity in ecommerce.