payabl. expands Visa deal to cut merchant chargebacks

payabl. has expanded its relationship with Visa to offer Rapid Dispute Resolution tools to merchants across the UK and EU.

The move gives merchants access to Visa's pre-dispute automation through payabl.one.

The arrangement focuses on dispute management at a time when chargebacks and so-called friendly fraud are putting merchants under growing pressure. With the integration, merchants using payabl.one can manage dispute activity from the same platform they use for payments, business accounts, and payouts.

Visa's Rapid Dispute Resolution service is designed to let merchants resolve disputes automatically before they become chargebacks. The system can also support refunds at the pre-dispute stage, which could reduce friction for customers after a sale.

The expansion extends payabl.'s work with Visa beyond payment acceptance and into post-purchase processes. It also reflects a wider shift in merchant priorities as disputes become a bigger operational and financial issue for online businesses.

Dispute pressure

Research cited by payabl. found that chargebacks are now among the most common forms of fraud affecting businesses. In its survey, 31% of UK-based merchants said they had been targeted by friendly fraud, while 71% said current chargeback rules favour customers and cost businesses money.

Visa's own fraud report pointed in the same direction: 64% of merchants reported an increase in first-party misuse over the past year, and one in four said those increases were 25% or more.

The cost of handling those cases is also rising. According to Visa, the average cost of resolving a single first-party misuse dispute now exceeds USD $80, marking the third consecutive annual increase.

At the same time, merchants are under pressure to contain spending. Figures cited by payabl. showed 29% of merchants now see cost minimisation as their top fraud management priority, even as many expect spending on fraud tools and staff to remain flat or fall.

That backdrop helps explain the emphasis on automation in the latest tie-up. Rather than treating fraud solely as an issue at checkout, merchants increasingly have to manage what happens after the transaction, including claims, disputes, and chargebacks.

"In payments, every second counts. Our collaboration with Visa brings merchants faster resolution, fewer chargebacks, and a better experience for their customers," said Oleg Stefanets, Chief Risk Officer at payabl.

"By embedding pre-dispute automation into payabl.one, we're reducing friction where it matters most: after the sale. Alongside our fraud monitoring capabilities, this helps merchants reduce dispute ratios. It's another step in our mission to make money flow, giving businesses clarity and control across every transaction."

Platform role

For payabl., adding Visa's dispute tools strengthens payabl. one's role as the main interface for merchants managing different parts of the payments process. The platform is positioned as a single place to handle online and in-person payments, multi-currency accounts, and payouts, with dispute features now sitting alongside those services.

The integration is intended to improve visibility over payment flows and dispute activity. For merchants operating across multiple markets, that may reduce the need to move between separate systems when a payment issue arises after a transaction has been completed.

Visa framed the arrangement as part of a broader push to address disputes earlier. By automating decisions in real time at the pre-dispute stage, card issuers and payment providers can reduce the number of cases that develop into formal chargebacks, which are typically more expensive and time-consuming to handle.

Dan Parsons, Head of Acceptance Sales at Visa Europe, said the focus is on limiting the business impact of disputes before they escalate.

"Proactively managing disputes is critical to reducing their impact on merchants' businesses.

Together with payabl., we're enabling European merchants to address disputes earlier and automatically in a way that minimises disruption and helps build the trust needed to support their long-term growth."

After the sale

The post-purchase stage has become a more prominent area of fraud and risk management as more merchants report problems linked to first-party misuse, sometimes described as friendly fraud. In those cases, a genuine customer may dispute a legitimate transaction, creating costs for the merchant even when no traditional payment fraud has occurred.

Stefanets said that shift is changing how merchants allocate time and resources.

"Fraud is no longer just something merchants deal with at checkout; it's increasingly happening after the sale.

What we're seeing is a shift from prevention to management, where teams are spending significant time handling disputes, chargebacks, and claims. By automating decisions earlier in the lifecycle, merchants can reduce dispute volumes, stay within scheme thresholds, and take back control of how money flows."