Sift announced that it was acquiring Chargeback.com this past week, the second recent buyout of a chargeback mitigation company. Earlier this month, Chargehound announced its acquisition by PayPal. The terms for both acquisitions were not made public.
The acquisitions show the chargeback mitigation space is heating up as booming eCommerce means heavy growth in card-not-present transactions and ensuing chargebacks. Sift is also not the first pre-transaction fraud prevention company to dip its toes in post-transaction payment dispute remediation. Riskified for one already has a team doing just that.
With the addition of Chargeback.com to Sift’s platform, merchants will gain access to a complete solution that addresses risk before, during, and after user transactions, the company said in a press release announcing the stitch up.
“Preventing chargeback fraud is the critical ‘last mile’ of stopping payment fraud entirely,” said Marc Olesen, President & CEO of Sift. “With the addition of Chargeback’s team, technology, and partners, our customers gain a true hub for fighting all types of fraud and abuse while creating a more seamless experience.
“As a longtime Sift partner, we’ve seen how effective full fraud coverage has been for joint customers using Chargeback’s integration with Sift,” said John Munro, CEO of Chargeback.com. “Now, as one company, we have an incredible opportunity to provide a single solution to merchants so they grow with less risk.”
Chargehound also was a partner with its suitor before being purchased by PayPal. It will be interesting to see if any of the multi-billion dollar fraud prevention companies make a play for the remaining chargeback mitigation companies left in the market. Some interesting takeover targets could be the well established Chargeback Gurus or the more recent upstart AcroCharge.
