Acceptable Chargeback Rate: What Is the Limit and How to Stay Below It

How Is the Chargeback Rate Calculated?

The math is simple, and you should be able to do it in your head. The chargeback rate is the number of chargebacks divided by the number of approved transactions in the same period, multiplied by 100:

• Formula: (chargebacks ÷ approved sales) × 100 = rate in %.
• Example: 5 chargebacks in 1.000 sales result in 0,50%.
• Another example: 9 chargebacks in 1.000 sales result in 0,90%, exactly at the tolerated ceiling.

Some systems calculate by value instead of by count, meaning how much of your revenue came back as a reversal. The principle is the same: it's the slice of your volume that turned into a dispute. The point to watch is the period. An operation that had a weak sales month and a concentrated batch of chargebacks can see the percentage climb fast, because the denominator shrank. That's why the number needs to be tracked closely, not checked once a quarter.

What Is the Acceptable Chargeback Limit?

At Mundpay, the maximum tolerated limit is 0,90% of transacted volume. Translated into everyday terms: out of every 1.000 approved sales, up to 9 can turn into a chargeback before the account enters a risk zone.

It's worth treating this number as a ceiling, not a target. Operating right up against 0,90% is operating at the edge of safety, with no margin for a worse month. The healthy scenario is staying well below it, leaving room for the natural swings of any sales operation. Anyone working with Nutra and Info for international markets, where dispute risk is structurally higher, needs that margin even more than someone selling domestically.

The important detail is that this ceiling isn't a whim on Mundpay's part. It reflects what acquirers and card networks consider acceptable. You can check the full cost and limit structure on the payments and fees page, where the percentage sits alongside the other account terms.

What Happens If You Exceed the Limit?

Going past 0,90% is not a cosmetic event. It triggers consequences in a chain, and you feel the first one in every individual dispute, well before you hit the ceiling:

• Cost per chargeback: every chargeback costs a fixed R$ 60.00 plus the return of the sale's gross value. In other words, you lose the product, refund the money, and still pay the fee.
• Fines from acquirers: a rate above the ceiling can trigger penalties charged by the processing chain, which treats a high volume of reversals as operational risk.
• Higher reserve: the security reserve, which at Mundpay is 15% of the transaction value for 60 days, exists precisely to cover disputes. High-risk operations can face stricter terms.
• Risk of restriction or block: in persistent cases, a rate chronically above the limit can lead to account restriction. No platform indefinitely sustains an operation that generates losses for the card processing chain.

The honest reading is: the 0,90% limit is not a line you want to test. It's a line you want to keep at a distance, because the cost of crossing it is always higher than the cost of preventing it.

Why Do Card Networks Monitor This?

Chargeback exists to protect buyers from fraud and undelivered purchases. It's a legitimate mechanism. But from the point of view of whoever operates the card network, a high volume of forced reversals is the most direct signal that something is wrong in an operation: fraud, a broken promise, a delivery problem, or a charge the customer doesn't recognize.

That's why card networks and acquirers set limits and continuously track the percentage for every seller. It's not a one-time check, it's ongoing monitoring. The logic is that of an immune system: every operation needs to stay within a behavior range so it doesn't put the trust of the whole chain at risk. Anyone who stays within the limit keeps full access to processing. Anyone who exceeds it ends up in the crosshairs of penalties, because they've become a risk that reaches beyond their own account.

Understanding this changes the seller's posture: the goal isn't to "hide" chargebacks, it's to reduce the causes that produce them, because the system sees the result either way.

How Do You Keep the Chargeback Rate Low?

Keeping the rate below the limit is the result of discipline across a few fronts, not a single trick. The most important ones:

• Clear, immediate delivery. A good share of chargebacks come from a buyer who didn't recognize the charge or didn't receive access. Email confirmation, fast delivery, and clear communication cut into that slice.
• A recognizable invoice descriptor. If the name that shows up on the card statement has no connection to what the customer bought, the reversal becomes reflexive. A clear descriptor prevents the dispute before it's born.
• Fast support. A customer who can reach you and resolve the issue doesn't open a chargeback. One who can't, does. A responsive support channel is chargeback prevention, not just after-sales.
• Active antifraud. At Mundpay, the risk team is proactive and contacts the seller before any restriction. Around 90% of alerts are resolved before turning into a formal chargeback. It's worth digging deeper into how fraud prevention for international digital products works.

For a full view of prevention tactics applied to sales outside your home market, the guide on chargeback in international sales brings together the step-by-step that sustains a healthy rate over time.

What Should You Do If You're Already at the Limit?

If your rate is already brushing up against 0,90%, the answer isn't to panic, it's to act on two speeds at once.

In the short term, focus on resolving disputes before they count against you. Pre-chargeback is an alert issued by the banking system before a chargeback becomes formal. At Mundpay, that alert costs R$ 80.00, and resolving the dispute at that stage keeps it from weighing on your percentage. The guide on how to resolve a dispute at the pre-chargeback stage shows the procedure in detail. Since around 90% of alerts are resolved before turning into a chargeback, this is your point of greatest leverage when the rate is tight.

In the medium term, attack the source. Review the product, the sales page, and the promise: a high rate almost always points to a misaligned expectation somewhere in the funnel. Adjust the invoice descriptor, reinforce support, and engage the platform's own risk team, which at Mundpay works alongside the seller instead of simply blocking. Reducing the denominator of disputes is what brings the rate back into the safe zone sustainably.