> In the case of fraud (like the article's example of a thieving storefront), banks can simply reverse the transfer. This is not an all-or-nothing deal where CCs are always safe because of theoretical chargebacks, and bank transfers are not.

US wire transfers generally can't be reversed --- sometimes, if an error is noted immediately, and the destination bank cooperates, they'll send the money back; but the recipient can pull cash out immediately or wire the funds somewhere else immediately, and then your recourse is through the courts. ACH transactions are like checks; they can be reversed, but only if there was a mistake or they were unauthorized, not because of a service complaint; again, if you have a service problem, recourse is through the courts.

I'm not sure how that works on the continent for transfers, but with cards or PayPal the chargeback/dispute policies are usually pretty clear. Basically, the merchant is always wrong for even being in the neighborhood of a disputed transaction. If you don't have a signed delivery confirmation for your card-not-present transaction, you're out of luck.

Banks in US take 30-60 days to review a complaint and maybe reverse a transfer. This means that you don't get your money back for months at a time.

> I worked on a PSP for a largeish adult entertainment business, and I remain convinced that most porn chargebacks are a case of "post nut clarity".

Being ashamed of an impulse purchase certainly counts as a reason to regret-- and potentially request a chargeback for-- such a purchase.

Chargebacks are for unauthorized transactions and broken contracts, not anything you regret. Attempting to chargeback an authorized transaction where you received the goods or services is a felony.

Also a chargeback is what the bank does to the merchant. From your perspective as the end user, you don't do a chargeback. What you do is you complain to your bank and they decide how to proceed from there.