Re:The $10 Payment That Cost Me $43.95 – The Madness of SaaS...
by tortilla on Monday September 15, 2025 @12:51PM
(#45251978)
My niche SaaS (monthly subs, no annual) gets about 1 or 2 chargebacks a year.
I give instant refunds, we are very lenient with our terms, and I've made the unsubscribe flow 2 clicks from email or dashboard (want to cancel? click. Are you sure? click. Done. Confirmation email). Every subscription email also includes short instructions on cancellation.
Even with a very customer friendly posture, the chargebacks fall into three categories:
- bad experiences with other companies, so instant chargeback instead of emailing or calling
- miscommunication between customer departments (accounting doesn't know about the subscription and chargeback)
- fraud or lying about usage
We've won about 50% of the chargebacks disputes. I recently added an admin interface that has a chargeback defense function that compiles evidence into a handy package I can upload to Stripe to dispute.
I give instant refunds, we are very lenient with our terms, and I've made the unsubscribe flow 2 clicks from email or dashboard (want to cancel? click. Are you sure? click. Done. Confirmation email). Every subscription email also includes short instructions on cancellation.
Even with a very customer friendly posture, the chargebacks fall into three categories:
- bad experiences with other companies, so instant chargeback instead of emailing or calling - miscommunication between customer departments (accounting doesn't know about the subscription and chargeback) - fraud or lying about usage
We've won about 50% of the chargebacks disputes. I recently added an admin interface that has a chargeback defense function that compiles evidence into a handy package I can upload to Stripe to dispute.