Accepting credit cards from customers can help encourage payments, but the practice has its downside: the occasional fraud-related chargeback.

Sometimes it’s legit. Other times, it’s just a misunderstanding, or worse –– a customer is trying to pull off some sort of scam.

The bottom line is that you don’t have to sit back and accept some of these chargebacks. The odds are pretty good that you’ll get at least some of your money back, say the folks at CyberSource.

Having fraud-related chargebacks reversed is a fast way to cut your costs and boost revenue.

It’s far from certain, but you stand to come out on top nearly half of the time. In fact, merchants successfully challenge the chargebacks on average 40% of the time.

And that results in net recovery of 28% of all chargebacks received.

Of course, your odds of success go up if you have a way to prove delivery or receipt of your items (signatures are the best.) Certain businesses, like those that transmit products or services electronically, should prepare for a tougher time.

Tags: challenge, chargebacks, credit cards, delivery, fraud, reciept