The largest pre-dispute network in payments. 7,000+ issuers, real-time alerts on disputes before they hit Visa/Mastercard's chargeback flow.
Ethoca is owned by Mastercard and powers pre-chargeback alerting for most of the top 100 issuing banks in the US, EU and UK. When a cardholder calls their bank to dispute a charge, the issuer hits the Ethoca network before raising a chargeback. If you are enrolled, you get an alert within seconds — and a 24-to-72-hour window to refund the transaction before the dispute is formally filed.
Despite being a Mastercard property, Ethoca covers many Visa, Amex and Discover BINs via opt-in agreements. For most merchants, Ethoca catches the majority of friendly-fraud disputes that would otherwise become chargebacks.
ApexPay FZ-LLC is a payments consultancy — we introduce merchants to licensed acquirers, gateways and alert networks, and we do not process payments or hold funds.
Ethoca Alerts is the post-call, pre-chargeback flow described above. Ethoca Eliminator — now branded as Consumer Clarity / Order Insight — runs even earlier: when a cardholder opens their banking app and taps a transaction they don't recognise, the issuer fetches your descriptor, order detail and merchant data inline. Many disputes never even get raised because the cardholder remembers the purchase the moment they see it.
Ethoca alerts must be actioned within 24 hours for most issuers, 72 hours for the long tail. ApexPay's chargeback team monitors alerts 24/7 — refunds fire via your gateway within minutes of the alert arriving. Auto-rules cover the bulk (refund all subscription alerts under $X, refund all alerts on new customers, etc.); the rest hit a human queue with full transaction context.
For most merchants we see 60–80% of disputes flagged via Ethoca before they become chargebacks. Coverage depends on issuer participation in your customer base; US, UK and DACH region issuers have the highest participation.
Yes, partially. Ethoca was acquired by Mastercard in 2019 but maintains opt-in relationships with many Visa, Amex and Discover issuers. For full Visa coverage, pair Ethoca with Verifi CDRN / RDR.
No. A transaction refunded inside the Ethoca alert window is closed at the issuer and never enters the chargeback flow. It does not count toward Visa VAMP or Mastercard ECP ratios.
Alerts are priced per resolved alert, typically $1–$5 depending on volume and region. Compared to a $15–$100 chargeback fee plus lost transaction, the unit economics are clear from day one.
Ethoca, Verifi (RDR / CDRN), representment and dispute deflection to keep MIDs under VAMP and ECP thresholds.
Tell us your acquirers and average monthly disputes. We'll enrol your BINs, configure auto-rules and have alerts firing inside a week.
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