If i offered my clients a 30 or 60 day money back gaurantee, and for those who chose to cancel service and get a refund...would this be considered a chargeback to my gateway? I will get charged a pretty hefty fee for chargebacks if tihs is true, can someone clarify?

No, a refund is not considered a chargeback.

thanks for the response

Refund is not considered a chargeback. Refudns are much cheaper than chargebacks. Refund is an unforced return of money to customer, chargeback is a forced return of money to customer.

Refund is not considered a chargeback. Refudns are much cheaper than chargebacks. Refund is an unforced return of money to customer, chargeback is a forced return of money to customer.

Pretty much sums it up. Your merchant will usually charge you a chargeback fee, so I'd try and settle whatever dispute you have with the customer via a refund if necessary. If the customer makes a call to his credit card company and files for a fraudulant charge, you'll than see a chargeback on your statement. I've only had to pay fees with Visa and MasterCard; Discover on the other hand is nice with the fact that they'll post the dispute online and you can resolve it without the chargeback fee.

Its always better to refund than for the dispute to escalate to a chargeback, but keep in mind that some merchant service providers can view high numbers of refunds in a negative light. They can be construed as potential chargebacks "that got cut-off at the pass", so to speak, or as indicators of bad business practice or customer dissatisfaction, or insolvency, which can all lead to higher chargebacks in the future.