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Price alert vs RDR vs fight vs refund
One dispute has five cash paths. The calculator adds them so you stop arguing from the fee line you like.
Pair: Dispute path price calculator on Chargebacks.
The five paths
Use this contract’s numbers. The calculator’s sample is a $89 ticket, $15 alert fee, $15 RDR fee, $25 fight labor, 35% win rate, $20 chargeback fee. Those are worked examples, not a tariff.
- Alert + refund: alert fee + ticket. You stop the CB if you hit the window. See Ethoca and CDRN.
- RDR: RDR fee + ticket. The rule already agreed to refund. See RDR.
- Refund now: ticket only. No alert fee, no fight labor, no CB fee. The sale is gone.
- Fight (expected): fight labor + the chance you still lose the ticket and the CB fee. At 35% wins, you lose 65% of the time.
- Lose: ticket + CB fee. No labor. The ratio still takes the hit.
On the sample ticket, refund-now is $89. Lose is $109. Alert+refund and RDR sit near $104. Fight EV is labor plus 0.65 × $109, so it is rarely the cheap path unless your real win rate is high and the packet is real.
Headroom overrides EV
This is cash on one ticket. It is not permission to ignore the MID. If remaining primary CBs this window are thin, refund even when fight EV looks pretty. Pair with refund to spare the ratio and rate vs threshold.
What this is not
This is not a win-rate forecast. This is not representment. Put last quarter’s win rate for this family. If you do not have it, you do not fight for sport.
Related: refunds (the credit), payments (fees on the statement), alert refund vs fight by fee (rate-aware alert decision).
Procedure
- Put the real ticket and the real fees from this contract.
- Put a win rate from last quarter, not a hope.
- Read the cheapest path. Then look at remaining headroom.
- If the MID is near threshold, refund even when fight EV looks pretty.
Failure modes
- Ignoring the ratio when headroom is thin.
- Using a 90% win-rate hope.
- Comparing alert fee without the refund.
Worked example
None on this page yet. When one lands it will be a real case: what broke, the number, and what changed. Not a composite.
Glossary
- Expected fight cost
- Fight labor plus the chance you still lose the ticket and the chargeback fee.
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FAQ
- Is the cheapest path always the right path?
- No. If the MID has a handful of primary CBs left this window, refund even when fight EV looks better. The MID is the constraint.
- What win rate should I type?
- Last quarter on this family, on this MID. Not 90%. Not a vendor slide. Blank hope makes fight look cheap.
- Does the alert fee include the refund?
- No. Alert-plus-refund is fee plus the ticket. RDR is fee plus the ticket. Comparing fee-only is how you pick a path that still costs the sale.