VAMP and chargeback thresholds for subscription supplements
Autoship is great for revenue and hard on dispute ratios. Here's how Visa's VAMP and Mastercard's chargeback program measure a supplement brand, where the limits sit in 2026, and how to keep a subscription business well clear of them.
What Visa's VAMP measures
The Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program, or VAMP, replaced Visa's separate fraud and dispute programs in 2025. It rolls everything into one number, the VAMP ratio, calculated each month on card-not-present Visa transactions.
- Counts, not dollarsA $39 refill dispute weighs the same as a $390 one, which is why low-ticket subscriptions feel it fast.
- Fraud can count twiceAn issuer's fraud report and the cardholder's fraud dispute on the same order are both in the numerator.
- Some disputes are excludedDisputes resolved through Visa's pre-dispute tools, and fraud reports that qualify for Compelling Evidence 3.0, are left out.
Source: the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program fact sheet.
VAMP thresholds in 2026
VAMP watches two levels at once: your merchant account, and your bank's whole portfolio. That second level matters more than most merchants realize.
- 0.5% and 0.7%: your bank's portfolioVisa flags an acquirer's whole portfolio as Above Standard at 0.5% and Excessive at 0.7%. Banks protect those numbers by dropping the merchants that push them up.
- 1.5%: Excessive MerchantThe U.S. merchant threshold since April 1, 2026, down from 2.2%. You also need at least 1,500 fraud reports and disputes in the month.
- 3%: Mastercard's top tierMastercard's High Excessive Chargeback Merchant level, covered below.
Being identified as an Excessive Merchant has real costs. Visa charges the acquirer a fee for each fraud report and dispute while a merchant stays over the limit, and acquirers usually pass that on. The current fee has been reported at $8 per item. Worse, Visa's rules list a VAMP identification among the grounds for adding a terminated merchant to Visa's merchant screening file, which other banks check before approving you.
Mastercard's Excessive Chargeback Program
Mastercard runs its own monitoring, and its count floor is far lower than Visa's, which is why it often catches smaller subscription brands first.
- Excessive Chargeback Merchant: a chargeback ratio of 1.5% or more, with at least 100 chargebacks in the month.
- High Excessive Chargeback Merchant: 3% or more, with at least 300 chargebacks.
- A different denominator: Mastercard divides this month's chargebacks by last month's transactions, as Stripe's guide to the monitoring programs explains. A slow month followed by a dispute-heavy one can push you over.
- Changes ahead: Mastercard plans to replace its current monitoring with the Global Merchant Audit Program on April 1, 2027. Detailed thresholds haven't been published yet.
Why subscription supplements run hot
A supplement brand selling one-off orders and the same brand selling autoship can have very different ratios. These are the usual reasons.
Forgotten renewals
A customer who signed up three months ago doesn't recognize the fourth charge and disputes it rather than calling you. That's a dispute, and often a fraud report too.
Trial conversions
The first full-price charge after a trial is the single riskiest transaction in a subscription. Our guide to nutraceutical merchant accounts covers how underwriters look at trial offers.
Hard-to-find cancellation
If canceling takes a phone call or a hunt through account settings, some customers go to their bank instead. Each one adds to your ratio.
Small tickets, few transactions
A brand with 4,000 Visa orders a month only needs 60 disputes and fraud reports to reach 1.5%. Growth in volume protects you; a slow month exposes you.
Unrecognized descriptors
"SQ *NTRLWLLNS 8885551234" means nothing to a customer looking at a statement. If they don't recognize it, they dispute it.
Card testing
Fraudsters test stolen cards on low-priced checkouts. Approved test charges turn into fraud reports later, and Visa tracks card-testing attempts as a separate VAMP metric.
VAMP ratio calculator
Enter one month of Visa card-not-present numbers from your processor reports. This is an estimate: Visa's own calculation depends on reporting timing and on which disputes your pre-dispute tools resolved.
How to lower your ratio on a subscription supplement
Follow the free-trial rules to the letter
Clear terms at checkout, a reminder before the first full-price charge, and Mastercard's consent step for physical products. Trials are where most subscription disputes start.
Make canceling easy, and refund fast
A one-click cancel link in every email costs you less than a dispute. Refunds don't count in the monitoring ratios, so refunding a confused customer before they call their bank keeps the dispute out of your numbers.
Send renewal receipts and reminders
A short email when each order ships and before renewals reminds customers who you are before the charge shows up.
Use pre-dispute tools
Visa's Rapid Dispute Resolution and Order Insight, and Mastercard's equivalents, can resolve or answer a dispute before it's filed. Disputes resolved through Visa's pre-dispute tools are excluded from the VAMP ratio.
Fix your statement descriptor
Use your brand name and a phone number or website customers will recognize, and keep it the same on every charge.
Block card testing
Velocity limits, CAPTCHA on checkout, and 3-D Secure on risky orders stop testers before their approvals turn into fraud reports.
Don't try to dilute your ratio by splitting orders, running extra small charges, or spreading volume across merchant accounts to stay under a threshold. Networks and banks look for exactly that, and it's grounds for termination.
VAMP and chargeback FAQs
Does winning a dispute lower my VAMP ratio?
No. The ratio counts disputes when they're filed, not how they end. Winning gets your money back, but only preventing the dispute, or resolving it through a pre-dispute tool, keeps it out of the count.
Do refunds count toward my ratio?
No. Refunds aren't disputes or fraud reports, which is why a fast refund for a confused customer is cheaper than a dispute. Refunding after a dispute has been filed doesn't remove it.
My brand has fewer than 1,500 disputes a month. Am I safe from VAMP?
Not really. The count minimum stops Visa from naming you as an Excessive Merchant, but your ratio still feeds your bank's portfolio ratio, which Visa flags at 0.5% and 0.7%. Mastercard's program also starts at just 100 chargebacks.
What happens if my bank closes my account over disputes?
You may be added to Mastercard's MATCH list or Visa's terminated-merchant file, which makes the next approval harder. A high-risk merchant account is often still possible with clear statements and a plan for what's changed.
What dispute ratio do underwriters want to see?
Lower is always better, and most look closely at anything approaching 1%. Your recent processing statements show the trend, so a falling ratio with a clear explanation can count for more than a single month's number.
Ratio creeping up? Get ahead of it before your bank does.
Send us your last three months of processing statements. A DMS specialist will show you where your disputes come from and what to fix, and whether a different account setup would serve you better.