Chargebacks911 has published research showing that a high percentage of merchants link BNPL to increased fraud risk.
The US-based dispute resolution and chargeback management company has released its 2026 Chargeback Field Report, based on survey data from more than 250 merchants. The report finds that 40% of respondents, including merchants that already offer BNPL at checkout, consider the payment method to be a driver of fraud risk. Among merchants that have not adopted BNPL, elevated fraud exposure is cited as the most common reason for staying away, ahead of concerns about business model fit and average order value.
Adoption remains limited despite consumer demand
According to the report, 19.1% of merchants surveyed currently accept BNPL at checkout. Klarna is the most widely supported provider among this group, used by 35% of BNPL-accepting merchants, followed by Affirm at 27%. The findings indicate that adoption levels do not necessarily translate into confidence in the payment method's operational implications. Close to four in ten merchants overall, regardless of whether they currently offer BNPL, associate it with increased fraud and dispute activity.
BNPL has expanded over the past five years by allowing consumers to split purchases into instalments at checkout, offering a straightforward and immediate experience at the point of sale.
The report suggests that this simplicity does not extend to the post-transaction environment, where BNPL introduces additional parties and processes compared with a standard card dispute. As a result, merchants face a more complex dispute landscape that can be harder to monitor and manage once a transaction has been completed.
Dispute visibility as an operational challenge
Monica Eaton, Founder and CEO of Chargebacks911, said that merchants are adopting BNPL primarily to meet consumer demand and improve conversion, describing these as legitimate business drivers. Eaton added that introducing a new payment method without understanding how disputes are handled within it leaves a gap between the checkout experience and the process that follows once a return or dispute arises.
Chargebacks911 positions its Unified Dispute Management System (UDMS) as a tool to address this gap. The system uses AI and machine learning to offer merchants visibility across dispute activity by payment method, aiming to surface patterns in BNPL-related contestations that might otherwise go unnoticed when cases are reviewed individually. The company's ResolveLab service is described as complementing this by tracking dispute volumes and outcomes over time as payment method adoption evolves.
The report frames effective BNPL management as an operational rather than purely a checkout-level decision, with the company official noting that merchants need visibility into dispute exposure and volumes across BNPL transactions relative to other payment methods in order to manage the associated complexity.
