Gift card aggregators need to track losses after payment authorization as well as at checkout, Runa argues in a July 2026 analysis of reseller fraud. Once a code has been delivered and spent, a later chargeback can remove revenue while leaving the aggregator unable to recover the value.

Runa identifies four recurring patterns: bulk purchases using stolen card details, purchases through compromised customer accounts, refund abuse by genuine buyers, and claims supported by fabricated images or screenshots. A legitimate-looking payment does not establish that the account is secure or that a later refund claim is valid.

The company cites Riskified’s comparison showing gift cards to be around four times as exposed to chargebacks as physical goods. It separately references Mastercard and Datos Insights’ 2025 estimate of an average US chargeback of about $110, using the figures to illustrate the pressure disputes can place on reseller margins.

Monitoring refunds, chargebacks and delivery records

Runa recommends combining checkout checks with monitoring of account behavior and refund patterns after purchase. It also suggests examining prospective business customers’ dispute histories during onboarding, where that information is available.

For disputes that do occur, the company proposes matching chargebacks to order and delivery records and tracking evidence deadlines. That reconciliation work supports timely responses; it does not prevent a chargeback from being filed or guarantee that a merchant wins.

The analysis distinguishes a payment processor’s authorization and dispute services from the controls needed throughout gift card delivery and refund handling. Runa’s central recommendation is to identify the point at which each loss occurs and assign a corresponding control, instead of treating fraud protection as a single setting.