Operations Checklist

TL;DR

• Daily (5-15 min): Auth rate, failed transactions, chargeback queue, fraud queue, deposits
• Weekly (30-45 min): Chargeback ratio trend, win rate, fraud rate by channel, refunds, processor emails
• Monthly (1-2 hr): Statement review, effective rate, reason code breakdown, rule performance
• Oh shit triggers: Auth drops 10%+, 5+ CBs in a day, processor "review" email, payout delay
• Scale: Solo operators just check CB count weekly and respond to disputes before expiry

If you process under 100 orders a day, treat daily checks as a 5-minute dashboard glance. The weekly rhythm matters more than daily noise.

Minimum Viable Version

Solo operators: Check your chargeback count weekly, respond to disputes before they expire, and verify deposits hit your bank. Everything else can wait until you're bigger.

Daily Checks (5-15 minutes)

Skip these if you're under 100 orders/day. Look at the weekly pattern instead.

Check	What You're Looking For	Time
Auth approval rate	Sudden drop (>5% below baseline)	2 min
Failed transactions	Patterns in decline codes	2 min
Chargeback queue	New disputes to respond to	3 min
Fraud queue	Flagged orders awaiting review	5 min
Deposit verification	Yesterday's batch hit the bank	2 min

Sample size matters: If you only had 20 orders yesterday, a single decline moves your rate 5%. Ignore day-to-day noise and look at the weekly pattern.

Traffic Light Thresholds (Daily)

Metric	Green	Yellow	Red
Auth rate	Over 95% of baseline	90-95% of baseline	Under 90% of baseline
Fraud queue	Under 10 orders	10-25 orders	Over 25 orders
Failed auths	Under 3%	3-5%	Over 5%

Weekly Checks (30-45 minutes)

This is where the real patterns show up.

Check	What You're Looking For	Time
Chargeback ratio	Trend toward 0.65% threshold	5 min
Dispute win rate	Tracking representment success	5 min
Fraud rate by channel	Which traffic sources are risky	10 min
Refund rate	Unusual spikes (product issues?)	5 min
Processor communications	Any emails you missed	5 min
Payout reconciliation	All expected funds received	10 min

Traffic Light Thresholds (Weekly)

Metric	Green	Yellow	Red
Chargeback ratio	Under 0.5%	0.5-0.65%	Over 0.65%
Fraud rate	Under 0.3%	0.3-0.5%	Over 0.5%
Dispute win rate	Over 40%	25-40%	Under 25%
Refund rate	Under 5%	5-10%	Over 10%

Monthly Checks (1-2 hours)

Check	What You're Looking For	Time
Processor statement review	Fee changes, rate creep	20 min
Effective rate calculation	Staying competitive	10 min
Chargeback reason code breakdown	What's driving disputes	15 min
Rule performance review	Any rule blocking >1% of traffic	20 min
Velocity threshold review	Still appropriate for volume?	15 min
Reserve/holdback status	When funds release	10 min

Rule Performance Red Flags

If a single rule is blocking more than 1% of traffic or driving more than 20% of blocks, review it. Either the rule is too aggressive or you have a real problem that needs different handling.

Oh Shit Triggers

Stop what you're doing and investigate immediately:

Trigger	What It Means	First Action
Auth rate drops >10% in an hour	Processor issue or you broke checkout	Check processor status page, test a transaction
5+ chargebacks in a day (if normally under 1)	Attack or product issue	Pull the orders, look for patterns
Processor emails about "review" or "risk"	They're nervous about you	Reply within 2 hours, even if just "received, investigating"
Payout delayed without explanation	They're holding your money	Call (don't email) and ask for risk/underwriting
Chargeback ratio hits 0.75%	You're approaching program thresholds	See Reduce Chargebacks Fast
Multiple R10 returns (ACH)	Someone claimed unauthorized	Stop debiting that customer, investigate immediately

Checklist by Team Size

Solo Operator (No Dedicated Payments Person)

Daily: Glance at dashboard for anything obviously wrong. 2 minutes.

Weekly:

• Check chargeback count (not ratio, just count)
• Respond to any open disputes
• Verify week's deposits
• Read any processor emails

Monthly:

• Calculate effective rate from statement
• Review chargeback reasons
• Check if reserve is releasing on schedule

Small Team (1-2 People Touch Payments)

Daily:

• Review fraud queue
• Check for new disputes
• Verify deposits

Weekly:

• Full metrics review (chargebacks, fraud, auth rate)
• Processor communication review
• Reconciliation check

Monthly:

• Statement deep dive
• Rule performance review
• Threshold adjustments

Medium Team (Dedicated Fraud/Payments Person)

Add to the above:

Daily:

• Auth rate monitoring with alerts
• Fraud queue SLA tracking
• Shift handoff notes

Weekly:

• Cross-functional sync (fraud + support + finance)
• Vendor performance review
• Channel-level fraud breakdown

Monthly:

• Vendor contract review
• Threshold tuning session
• Competitive rate check

Monthly Experiments

Pick one experiment each month. Don't do more than one at a time (you can't measure what worked).

Experiment ideas:

• Tighten one fraud rule, measure CB impact for 30 days
• Change refund policy for one product category, measure dispute rate
• Test new billing descriptor wording, compare recognition rates
• Add delivery photos to representment packets, measure win rate change
• Change retry timing for declined recurring payments, measure recovery rate

Template:

Month: ___________
Experiment: ___________
Hypothesis: ___________
Metric: ___________
Result: ___________
Keep/Kill: ___________

Where This Breaks

Flash sales and promotions: Your normal thresholds will trigger false positives. Either adjust thresholds beforehand or have someone ready to approve flagged orders quickly.

Seasonal businesses: Weekly patterns are useless if you do 80% of volume in Q4. Build seasonal baselines.

New product launches: Expect elevated chargebacks 30-45 days after launch as customers receive products and decide they're not happy.

International expansion: Time zones mess with daily monitoring. A "spike" at 3am your time might be normal business hours elsewhere.

Next Steps

Solo operator?

1. Use minimum viable checklist - CB count, disputes, deposits
2. Know oh shit triggers - When to drop everything
3. Monthly statement review - Effective rate, reason codes

Building operations routine?

1. Set up daily checks - Auth rate, fraud queue, deposits
2. Establish weekly cadence - Ratios, win rate, reconciliation
3. Configure alerts - Automate what you can

Scaling team?

1. Match checks to team size - Solo vs small vs medium
2. Run monthly experiments - One at a time, measure impact
3. Account for edge cases - Flash sales, seasonal, international

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Related

• Operations Metrics - KPIs behind these checks
• Processor Management - Handling scary emails
• Reduce Chargebacks Fast - When thresholds approach
• Chargeback Metrics - Tracking ratio and win rate
• Fraud Metrics - Fraud rate monitoring
• Alerts Configuration - Setting up notifications
• Reading Statements - Monthly statement review
• Who Owns What - Ownership clarity
• ACH Operations - Bank payment checks
• Network Programs - Threshold monitoring
• Representment Workflow - Dispute response
• Holds and Reserves - Reserve monitoring