Suggestion to Improve Online Order Security

[Agatha1218]

Recently, I experienced two chargebacks through Toast Online Ordering—one for a takeout order where the customer claimed the card was unauthorized, and another for a digital gift card purchase that was later disputed after being used. Unfortunately, we lost both disputes.This situation has been very discouraging. As a small business, we rely on the Toast system not only to streamline orders but to offer some level of fraud prevention. Yet in these cases, I felt powerless. When I reached out to a customer service representative, I was told Toast is "just a bridge" and holds no responsibility. However, this is a toll bridge—we pay service fees monthly for this system, and I believe it should offer basic protections.

I’d like to suggest Toast add a layer of verification for online orders to help prevent fraud. For example:

Send a verification code to the customer’s phone or email.

Require that code to be provided at pickup to complete the transaction.

This small step could deter fraudulent orders and help protect restaurants like mine from unnecessary loss.

[Rob]

Thanks for reaching out to the community! 
I'm sorry to hear about these chargeback issues. At present, the customer's bank always makes the call.
The methods you suggest are great ideas; however, if customer information has been stolen, the fraudulent person may have access to all the information you have mentioned, so the customer's bank would still rule in favor of the customer, with the restaurant location still losing the chargeback even with these methods. 

Below is some info about our methods to protect our customers against fraud. Visit the links for more about chargebacks and how you can protect yourself!


Increase Chargeback Protection for Card-Not-Present Transactions 
Get Help With Chargebacks 

[Agatha1218]

Thank you for your response.

I understand that ultimately the customer’s bank makes the final decision on chargebacks. However, the situation I’m raising is specific to online orders and e-gift card sales—transactions that happen entirely through the Toast platform and are completely out of my control as a restaurant owner.

The link you provided refers to collecting a billing zip code when manually keying in a card, but that doesn’t apply to online orders placed directly by customers or digital gift card purchases. In these cases, there is no way for us to verify the customer’s identity, and no safeguard built into the platform to prevent fraud.

This is why I believe Toast should take a more proactive role in protecting restaurants—especially when the transaction is processed on Toast’s online system, not on our premises. As a paying customer of Toast, I respectfully believe the platform should be more than just a “bridge”—it should be a secure system we can trust. Without any real fraud protection or accountability, the risk is unfairly placed entirely on us, the restaurants.

I urge Toast to consider taking more responsibility and to implement stronger security features for online orders—especially for to-go orders and digital gift cards. This could include phone verification, 2FA, or a unique pickup code as mentioned before.

I hope this feedback is taken seriously. We count on Toast not just for convenience, but for trustworthy, reliable service.

[Rob]

Thank you again for following up and sharing your concerns. I will pass this feedback on to my team. Some time ago, we attempted to offer an option for increased chargeback protection attached with a rollout, but received feedback to remove this update. I say this to let you know we are aware of the pain points of chargebacks and are looking into ways of improving this experience, but this is an area that will take time to adjust.

I also wanted to add that currently, all online orders are classified as "card-not-present transactions." As a result, regardless of the protection measures we implement, these transactions will always carry a risk of chargebacks. To address this issue, some locations have disabled the option to pay for orders online, instead requiring customers to visit in person to complete their transactions. This allows them to use tap/EMV technology, which is the most secure payment method available at this time. Implementing this approach would be the best way to prevent chargebacks moving forward.