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SENTINEL

Quickstart

One page. The things that matter in the first 14 days.

What Sentinel does

Scores every refund request for risk before you approve it. Shows you a 0-100 score, the reasons behind it, and records your decision with a cryptographic timestamp. Works inside your Stripe Dashboard.

What it doesn't do

Sentinel does not send refunds, process chargebacks, or block transactions. You always make the final call. Sentinel gives you information; you make the decision.

Your first refund with Sentinel

  1. Customer requests a refund by email, chat, or support ticket
  2. Open the charge in your Stripe Dashboard
  3. Look at the Sentinel sidebar. You'll see a score (0-100), a recommendation (Approve / Request Proof / Pause), and the risk factors behind it
  4. Click Mark as Approved or Mark as Blocked to record your decision
  5. Process or decline the refund in Stripe like you normally would

That's it. You don't change your workflow. Sentinel adds one step: glance at the score before you click Refund.

What the scores mean

0-30 (Approve)
No meaningful red flags. Safe to refund as requested.
30-70 (Request Proof)
Some signals present. Worth asking for more info before approving. Could be missing authentication, suspicious signals, or patterns we're watching.
70+ (Pause)
Active flag. Something substantive. Could be a serial refunder, IP anomaly, or cross-merchant network match.

Thresholds are adjustable in AppSettings if these feel off for your business.

Why "No Sentinel network history on this card" shows up sometimes

The cross-merchant abuse network is how Sentinel catches serial refunders hitting multiple stores. Every merchant who installs Sentinel contributes hashed signals when their customers get refunded. When the same card shows up at your store, you see the pattern.

On day 1, there aren't many merchants yet. So for many cards, the network has no history. Sentinel tells you this directly ("No Sentinel network history on this card") instead of pretending to know something it doesn't.

The network compounds. Every install after yours makes your future scores sharper. In the meantime, Sentinel still provides:

  • Risk factors you'd miss manually (missing 3DS, failed AVS, repeat-card flags at your own store)
  • Structured decision capture with timestamps
  • Audit trail you can pull up later if a chargeback or compliance question comes up

What you're actually paying $49 for in month 1

Not the network alone. Specifically:

  • Labor savings: structured scoring + decision buttons save time vs manual email evaluation. At 20+ refunds/month, this alone is worth the cost.
  • Audit trail: RFC 3161 timestamps on every decision. Defense artifact for disputes, lawsuits, compliance reviews.
  • Single-merchant signal: repeat-card detection works from refund #2 at your own store onward.
  • Vault integration: if you run Vault, auth data feeds the score automatically.
  • Network contribution: your signals today make the network stronger tomorrow, which makes YOUR future scores sharper.

The network is the moat. Everything else is the product.

If you run Reflex

You get the $39 bundle rate automatically. No code to switch, no promo to apply. The bundle kicks in because Sentinel detects your Reflex installation.

If you run Evidence Vault

Sentinel automatically pulls 3DS/AVS/CVC data from your vault entries. You don't configure anything; it just works.

Tuning thresholds

After 30 days, look at your decisions. If you're blocking refunds that turned out to be legitimate, raise the high threshold (default 70). If you're approving refunds that turned out to be abuse, lower it.

Most merchants settle at 25 / 65 within 60 days. Some go wider (10 / 80) if they handle a lot of edge cases manually anyway. Some go narrower (40 / 55) if they want Sentinel to be more opinionated.

Things that help

Install Evidence Vault if you haven't. It captures 3DS/AVS/CVC at purchase time, which Sentinel uses for scoring refunds later. $0.02/txn (bundle rate) with $5/mo minimum.

Install collect.js if you can. It's a one-line script on your checkout page that captures the customer's IP and device fingerprint at purchase. Sentinel uses this to detect VPN/Tor/datacenter IPs during scoring.

Neither is required. Sentinel works without them. But either one makes the signals sharper.

Canceling

Open your Stripe Dashboard app settings. Uninstall Sentinel. Billing stops at the end of the current period. No cancellation fees.

If you're on the fence, reply to any of my emails first. If there's a specific thing missing, I probably want to know.

Questions

support@certnode.io , usually respond within 1 business day.

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