Resolving a chargeback or inquiry

You can help to resolve a chargeback or inquiry in the following ways:

• Contact the customer to discuss and resolve their issue directly. They can then contact their bank to cancel the chargeback or inquiry.
• Add additional evidence to prove that the charge is valid.
• Accept the chargeback or inquiry when you agree that the cardholder's complaint is valid.

Even when the customer agrees to drop the chargeback or inquiry, you should still submit evidence to prove that the customer has withdrawn their chargeback or inquiry claim.

Note

To manage your chargebacks and inquiries in the Shopify admin, you need to be using Shopify Payments.

Caution

Shopify isn't liable for chargebacks that occur when using the Shopify platform. Shopify isn't involved in the decision making of chargeback outcomes.

Contacting the customer

You can talk to the customer who made the order by phone or email to try to resolve the issue. If your customer agrees that the chargeback or inquiry isn't necessary, then they must contact their bank and ask them to cancel the chargeback or inquiry. You should then request that they provide you with a copy of the chargeback withdrawal letter from their bank. After you have evidence of the customer requesting to cancel the chargeback, you will need to submit this letter as evidence in the Chargeback response form on the order. Refer to Resolve a chargeback canceled by the customer.

Adding additional evidence

After the cardholder's bank makes a chargeback or inquiry, you have a limited time to submit evidence that the charge was valid. The amount of time that you have to submit evidence depends on the credit card company and the reason for the chargeback.

The type of evidence that you should submit depends on the reason that the cardholder asked for a chargeback or inquiry. Keep your evidence relevant and to the point, and consider including the following information:

• Proof of customer authorization
• Service provided
• Item delivery
• Terms of service and refund policy
• Any other recommended evidence based on the reason for the chargeback or inquiry

If you're adding any document or images, then make sure you have formatted them clearly so that they can be viewed without zooming or cropping. High-contrast images that can be printed clearly in black and white are recommended as many banks receive chargeback evidence through fax machines. Links aren't recommended to send as evidence.

If you use Shopify Payments, then Shopify tools automatically populate available data, which is used to automatically send a response to the credit card company for you on the due date. You can add additional evidence to the response before the due date. The due date is 7 to 21 days after the chargeback or inquiry is filed. Learn more about managing chargebacks and inquiries with Shopify Payments.

If your store is closed or paused, and you receive an email about a chargeback, then you need to follow the link in the email to log in and pay for a new plan to reopen the store. After you reopen your store, you can submit the additional evidence for the chargeback. If you don't reopen your store, then only basic transactional information is submitted with the chargeback.

If you're using a third-party payment provider, then you should contact your provider to find out how to send evidence to the credit card company.

Accepting the chargeback or inquiry

In some cases, you might decide that a chargeback or inquiry is justified. In these cases, you can accept the chargeback or issue a refund to end an inquiry.

Accepting a chargeback

If you think that a chargeback is justified, then you can accept it by not submitting any evidence. The disputed amount is returned to the customer, and you aren't refunded for the chargeback fee.

Issuing a refund to end an inquiry

If you think that the reason behind an inquiry is justified, then you can issue a full refund for the order, as no funds are taken by the credit card company during an inquiry. If you issue a partial refund, then a full chargeback can still occur. If you issue a full refund, then the cardholder can't initiate a chargeback. You should also submit evidence that proves you've refunded the customer.

Note

You can't issue a refund after a cardholder initiates a chargeback. If you determine that a refund is warranted for an open chargeback, then the cardholder must first drop the chargeback, and then you can provide a refund. Refer to Resolve a chargeback canceled by the customer.

Resolve a chargeback canceled by the customer

Even when a cardholder has already contacted their bank to cancel the chargeback, the dispute process often involves more than one banking entity, which means that the chargeback can remain active in your Shopify admin. It's extremely important to submit evidence in all chargeback cases, even if your customer says they have canceled the chargeback.

You'll need to get a withdrawal letter from the customer, which you'll then submit as evidence to the chargeback to be processed by the appropriate banking entities before the chargeback will completely resolve in your admin.

Caution

There is no guarantee that this will be resolved in your favor, which is why it's always important to submit as much evidence as possible for chargebacks.

Steps:

1. The cardholder will need to request a withdrawal letter from their credit card company, and send it to you. The documentation provided by the customer must meet all of the following requirements:
   • It must be on official bank letterhead
   • It must display the case number
   • It must confirm the original charge date/amount
   • It must confirm your shop/business name
   • It must confirm that the chargeback has been canceled
   • It must confirm that the funds have been re-debited from the customer's account
   • It must confirm that the funds have been returned to you, the merchant
2. You need to submit this letter as dispute evidence within the Chargeback response submission form on the order.
   1. If the deadline to submit chargeback evidence has passed, then refer to lost chargebacks.
3. Wait for the banking entities involved to review and update the chargeback on their end. The timeline for this depends on the involved banks' processes and can take up to 30-90 days or sooner.

If your customer agreed to cancel the chargeback in exchange for a refund for the order, then ensure that you keep your customer informed during this time period. Reassure them that you need to wait for this to be officially resolved before you can issue a refund.

After the chargeback is resolved, you can refund the order. Set the expectation with your customer that it normally takes 5-10 business days for the bank to process a refund.

Chargeback is listed as Lost or is still under review

If the deadline to submit evidence has passed, then the chargeback status might display as Lost or Under review. When the customer has canceled the chargeback and provided you the chargeback withdrawal documentation, then contact Shopify Support for next steps.

Note

Businesses in France using Shopify Payments must wait for the chargeback status to update on its own.