Chargebacks & Disputes

When a cardholder disputes a charge with their bank instead of the merchant, the bank can claw back the funds directly — the chargeback — often with an additional fee, and always with a small window for the merchant to respond with evidence before it's decided.

A chargeback is initiated with the customer's bank, not the merchant — the merchant often finds out only after the funds have already been reversed

Merchants can submit 'representment' evidence (proof of delivery, signed terms, IP/device logs matching the account owner) to dispute the chargeback within a limited response window

A high chargeback rate (as a percentage of total transactions) can put a merchant into a card network's monitoring program, or in severe cases lose payment processing ability entirely — it's a business-continuity risk, not just a per-incident cost

Clear billing descriptors, proactive order confirmation emails, and responsive customer support meaningfully reduce 'friendly fraud' chargebacks (a legitimate purchase the cardholder disputes simply because they didn't recognize the charge)

Hands-on demo

Respond to a chargeback

A customer disputes an $80 charge with their bank. You have a limited window to respond.

Try it yourself

Try it yourself — run a scenario below, then flip this and replay it to see what changes.

Friendly Fraud Dispute

A customer forgets they made a purchase and disputes it as unauthorized.

Want this flow explained in detail as it plays?

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Checkout

Amount

$80.00

Customer

Merchant

Bank

A normal, successfully processed order.

Selected hop

Customer completes a legitimate $80 purchase

Customer

The paying user interacting with the storefront or support flow.

Merchant

The business accepting the payment.

What happens here

A normal, successfully processed order.