Sometimes referred to as a ‘Dispute’, Chargebacks are a challenging but inevitable part of e-commerce. They arise when a cardholder queries a transaction with their card issuer. The issuer creates a formal dispute which immediately reverses the payment, debiting your account for both the payment amount and a dispute fee.
Why would a cardholder raise a chargeback? There are many possibilities as to why, maybe the cardholder did not recognise the charge, therefore, they raised a chargeback under the reason ‘Fraud’. Did the cardholder expect a refund? In some cases, cardholders will likely only resort to raising a chargeback when they have exhausted all other means of getting their money back.
It’s important for you to monitor such disputes and respond to them as quickly as possible. If a Chargeback is not responded to within the time-frame we have provided you with, then we are accepting full liability for the dispute and therefore the chargeback will close in favour of the cardholder. If you respond to a Chargeback within the timeframe provided, this evidence will be submitted to the bank to review. The review takes up to 55 days, therefore we are unlikely to receive a response from the bank prior to this timeframe. On or after the 55th day the bank will notify us of the bank’s decision. If we have won the dispute then this will be reflected on your dashboard and your account will be credited, however please note that a Chargeback fee will still apply.
Please also note, that the cardholder can withdraw their Chargeback at any stage within the 55 days. They may do this for many reasons:
- They realise that they made a mistake and therefore wish to close the dispute
- They might want to try to resolve this dispute directly with you.
- The dispute has been resolved internally.
In these cases, the cardholder will contact their bank to withdraw their Chargeback and we will remove the Chargeback from your account. However, please note that a Chargeback fee will apply to cover the administrative costs of handling the dispute.