Learn how to effectively respond to disputes.
When you receive a dispute notification, take action to resolve it before the deadline. Failing to respond to a dispute results in irretrievable refund to the account holder.
Review the dispute category
Each dispute category specifies different response requirements and recommendations to make it effective in addressing the root claim from the cardholder, so your first step is to review our response guidelines for the category of your dispute so you can collect the best set of evidence to counter the dispute claim.
Categories
Review the following Categories to see the best way to prevent and overturn disputes.
1) Credit Not Processed:
The customer claims they’re entitled to a full or partial refund because they returned the purchased product or didn’t fully use it, or the transaction was otherwise canceled or not fully fulfilled, but you haven’t yet provided a refund or credit.
How to prevent it
- Have a clear return or cancellation policy that’s easy to find or explicitly disclosed to the customer prior to purchase.
- Honor your written policies promptly when a customer requests and is entitled to a full or partial refund.
How to overturn it
Explain and demonstrate one or more of the following:
- You already issued the refund your customer is entitled to
- The customer isn’t entitled to a refund
- The customer withdrew the dispute
Choose the product type of the disputed transaction to see relevant evidence suggestions.
- Physical products are tangible goods that were either purchased in a store or shipped to the recipient, so evidence often proves the customer is in possession of the item.
- Digital products or services are often virtual in nature and don’t have trackable shipping data, so focus on evidence of usage, login, or download.
- Offline services include purchases that are made in advance, such as event tickets and reservations, where evidence of a cancellation policy can be material.
2) Duplicate:
The customer claims they were charged multiple times for the same product or service.
How to prevent it
- If a customer’s card is accidentally charged more than once for a single payment, correct the duplicates immediately and get in touch with the customer to let them know you’ve handled the issue.
- Send detailed receipts that explain every payment and make it easy to distinguish the unique reason for each.
- If you built your own integration, ensure it can handle errors without double-charging.
- Honor your written policies promptly when a customer requests and is entitled to a refund for a duplicate payment.
How to overturn it
Explain and demonstrate one or more of the following:
- Each payment was for a separate product or service
- You already issued a refund to your customer
- The customer withdrew the dispute
Choose the product type of the disputed transaction to see relevant evidence suggestions.
- Physical products are tangible goods that were either purchased in a store or shipped to the recipient, so evidence often proves the customer is in possession of the item.
- Digital products or services are often virtual in nature and don’t have trackable shipping data, so focus on evidence of usage, login, or download.
- Offline services include purchases that are made in advance, such as event tickets and reservations, where evidence of a cancellation policy can be material.
3) Fraudulent:
This is the most common reason for a dispute and happens when a cardholder claims that they didn’t authorize the payment. The cardholder might have made an error and failed to recognize a legitimate charge on their credit card statement, or they might have genuinely been a victim of someone using their card fraudulently. This is a difficult dispute type to win because in many cases the reason for the dispute is correct. If you believe the payment was indeed fraud, the appropriate action is to either accept the dispute or decline to challenge it.
How to prevent it
Because fraud disputes are so difficult to win, prevention is key. Good strategies include:
- Make sure your statement descriptor is easily recognizable to your customers and reflects the URL or business name they would associate with their purchase
- Send receipts upon payment so your customers can remember what they paid for
- Familiarize yourself with the best practices for preventing fraud
How to overturn it:
Explain and demonstrate one or more of the following:
- That the legitimate cardholder—or an authorized representative (such as an employee or family member)—did in fact make the payment
- That the payment was successfully authenticated with 3D Secure and should therefore fall under liability shift.
- You already issued a refund to the cardholder
- The customer withdrew the dispute or otherwise acknowledged they recognize the charge and filed the fraud dispute in error
- For Visa specifically, provide Compelling Evidence
Choose the product type of the disputed transaction to see relevant evidence suggestions.
- Physical products are tangible goods that were either purchased in a store or shipped to the recipient, so evidence often proves the customer is in possession of the item.
- Digital products or services are often virtual in nature and don’t have trackable shipping data, so focus on evidence of usage, login, or download.
- Offline services include purchases that are made in advance, such as event tickets and reservations, where evidence of a cancellation policy can be material.
4) General:
This is an uncategorized dispute, so contact the customer for additional details to find out why they disputed the payment. This should be fairly rare for cards disputes.
5) Product Not Received:
The customer claims they did not receive the products or services purchased.
How to prevent it
- For physical products, promptly ship them after payment is made
- Estimate shipping and delivery dates as accurately as you can, and communicate clearly with your customer. If shipping delays arise unexpectedly, keep your customer informed.
- Save shipping labels, and for high-value products consider requiring a signature upon receipt.
- Make it easy for your customers to reach out when they have issues receiving their products (for example: send receipts upon payment so your customers can easily reply to get in touch).
- For digital goods or services, maintain access logs or documentation that tie usage back to the customer.
- Honor your written policies promptly when a customer requests a full or partial refund they’re entitled to for products or services they didn’t receive.
How to overturn it
Explain and demonstrate one or more of the following:
- The product was in fact delivered or isn’t expected to have been delivered yet (for example, the agreed-upon delivery date is still in the future)
- You already issued a refund to the cardholder
- The customer withdrew the dispute
Choose the product type of the disputed transaction to see relevant evidence suggestions.
- Physical products are tangible goods that were either purchased in a store or shipped to the recipient, so evidence often proves the customer is in possession of the item.
- Digital products or services are often virtual in nature and don’t have trackable shipping data, so focus on evidence of usage, login, or download.
- Offline services include purchases that are made in advance, such as event tickets and reservations, where evidence of a cancellation policy can be material.
6) Product Unacceptable:
The customer received the product but claims it was defective or damaged in some way, or was not described or represented in an accurate manner prior to purchase.
How to prevent it
- Ensure that the description of products or services shown in advertisements, online, and transaction receipts, or used in telephone order-taking scripts are accurate, complete, and not misleading.
- Never refer cardholders to the manufacturer in lieu of attempting to resolve the issue directly—the business selling the product or service is liable and must be the point of contact for resolution.
How to overturn it
Explain and demonstrate one or more of the following:
- That the product or service was accurately represented prior to purchase
- That the product wasn’t damaged or defective
- You already issued a refund to your customer
- The customer withdrew the dispute
Choose the product type of the disputed transaction to see relevant evidence suggestions.
- Physical products are tangible goods that were either purchased in a store or shipped to the recipient, so evidence often proves the customer is in possession of the item.
- Digital products or services are often virtual in nature and don’t have trackable shipping data, so focus on evidence of usage, login, or download.
- Offline services include purchases that are made in advance, such as event tickets and reservations, where evidence of a cancellation policy can be material.
7) Unrecognized:
The customer doesn’t recognize the payment appearing on their card statement. This is effectively indistinguishable from the Fraudulent reason.
How to prevent it
- Make sure your statement descriptor is easily recognizable to your customers and reflects the URL or business name they would associate with their purchase
- Send receipts upon payment so your customers can recall what they paid for
How to overturn it
Explain and demonstrate one or more of the following:
- That the legitimate cardholder—or an authorized representative (such as an employee or family member)—did in fact make the payment
- You already issued a refund to the cardholder
- The customer withdrew the dispute or otherwise acknowledged they recognize the charge and filed the fraud dispute in error
Choose the product type of the disputed transaction to see relevant evidence suggestions.
- Physical products are tangible goods that were either purchased in a store or shipped to the recipient, so evidence often proves the customer is in possession of the item.
- Digital products or services are often virtual in nature and don’t have trackable shipping data, so focus on evidence of usage, login, or download.
- Offline services include purchases that are made in advance, such as event tickets and reservations, where evidence of a cancellation policy can be material.
Inquiries
Inquiries appear as disputed payments in the Dashboard, but they actually represent a pre-dispute stage that’s typically issued when an account owner doesn’t recognize a transaction on their account. Respond in this stage to resolve any questions and prevent a formal dispute escalation, which saves you time, fees, and your rating with the card networks.
Note
If an inquiry escalates to a chargeback, you must submit another response for the dispute.
Understand the complaint
When possible, the Dispute details page provides you with a copy of the bank’s submission to Opendate based on the account owner’s claim. These are actual documents attached by card networks and can provide additional information about the disputed transaction, such as a text description from the account owner describing the specific complaint. When responding to the dispute, make sure to properly address the issue described in these files.
HANDLE DISPUTES THROUGH OPENDATE.IO
You can’t address a formally disputed payment (such as by refunding the customer directly) outside this process because the issuing bank has already refunded the account owner through the chargeback process and you risk refunding the customer twice.
When you have a clear picture of the dispute details, decide whether to accept or challenge the dispute. Consider the following questions in your determination:
- Is the account owner’s claim valid?
- If not, do I have the evidence required to disprove the claim?
- Can I convince the account owner to withdraw their dispute if I resolve their complaint amicably, for example, by offering a store credit or a replacement item?
Submit evidence through the Dashboard
Caution
You have only one opportunity to submit your response. Opendate immediately forwards your response and all supporting files to the issuing bank and you can’t edit the response or submit additional files, so make sure you’ve assembled all your evidence before you submit.
- Open the dispute response form
- Tell us about the dispute: In the first page of the form, tell us why you believe the dispute is in error and the product type of the original purchase. This information along with the dispute category helps Opendate recommend the most relevant evidence to support your challenge on the next page of the form. For example, if your counter to a customer’s claim that they canceled a subscription for an online service is that the customer agreed to a minimum term, it doesn’t make sense to ask you for shipping and tracking details. When your integration supports it, Opendate automatically captures the product type based on the original payment.
- Assemble your evidence: The second page of the form has a dynamic set of sections representing the most relevant details you can provide for your individual case.
- In the Supporting Files: section, use the File Upload tool to attach evidence that matches the checklist of evidence types relevant to your dispute type and counter argument. For each uploaded file, specify which type of evidence it satisfies. You can only submit one file per type of evidence, so if you have several files representing one type of evidence, combine them into a single, multi-page file.
- Background evidence: The other sections of the second page vary depending on the dispute type and your answers in the first page. Include as much information as you can before you submit your response. These sections can include:
- Shipping details
- Refund policy details
- Customer details
- Product details
- Submit evidence: Click the checkbox to acknowledge your understanding that your response is final. After you submit it, Opendate automatically puts the evidence you provide into a format accepted by the issuing bank and submits it for consideration. At this point, you can’t amend what you’ve submitted or provide any additional information, so make sure to include every relevant detail.
Note
In some cases, you might have multiple disputes associated with a single payment. If this occurs, consider responding to each dispute individually.
Check the dispute status
After you submit a response, the status of the dispute changes to "Under Review".
When the issuer informs Opendate of its decision, we inform you of the outcome in the Dashboard
Won:indicates that the bank decided in your favor and overturned the dispute. In this case, the issuing bank returns the debited chargeback amount to Opendate, and Opendate passes this amount back to you. In some regions, the dispute fee might also be returned.Lost: indicates that the bank decided in the account owner’s favor and upheld the dispute. In this case, the refund is permanent and the dispute fee isn’t returned.
