NOTE: During this process, we do not authorize a refund to the Registrant. When a chargeback is received, an email notification is sent to your organization's contact listed in Financial Settings and to the Account Holder responsible for the chargeback.

A dispute, also known as a chargeback, inquiry, or retrieval, occurs when the cardholder questions a payment with the card issuer. An inquiry or retrieval is a request for more information about the charge, which may escalate to a chargeback. To process a chargeback, the issuer creates a formal dispute, which immediately reverses the payment. The payment amount is then deducted from your account balance.

The first step an organization can take is to reach out to the registrant responsible for the dispute and attempt to find an amicable solution to the issue. The registrant can contact their card provider to drop the dispute or reverse the chargeback. If they do drop the dispute with their card provider, they should receive a Letter of Withdrawal. If that’s the case, provide us with a copy of that letter so that we may submit it to our processing partner.

Second, if the registrant cannot be reached or if they believe the dispute is valid, you can submit evidence using the Chargeback Dispute Form explaining that the charge is valid and the funds should not be returned to the cardholder. If you don’t submit evidence by the 7 days deadline, the cardholder wins the dispute and keeps the funds. Submitting evidence does not guarantee that the dispute will be dropped or found in your organization’s favor. The decision is entirely up to the cardholder’s bank.

If submitting evidence to contest the cardholder’s dispute, ensure that it is high-quality evidence clearly showing why the dispute is not valid and should not be found in the cardholder’s favor. A refund policy, showing that they received the product or service in question, showing a signed payment term contract, etc., gives you the best chance of winning the dispute. Simply stating that you don’t feel the chargeback is valid without supporting evidence will not be accepted by the card-issuing banks.

Submitted evidence is sent to the cardholder’s bank, which has a limited amount of time (usually 60-75 days) to respond. This time frame varies based on the card network. Our processing partner updates the status of the dispute as soon as the bank’s response is available, but that response is often not known until the deadline passes.

The decision from the cardholder’s bank is the final step in the dispute process. Once a decision has been reached, the case is closed, and alternative means will need to be used to recoup the funds from your cardholder if it has been found in their favor.