Chargebacks and inquiries

If you accept credit cards on your store, then it's likely you need to deal with chargebacks or inquiries. When a cardholder has an issue with a charge on their credit card, they can contact their bank to dispute the charge. The bank then makes a chargeback or inquiry. The cardholder can be one of your customers or someone who believes that their card was used on your store without their permission.

If the cardholder's bank makes achargeback, then the bank takes the disputed amount from you right away. The cardholder's bank also takes achargeback feefrom you. If the cardholder's bank makes aninquiry, then they don't take the disputed amount or a fee right away.

You can try toresolve the chargeback or inquiryin a few ways. Often, the company that issued the cardholder's credit card reviews any evidence, and then resolves the chargeback in either your favor or the cardholder's favor. If you win the chargeback, then you get the disputed amount back, and Shopify might refund the chargeback fee depending on your country or region. If the cardholder wins the chargeback, then the disputed amount is returned to the cardholder.

If you're using Shopify Payments and you're issued a chargeback, then the amount is deducted from your next available payout.

If you're using Shopify Payments and your payout doesn't have enough funds for a return, then there are different outcomes depending on where your store is based:

• In the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Czechia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, the balance is debited from your bank account. The debit will occur on a day that falls outside your regular payout schedule.

• If the debit fails, then it will be attempted again in 3 business days. If that reattempt fails, then you need tochange your Shopify Payments bank account, or repay the negative balance manually.

• In all other countries, the remainder of the refund is deducted from the next payout until the refunded amount is covered.

Chargeback process

This is the typical process for a chargeback:

1. The cardholder disputes a credit card charge with their bank.
2. The cardholder's bank sends a chargeback request to the credit card company, and takes the disputed amount and a chargeback fee from you.
3. The credit card company asks you for evidence that the charge was valid.
4. You gather evidence to figure out whether the charge was valid and add it to the chargeback response.
5. After you complete your chargeback response, you forward it to the credit card company by clickingSubmit response.
6. The credit card company reviews the evidence. The review can take up to 75 days after the response is submitted.
7. The credit card company resolves the chargeback.

If you win the chargeback, then the cardholder's bank returns the disputed amount to you, and Shopify might refund you the chargeback fee depending on your country or region. If the chargeback is a partial win, then the cardholder's bank returns some of the disputed amount to you, and Shopify still might refund you the chargeback fee. If the cardholder wins the chargeback, then the disputed amount and the fee isn't returned to you.

Chargeback fee

When a bank sends you a chargeback, they also charge you a processing fee. If the chargeback is resolved in your favor, then Shopify might refund this fee depending on your country or region. The following list provides a breakdown of the processing fee by country or region, as well as whether the fee will be refunded if the chargeback is resolved in your favor:

Inquiry process

This is the typical process for an inquiry:

1. The cardholder disputes a charge with their bank.
2. The cardholder's bank sends an inquiry request to the credit card company. The credit card company does not take the disputed amount from you.
3. The credit card company asks you for evidence that the charge was valid.
4. You gather evidence to figure out whether the charge was valid and add it to the inquiry response.
5. After you complete your inquiry response, you forward it to the credit card company by clickingSubmit response.
6. The credit card company reviews the evidence. The review usually takes 65 to 75 days after the transaction is made. In a few cases, the review can take longer than 75 days.
7. The credit card company resolves the inquiry.

If the inquiry is closed in your favor, then no money is taken. If the cardholder's inquiry is closed in their favor, then the credit card company might proceed with a full chargeback and take the disputed amount, plus the additional chargeback fee.

Resolve a chargeback or inquiry

你可以帮助解决退款或inquiry in the following ways:

Contact 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 theChargeback responseform on the order.

Add 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 thereason 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

如果你添加任何文档或图片,然后麦e 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 are not recommended to send as evidence.

If you useShopify 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 canadd additional evidenceto the response before the due date. The due date is 7 to 21 days after the chargeback or inquiry is filed.

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 athird-party payment provider, then you should contact your provider to find out how to send evidence to the credit card company.

Accept the chargeback or inquiry

Accept 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.

Issue a refund to end an inquiry

If you think that the reason behind an inquiry is justified, then you canissue a full refundfor 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 shows you've refunded the customer.

Reasons for a chargeback or inquiry

The type of evidence you should send to the credit card company to resolve a chargeback or inquiry depends on the reason that the customer gave for the chargeback or inquiry. A customer might dispute a charge for one of the following reasons:

• Fraudulent
• Unrecognized
• Duplicate
• Subscription canceled
• Product not received
• Product unacceptable
• Credit not processed
• General

Fraudulent

The chargeback is marked asFraudulentif the cardholder didn’t authorize the charge. This is the most common reason for a chargeback and can happen if the card was stolen.

欺诈指控,你可以试着contact the customer who placed the order. The customer might have forgotten about the purchase, or the purchase might have been made by a spouse, friend, or family member. If the customer agrees that the charge was justified, then you should tell them to contact their bank and say that they want to drop the chargeback. You should still submit evidence to the credit card company, including the statement where the customer said they would drop the charge.

If you think that the customer is mistaken or not telling the truth, then you should submit the following evidence to the credit card company:

• The date and time that the order was fulfilled
• The billing information that the customer used
• The IP address and country used for the order
• Shipping and tracking information for the order.

If you want to examine all of your orders before they are fulfilled, then you cancapture payments manually. Capturing an order's payment manually enables you to view the fullfraud analysisfor an order before you make the decision to fulfill the order and accept the payment. By reviewing high-risk orders, you can avoid potentialchargebacks. Fulfilling high risk orders can result in a higher number of chargebacks. If you receive a high number of chargebacks then payment processing will be disabled and you might be removed from Shopify Payments.

Credit card companies can reverse funds for stolen cards after orders are fulfilled. Shopify helps you to gather evidence for any disputed charges. However, the decision to reverse funds is made by the bank that issued the credit card, not by Shopify. Shopify does not cover charge reversals from banks.

Unrecognized

The chargeback is marked asUnrecognizedif the customer doesn’t recognize the merchant name or location on their credit card statement.

To deal with an unrecognized charge, you should try to contact the customer. Sometimes the customer might have forgotten about the purchase, or the purchase might have been made by a spouse, friend, or family member. If the customer agrees that the charge was justified, then you should tell them to contact their bank and say that they want to drop the chargeback.

You should still submit evidence to the credit card company, including the statement where the customer said they would drop the charge. You could include some of the following pieces of evidence:

• The date and time that you fulfilled the order
• The billing information that the customer used
• The IP address and country used for the order
• Shipping and tracking information for the order.

Duplicate

The chargeback is marked asDuplicateif the customer believes that you charged them twice for the same product or service.

If you didn't charge your customer twice, then you should try to get in touch with them. You can show them that the two charges were for separate products or services. If the customer agrees that the charge was justified, then you should tell them to contact their bank and say that they want to drop the chargeback.

如果客户不退款或下降quiry after you talk to them, then you need to submit evidence that the two charges were for separate products or services. You could include some of the following pieces of evidence:

• An explanation of the reason for the two charges
• Receipts that shows that the two charges were for different products or services
• Any communication with the customer where you let them know about the two charges.

If you did charge your customer twice for the same product or service, then you have to accept the chargeback.

Subscription canceled

The chargeback is marked asSubscription canceledif the customer believes that you charged them for a subscription after it should have been canceled. It can also mean that the customer expected a reminder before each recurring charge but didn’t receive one.

To resolve the chargeback, you should get in touch with your customer. It's possible that you can explain the misunderstanding, or come to an agreement with the customer. If you come to an agreement, then you should tell the customer to contact their bank and say that they want to drop the chargeback. You should also send evidence of this conversation to the credit card company.

If you think the that customer didn't cancel the subscription before the charge, then you should submit evidence to the credit card company that proves that the customer canceled their subscription after the last charge. You could include some of the following pieces of evidence:

• Your subscription cancellation policy
• Any emails or notifications sent to the customer about their cancellation
• An explanation of when and where the customer was shown the cancellation policy
• If the product or service was digital, an activity log that shows that the customer accessed the product or service after the date when they said they canceled their subscription.

If you did charge your customer after they canceled their subscription, then you have to accept the chargeback.

Product not received

The chargeback is marked asProduct not receivedif the customer believes that they did not receive the goods or services they purchased.

You should try to get in touch with the customer first to figure out the problem. If you can resolve the problem with your customer, then you should tell the customer to contact their bank and say that they want to drop the chargeback. You should also include evidence that the customer agreed to drop the chargeback in the response you send to the credit card company.

If you can't resolve the issue with your customer, then you should submit evidence to the credit card company that proves that the customer received the product or service before the chargeback was made. You could include some of the following pieces of evidence:

• The date and time that you fulfilled the order
• The billing information that the customer used
• Shipping and tracking information for the order
• If the product or service was digital, an activity log that shows that the customer accessed the product or service.

Product unacceptable

The chargeback is marked asProduct unacceptableif the customer feels that the product was received but was defective, damaged, or not as described.

Start by trying to get in touch with the customer. If you can resolve the problem with the customer, then you should tell the customer to contact their bank and say that they want to drop the chargeback. You should also send evidence to the credit card company that the customer agreed to drop the charge. If the customer didn't try to return the product or cancel the service before the chargeback was made, or if you provided the customer with a replacement product or service, then send evidence of that as well.

Whether you resolve the issue with the customer or not, you should still send any relevant evidence to the credit card company. You could include some of the following pieces of evidence:

• The date and time that you fulfilled the order
• The billing information that the customer used
• Shipping and tracking information for the order
• Descriptions or pictures of the products from your store that prove that they were as described.

Credit not processed

The chargeback is marked asCredit not processedif the customer informed you that the purchased product was returned or that the transaction with you was canceled, but you have not yet refunded or credited the customer.

Start by trying to get in touch with the customer. You can't issue a refund after a chargeback has been made, but you might be able to explain the situation or figure out another way to solve the problem. If the customer asked for an inquiry, then you can issue a refund. If you can resolve the problem with the customer, then you should tell the customer to contact their bank and say that they want to drop the chargeback or inquiry. You should also send evidence to the credit card company that the customer agreed to drop the chargeback.

If you can't resolve the issue, and you think that the chargeback is not valid, then you should send evidence to the credit card company that you either gave the customer a refund before the chargeback or inquiry was made, or that the customer was not entitled to a refund. You could include some of the following pieces of evidence:

• Your refund and return policies
• An explanation of when and where the customer was shown the refund policy
• Any emails or notifications you sent to the customer about the refund
• An explanation of why the customer was not entitled to a refund.

General

A chargeback is marked asGeneralif it doesn't fit into one of the other categories.

To resolve a general chargeback, you should start by trying to contact the customer so you can figure out what the problem is. If you can solve the problem for the customer, then you should tell the customer to contact their bank and say that they want to cancel the chargeback. 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 theChargeback responseform on the order.

If the customer doesn't want to drop the chargeback, then you should send evidence to the credit card company that the charge was valid. You could include some of the following pieces of evidence:

• Details about the products that were ordered
• The date and time that the order was fulfilled
• The customer's billing information
• The customer's IP address and country
• Emails or other communication you had with the customer
• USPS/FedEx/UPS or other online tracking or shipping confirmations
• Proof of prior refunds or replacement shipments.