A Chargeback Arrived: A Merchant’s First Response Checklist
Received a chargeback notice? Confirm the case, deadline and response owner, then collect relevant records and track the provider’s submission confirmation.
When a chargeback notice arrives, open your payment provider’s account through your usual sign-in route. Match the case to the transaction, record the response deadline and assign one person to act. Make these checks before gathering receipts. If a case, deadline or instruction is unclear, assign someone to contact the provider promptly through a trusted route.
Use this checklist to organize a merchant’s response, whether you own the business or are an agent helping with the case. Follow the instructions for the account and case. The Stripe examples below describe Stripe’s workflow; check your own provider’s requirements.
Confirm the notice in a trusted account
Open your saved provider address or installed app. Do not disclose credentials or upload customer documents through an unexpected message. The FTC’s phishing guidance recommends checking unexpected requests through contact information you find independently and opening the company’s website yourself when asked to sign in.
- Sign in through your usual route. Select the correct business, location and account before looking for the case.
- Compare the message with the case shown in the account. Record its reference and when you checked it.
- If no case appears, contact the provider through its known support route. Ask whether the notice belongs to another account or needs a different response channel. Keep it unresolved until verified.
- If you entered credentials through a suspicious link, alert the person responsible for account security and contact the provider through a trusted route. Keep that security action separate from checking any real dispute deadline.
Stripe defines a chargeback as a cardholder questioning a payment with their card issuer. A notice alone does not establish that the customer acted dishonestly or that the merchant should contest the dispute.
Identify the disputed transaction and current state
Match the provider’s case reference to the transaction reference, then to your order or receipt. Copy the disputed amount and currency, transaction date, reason or category, and current status. Check any refund or earlier response against that transaction. A similar amount or customer name is not enough to confirm a match.
Read the complaint and any attached claim details. Note what the customer says and what your records show. Stripe’s reason-code guidance distinguishes duplicate payment, product not received and subscription canceled, among other categories. The reason guides your investigation: a delivery record may help establish receipt of goods; a duplicate-payment claim calls for comparing payment records.
Check the case stage, too. In Stripe’s response workflow, an inquiry is a pre-dispute stage. If it escalates to a chargeback, Stripe requires another response for the dispute. Copy the stage shown in the account into your notes.
Use provider and order references in the worksheet. Keep customer evidence in approved restricted storage and submit it through the approved channel. Do not paste full card numbers, security codes, passwords or customer documents into shared planning notes or general contact forms. PCI SSC FAQ 1574 states that card verification codes cannot be retained after authorization. Do not ask the customer for that code to handle a dispute.
Confirm the deadline and name a response owner
Copy the case’s due date, time and time zone, along with where the instruction appeared. If only a date is shown, ask the provider for the cutoff. If the notice and portal disagree, record both and seek clarification promptly. Do not assume the later deadline applies.
Name one merchant response owner and a backup. Ask the people who hold the records to supply evidence, and name the person responsible for final submission. An agent helping with the case should confirm the merchant’s authorization and account permissions before acting. Set an internal handoff time before the provider deadline to allow for review and submission.
Keep the provider deadline separate from your internal reminder. Contacting support does not establish that the response window has been extended. If the deadline is close or has passed, ask the provider what action remains available and record the answer. Use the case instructions, not a generic deadline found online.
Use the first chargeback response worksheet
Copy the worksheet into your case record and fill it in using the provider account and business records. Each row is a checkpoint for the same case. Mark unknown fields “unresolved” and assign a person and next check time.
| Case reference | Reason and status | Deadline | Owner | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verify: provider case ____; business/account ____ | Portal match: ____; checked at ____ | Due time shown: ____; source ____ | Merchant verifier: ____ | Open your usual provider account and match the notice. If no case appears, ask trusted support and mark unresolved. |
| Match: case ____; transaction ____; order ____ | Exact reason ____; current state ____; disputed amount/currency ____ | Confirmed cutoff ____; time zone ____ or unresolved | Case owner: ____; backup ____ | Read the claim. Resolve transaction or status mismatches before choosing a response. |
| Confirm: case ____; support reference if needed ____ | Deadline/status discrepancy: ____ or none | Portal ____; notice ____; provider clarification ____ | Person checking with provider: ____ | Ask the provider for the cutoff; record the answer and internal review time ____. |
| Prepare: case ____; record locations ____ | Merchant decision ____; missing facts ____ | Internal handoff ____; provider deadline ____ | Records owners ____; final submitter ____ | Check the available accept/respond options. Request records relevant to the reason. |
| Submit/track: case ____; retained version ____ | Provider confirmation/status ____ or unresolved | Submitted at ____; next status check ____ | Submitter ____; follow-up owner ____ | Save confirmation. If it is missing, check receipt in the account or with trusted support. |
Confirm the transaction, status, deadline and owner before acting. Assign follow-up for unresolved fields. Save submission confirmation separately from the eventual dispute decision.
Work through the rows in order: verify the notice, match the transaction, confirm the deadline, prepare the response and save the submission record. Carry unresolved questions forward with an owner and follow-up time.
From account check to confirmed action
Check trusted account
Open the known provider account and compare the notice with its case record.
Case and instructions matched
Confirm the transaction, reason, stage and applicable due time; assign the response owner.
Unresolved or suspicious
Note what is missing or conflicting. Assign someone to contact trusted provider support; keep the case unresolved.
Owner follows case instructions
The authorized owner chooses the available case action and prepares any required response.
Record confirmed status
Save the action, submitted version and provider confirmation. Assign a follow-up status check.
Resolve missing or conflicting details with the provider, then recheck the account. Save an action as confirmed only when the provider record supports it. The dispute decision comes later.
How the steps connect
- Check trusted account → Case and instructions matched: Case and required details verified
- Check trusted account → Unresolved or suspicious: No match, missing detail or suspicious instruction
- Case and instructions matched → Owner follows case instructions: Authorized next action confirmed
- Unresolved or suspicious → Check trusted account: Trusted clarification received; recheck
- Owner follows case instructions → Unresolved or suspicious: Action or receipt cannot be confirmed
- Owner follows case instructions → Record confirmed status: Provider confirms action recorded
- Open your usual provider account. If the notice, transaction, stage or deadline is missing or inconsistent, mark the case unresolved or suspicious.
- Assign someone to contact the provider through a trusted route. Once clarified, repeat the account check.
- Once the case and instructions match, the authorized owner takes the available case action. If the action or receipt is unclear, mark it unresolved and verify it.
- When the provider confirms the action, save the status and assign follow-up. Check the dispute decision separately.
Choose the next case action before collecting evidence
The merchant response owner should review the complaint, business records and provider instructions, then decide whether to accept the dispute or respond, where those options are available. If the records support the complaint, note that finding and confirm the appropriate case action with the provider.
Stripe’s response guide describes accept and counter options, a response deadline and a final evidence submission that cannot be edited afterward. Check your provider’s available actions, applicable charges, file requirements and submission rules before proceeding.
If the merchant chooses to respond, request records relevant to the reason. Specify who holds each record and when it is needed. For a delivery question, ask the fulfillment owner for the delivery record. For an alleged duplicate, ask the payments owner to compare the disputed transaction with the other payment. For a canceled subscription, ask the account owner for the cancellation and billing history. Use these requests to start the investigation; follow the provider’s submission requirements.
Stripe recommends organizing evidence chronologically, grouping it by type, explaining its relevance and keeping it readable. Preserve the original records and use them to prepare the response. Identify missing or conflicting records clearly.
Check refund history before promising another payment to the customer. If a formal dispute is open, ask the provider how to handle a proposed refund. If the customer says they have withdrawn the dispute, check what response is still required. Stripe says merchants must still submit evidence to challenge a dispute even when the customer says they are withdrawing. Confirm the procedure with your provider.
Preserve the submission record and follow-up
Before submitting, the authorized owner should check that the case reference, selected action and response files match. Record the version reviewed. After submission, save that copy in approved storage, along with the provider’s confirmation or resulting account status, the submission time and the submitter’s name.
If the portal shows an incomplete response or no confirmation, mark receipt “unresolved” and check with trusted support. Save the support reference and next follow-up time. Before submitting again or taking another financial action, ask the provider what was recorded.
Assign someone to check the status on a recorded date. Confirmation that a response was received does not establish the case decision. Check the eventual decision in the provider account and have the person responsible for bookkeeping reconcile related balance entries. The checklist helps you keep a traceable response record; it cannot promise recovery of the disputed funds.
To review your dispute workflow, start with the chargeback management and fraud prevention service pages. Use your non-sensitive checklist and provider instructions to identify missed handoffs and questions about service scope. Confirm who will remain responsible for the case. Use the scheduling or contact choices on Contact Us to discuss that scope, and keep customer evidence in the provider’s approved channel.
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