What to Do Once You Get a Chargeback: A Merchant’s Practical Guide

Ivanca Urecheanu

Rescue Team

Chargebacks happen, even if you do everything right.

While prevention is always the first line of defence, every merchant should be prepared to respond when one comes in. The good news? Acting quickly, staying organized, and following the right process greatly improves your chances of winning the dispute and protecting your revenue.

At Rescue Payments, we believe your processor should be more than a middleman. When our merchants face a chargeback, we work alongside them to navigate timelines, gather evidence, and make sure the process is as fair as possible.

This guide builds on our earlier article about preventing chargebacks by focusing on what to do after a chargeback is filed, giving you a clear roadmap from notification to resolution.

Recognize the Chargeback and Its Details

When your processor or acquiring bank notifies you of a chargeback, you’ll usually see:

A case or reference number
The reason code (explaining why the cardholder disputed the charge)
Transaction details (amount, date, card type)
The response deadline

This is not the time to let an email sit unread. The countdown starts the moment the chargeback is filed, and missing the deadline almost always means an automatic loss.

Respond Quickly and Deliberately

As soon as you’re aware of a chargeback:

Read the notification in full so you understand the reason code and any comments from the customer or their bank.
Avoid issuing a manual refund outside of the chargeback process, this can complicate the case and make it harder to dispute.
Log the case in your records, noting deadlines and who is handling the response.

Know Your Timelines

Chargeback windows vary by card network:

Visa, AmEx, Discover: roughly 20 days per phase to respond
Mastercard: up to 45 days per phase
Depending on your payment provider, you may have as little as 5-10 days to submit evidence

Timing rules to note:

There are also limits on how long a cardholder has to file a chargeback. While this varies by reason code and card brand, most disputes must be initiated within 120 days of the transaction or delivery date. Fraud-related disputes may have slightly different limits, and extensions can be granted if the goods or services were delivered significantly later.

Understand the Cost Impact

Chargebacks aren’t just about losing a sale. Most providers charge a non-refundable fee per case, often between $15 and $100 depending on your agreement. In some cases, the fee may be refunded if you win, but more often it isn’t. Losing too many disputes can also raise your processing rates or put your merchant account at risk. The financial impact is both immediate and long-term, which is why prevention and strong record-keeping matter so much.

Decide Whether to Accept or Contest

Not every chargeback is worth fighting.

Accepting may make sense when the dispute is clearly valid, the amount is small, or the evidence isn’t strong enough to win. It closes the case quickly but means losing the sale, the product or service, and paying the chargeback fee.

Contesting (known as representment) is best when you have solid evidence the charge was valid. If you win, the funds are returned to you, although fees are not always refunded.

Build a Strong Evidence Package

Your evidence should directly address the chargeback reason, everything you submit should prove the transaction was valid and the customer received what they paid for.

Common supporting materials include:

Proof of delivery (tracking info, signed receipt)
Transaction record (date/time, AVS/CVV match, IP address for online sales)
Invoice, especially if it shows a “Paid” watermark from systems like QuickBooks
Copy of your refund/return policy as it’s presented to customers (e.g., on a receipt, invoice, checkout page, confirmation email, etc)
Screenshots of communications (emails, chat logs)
Product/service description exactly as it appeared at purchase

Pro tip: Keep your submission concise, relevant, and well-organized. Card networks have strict page limits:

Mastercard: 15 pages
Visa: 21 pages
Discover: 2 pages
AmEx: 50 pages

Whenever possible, combine all documents into a single PDF, not multiple Word docs or loose files. PDFs preserve formatting, make it easier for reviewers to navigate, and are accepted by all processors.

If you use Rescue Payments’ POS or Online Dashboard, every transaction you’ve processed since day one is stored in a searchable history, making it much faster to pull receipts, invoices, and timestamps without digging through multiple systems.

When you receive the chargeback notification (usually by email), it will include exact instructions on where and how to submit your evidence, follow these closely to avoid delays or rejections.

Prepare and Submit Your Response

If you have access to an online dashboard through your processor, most have a dedicated dispute section that guides you through the process step-by-step. Always include a clear rebuttal letter: a short, direct explanation of why the chargeback is invalid, pointing directly to your evidence and the reason code.

Submit ahead of the deadline to avoid last-minute upload issues.

Other Situations to Be Aware Of

Settling with the Customer Mid-Process
Once a chargeback is opened, the card issuer still expects the case to be addressed through their system, even if you and the customer work things out privately. If you resolve it directly, still respond to the chargeback with proof of resolution (refund receipt, signed statement, etc.) to avoid an automatic loss and the fee.

Tip: A clear and timely response to a customer inquiry can sometimes prevent a dispute altogether. If a customer reaches out about an issue, address it promptly and keep a record of the interaction. Even if the chargeback proceeds, you’ll have documentation showing you attempted to resolve it.

If You Don’t Have Evidence
When documentation is missing or incomplete, contesting the chargeback may not be worth the time. Accept the loss, then review your sales and record-keeping process to prevent similar gaps in the future.

International Chargebacks
Disputes involving cards from other countries can have different rules, timelines, and documentation needs (e.g., proof of customs clearance). The deadlines can be shorter and the evidence requirements stricter.

Retrieval Requests
A retrieval request is a bank’s way of asking for transaction details before a chargeback is filed. Respond quickly and completely, it’s one of the few chances to stop a chargeback before it starts.

Understand What Happens After Submission

Once your response is in:

Your processor reviews the package for completeness.
The issuing bank decides whether to reverse the chargeback or let it stand.
If the bank still sides with the cardholder but you have new evidence, the case may move to pre-arbitration.
The final stage, arbitration, is handled by the card network and often involves high fees, so most merchants try to resolve disputes before it reaches this point.

Adopt Good Documentation Habits Now

The best time to prepare for a chargeback is before one happens. Build habits like:

Keeping signed delivery confirmations for high-value shipments
Using clear and accurate product descriptions
Including terms on receipts, invoices, or order confirmations
Enabling AVS and CVV checks for online transactions

Strong, consistent record-keeping means less scrambling if a dispute comes in.

Learn and Adjust

Whether you win or lose, review the case for patterns and prevention opportunities. Your chargeback ratio (the percentage of total transactions that become chargebacks) is closely monitored by card networks. If it gets too high, typically above 0.9%, you risk higher fees, monitoring programs, or even account termination. Keeping disputes low isn’t just about saving individual sales; it’s about protecting your ability to process payments long-term.

Understanding Fraud and Friendly Fraud

Not all disputes are the result of “true” fraud. Many are friendly fraud, where the customer authorized the transaction but later disputes it (due to forgetting the purchase, not recognizing your billing descriptor, or intentionally trying to get something for free).
Recognizing patterns of friendly fraud can help you adjust your processes, like making your statement descriptor clearer or adding more order confirmation details, to reduce these cases.

Additional Resources

If you’d like to see the official guidance from the major card networks, here are their merchant dispute resources:

The Bottom Line

Chargebacks are never ideal, but they don’t have to catch you off guard.
With clear processes, reliable records, and an understanding of how the dispute system works, you can respond with confidence and keep the impact to a minimum.

The best defence will always be prevention, but when a chargeback does happen, having the right setup and support in place can turn a stressful situation into a manageable one. At Rescue Payments, we help ensure you’re not navigating the process alone.