How to prevent chargebacks on Shopify
- Review risky orders before fulfillingRead Shopify's fraud analysis on every medium and high risk order.
- Offer Shop PayShopify Protect covers eligible Shop Pay orders against fraudulent and unrecognized chargebacks.
- Make the charge recognizableUse the store name customers know in your statement descriptor.
- Send tracking and delivery emailsA shipped email with tracking and a delivered email for every parcel.
- Show policies at checkoutReturn, refund and cancellation terms the customer sees before paying.
- Answer and refund fastReply to "where is my order" the same day and pay owed refunds quickly.
What Shopify gives you
- Fraud analysis: low, medium or high risk with the indicators behind it on Basic and up; recommendations on Grow or higher, or with Shopify Payments.
- Shopify Protect: protects eligible Shop Pay orders against fraudulent and unrecognized chargebacks at no cost.
- Inquiries: answer them in Shopify admin; an ignored inquiry can turn into a chargeback.
The gaps to close
- Shopify's fraud analysis doesn't hold or cancel orders for you, and it doesn't cover chargebacks.
- Not-received, not-as-described and refund disputes need delivery evidence, accurate product pages and refunds paid on time.
- Your statement descriptor should show the store name customers know, not a legal entity.
Example: a December of "not received"
A Shopify store sees most of its disputes arrive as "product not received" in December. It adds a shipped email with tracking and a delivered email, answers "where is my order" messages the same day and saves the carrier delivery scan for every parcel, so the disputes that still arrive have their evidence ready.
Reason codes this answer covers
- Visa 10.4: Other Fraud: Card-Absent Environment: sometimes winnable
- Visa 13.1: Merchandise/Services Not Received: often winnable
More questions
Does Shop Pay reduce chargebacks?
It can change who bears the loss: Shopify Protect protects eligible Shop Pay orders against fraudulent and unrecognized chargebacks at no cost. It doesn't stop not-received or not-as-described disputes, which still need tracking, accurate product pages and a response.
Which Shopify plan do I need for fraud recommendations?
Shopify's Help Center says fraud indicators are available on the Basic plan or higher, while recommendations such as "Consider canceling this order" need the Grow plan or higher, or Shopify Payments.
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Sources
- Shopify Help Center: Fraud analysis (checked October 5, 2026)
- Shopify Help Center: Shopify Protect (checked October 5, 2026)
- Shopify Help Center: Chargeback process (checked October 5, 2026)
Last reviewed by Verdikx Research.