Resources
Chargeback and fraud resources,
free and sourced.
Free, sourced tools and reference material for merchants dealing with fraud and chargebacks: calculators for your chargeback ratio, dispute time limits, the true cost of disputes and Visa's VAMP ratio, every major Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover reason code with the evidence that answers it, and a glossary of dispute and fraud terms.
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Tools and guides
Free guides (PDF)
Three free chargeback guides for ecom stores: the evidence checklist by reason code, Chargebacks 101 and your chargeback ratio explained. Read online or as PDFs.
GuideChargebacks 101
Learn chargebacks step by step: what a chargeback is, the dispute lifecycle, reason codes, evidence, prevention and ratio monitoring, with free guides.
CalculatorChargeback fee calculator
Calculate what chargebacks really cost: fees, lost sales and staff time, your dispute ratio against Visa and Mastercard thresholds, and prevention savings.
CalculatorROI calculator: success fee vs. subscription
How chargeback software is priced: success fees, per-dispute fees, subscriptions and percentage-of-sales guarantees, with sourced examples and costs at four volumes.
CalculatorVisa VAMP ratio calculator
Calculate your Visa VAMP ratio from fraud reports (TC40), disputes (TC15) and settled card-not-present sales, and see it against the Excessive merchant level.
Free toolCard network lookup
Free card network lookup: type the first digits of a card (the IIN or BIN prefix) to see whether it is Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, JCB, Diners or UnionPay.
CalculatorChargeback ratio calculator
Calculate your chargeback ratio three ways: disputes to orders, Visa's VAMP ratio and Mastercard's ECM ratio, against the 2026 card network monitoring thresholds.
CalculatorChargeback time limit calculator
Work out how long a cardholder's bank can still file a Visa, Mastercard, Amex or Discover chargeback, and when your evidence is due on Shopify, Stripe or PayPal.
Free toolChargeback rebuttal letter templates
Free chargeback rebuttal letter and response templates by reason code: item not received, fraud, not as described, refund, cancellation and duplicate charges.
Free toolFight, accept or refund a chargeback?
Answer a few questions about your dispute to see whether to refund, accept or fight it, the evidence to send and what's at stake. Free, in your browser.
Free toolChargeback email to customer templates
Free email templates for a customer who filed a chargeback: an unrecognized charge, a parcel marked delivered, a wanted return or a forgotten renewal.
Free toolChargeback evidence checklist builder
Pick the cardholder's claim and what you sold to get a printable list of the evidence its reason code needs.
Chargeback questions, answered
Short, sourced answers to what merchants ask most.
All answers
Short, sourced answers to the chargeback questions ecom merchants ask most: refunds, proof of delivery, fraud, ratio limits, payout holds, Stripe and Shopify.
AnswerWhy did I lose a chargeback when I had proof of delivery?
Proof of delivery answers an item-not-received claim, not a fraud claim. Why chargebacks are lost despite tracking, and which evidence each reason code needs.
AnswerCan a customer file a chargeback after I refunded them?
A cardholder can still dispute an order you already refunded. How to answer with the refund record, and why refunding again after a chargeback won't stop it.
AnswerWhat is the difference between a chargeback and a refund?
A refund is money you send back; a chargeback is the cardholder's bank taking it back, with a fee, and it counts toward your chargeback ratio. Side by side.
AnswerHow long does a chargeback take to resolve?
After you respond, the bank usually decides within about 75 days on Shopify Payments and Stripe; PayPal claims take about 14 days, and escalations take longer.
AnswerHow many chargebacks are you allowed before you get flagged?
It's a ratio, not a count: processors and card networks start flagging stores at around 1% of orders disputed. The Visa and Mastercard lines and minimums.
Chargeback reason codes
What each code means, the evidence that answers it and how to prevent it.
All reason codes
Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover in one reference.
VisaVisa reason codes
Every current Visa dispute condition from 10.1 to 13.9, with time limits, the evidence that wins and when to accept. Checked against the 2026 Visa Rules.
MastercardMastercard reason codes
Current Mastercard chargeback codes (4808, 4834, 4837, 4853 and more), which legacy codes now map elsewhere, time frames and the evidence each one needs.
American ExpressAmerican Express reason codes
Every current American Express chargeback reason code (A, C, F, FR, M, P, R) with what it means, the evidence that answers it and how to prevent it.
DiscoverDiscover reason codes
Discover chargeback reason codes (UA01, UA02, RG, RM, AP, RN2 and more): what each means, the evidence that answers it and how to avoid it.
Glossary
Definitions of the dispute and payments-fraud terms you will meet.
Full glossary
Plain-English definitions of chargeback and fraud terms: representment, compelling evidence 3.0, RDR, Ethoca, CDRN, 3DS liability shift, AVS, CVV and more.
TermChargeback
A chargeback is a reversal of a card payment that the cardholder's issuing bank initiates after the cardholder disputes the charge, debiting the disputed amount (and usually a fee) from the merchant.
TermChargeback vs dispute vs retrieval request vs inquiry
A dispute is any cardholder challenge to a payment; a chargeback is the formal reversal that debits the merchant; a retrieval request or inquiry is an earlier request for information that may or may not escalate into a chargeback.
TermRepresentment
Representment is the merchant's formal response to a chargeback, in which it submits evidence through its acquirer or processor asking the issuing bank to reverse the chargeback.
TermPre-arbitration and arbitration
Pre-arbitration is the stage after representment where the issuer or acquirer challenges the first decision once more; arbitration is the final stage where the card network itself rules on liability, usually with a filing fee charged to the loser.
TermVisa Compelling Evidence 3.0 (CE 3.0)
Visa Compelling Evidence 3.0 is a Visa dispute rule, effective for disputes submitted on or after 15 April 2023, that shifts liability for a card-absent fraud dispute (reason code 10.4) back to the issuer when the merchant shows two qualifying prior undisputed transactions from the same cardholder.
TermRapid Dispute Resolution (Visa RDR)
Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR) is a Visa pre-dispute service operated by Verifi that automatically resolves a cardholder's dispute with a refund, based on rules the merchant sets in advance, before it becomes a chargeback.
TermEthoca Alerts
Ethoca Alerts is a Mastercard service that shares confirmed-fraud and customer-dispute data from card issuers with merchants in near real time, so the merchant can stop fulfillment or refund before a chargeback is filed.
TermCDRN (Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network)
The Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN) is a Verifi service through which participating card issuers send pre-dispute cases to merchants, who can stop a chargeback by issuing a refund within a set window.
Term3-D Secure liability shift
The 3-D Secure liability shift is the card network rule under which, for an online payment successfully authenticated with 3-D Secure, liability for a later fraud chargeback typically moves from the merchant to the card issuer.
TermAVS (Address Verification Service)
The Address Verification Service (AVS) is a card authorization check in which the issuer compares the billing street address and postal code entered by the customer with the address it holds for the cardholder and returns a match result.
TermCVV (card verification value)
The CVV (card verification value, also CVC, CVV2 or CID) is the 3 or 4-digit security code printed on a payment card, which the issuer checks during authorization to indicate the person paying has the physical card or its full details.
TermCard testing
Card testing is a fraud attack in which criminals use a merchant's checkout or card-saving flow, usually with automated scripts, to find out which stolen or generated card details are valid before using or selling them.
TermEarly fraud warning (TC40 / SAFE)
An early fraud warning is a notice, derived from issuer fraud reports such as Visa TC40 and Mastercard SAFE, that a card payment has been reported as fraudulent, often before any chargeback is filed.
TermAccount takeover (ATO)
Account takeover (ATO) is a form of identity fraud in which a criminal gains access to a legitimate customer's account, typically with stolen or guessed credentials, and uses it to make purchases or change account details.
TermTriangulation fraud
Triangulation fraud is a scheme in which a fraudster sells goods through a fake storefront or marketplace listing, collects payment from a real buyer, and fulfills the order from a legitimate merchant using a stolen card, leaving that merchant with the chargeback.
TermMerchant descriptor
A merchant descriptor (statement or billing descriptor) is the text that identifies a business on a cardholder's bank or card statement for each charge.
TermWardrobing
Wardrobing is a form of return abuse in which a customer buys an item, uses it (for example, wears clothing to an event), and then returns it as if unused for a refund.
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