Chargeback vs dispute vs retrieval request vs inquiry
explained.

The four terms at a glance

• Dispute: the umbrella word for a cardholder challenging a payment. Stripe calls every case a dispute, whatever its stage.
• Chargeback: the formal reversal. The issuer claws the funds back through the card network and your processor debits you, usually with a fee.
• Retrieval request / request for information (RFI): the issuer asks for a copy of the transaction record or more detail before deciding whether to file a chargeback. No funds move yet.
• Inquiry: Stripe's and American Express's word for that pre-chargeback information request. Stripe notes inquiries are sometimes also called "retrievals" or "requests for information".

Who calls what

• Stripe: "dispute" for everything. A pre-chargeback case is an "inquiry" in the Dashboard and a "warning" in the API (statuses such as warning_needs_response). If an inquiry stays open for 120 days without escalating, Stripe marks it closed. Stripe says American Express and Discover are the networks that most often use the inquiry phase, while Mastercard and Visa no longer use it.
• American Express: sends either an Inquiry (it needs more information from you) or an upfront Chargeback. Either way you have 20 days to respond. An unanswered or incomplete inquiry can become a chargeback under codes R13 (no reply) or R03 (insufficient reply).
• Adyen: shows separate tabs for Chargebacks, Requests for Information and Notifications of Fraud, and a Notification of Chargeback before the debit.
• PayPal: a buyer opens a dispute, which starts an inquiry stage of 20 days where buyer and seller try to settle it without PayPal deciding. If unresolved, either side can escalate it to a claim, and PayPal investigates and decides. PayPal also lists appeal stages it calls pre-arbitration and arbitration. A card chargeback is different again: it happens when a buyer who paid by card goes to their bank instead.
• Visa and Mastercard: formal disputes run on network reason codes. For Visa, pre-dispute information sharing is offered through services such as Verifi Order Insight, which Visa's Compelling Evidence FAQ describes as a way for merchants to respond with transaction details in real time, before the dispute is created.

Why inquiries deserve the same urgency as chargebacks

Stripe warns that failing to respond to an inquiry can signal acceptance of the claim and lead to a formal and likely unwinnable chargeback. For Discover, Stripe notes an unanswered inquiry can become a dispute you cannot challenge at all. On the upside, resolving at the inquiry stage with evidence or a full refund avoids Stripe's dispute fee.

A worked example

An American Express Card Member doesn't recognize a $64 subscription charge and calls Amex. Amex sends an Inquiry under a "no knowledge" code. The merchant replies within 20 days with the order record, the customer's login history and the renewal reminder email, and Amex closes the case. No chargeback, no fee. Had the merchant ignored it, an R13 "no reply" chargeback would likely have followed, debiting $64 plus any processor fee.

What merchants should do

• Treat every notice with a deadline as a dispute, whatever it is called.
• Answer inquiries with the same quality of evidence you would send for a chargeback.
• If the customer is right, refund fully at the inquiry stage. Stripe notes inquiries on partially refunded charges can still escalate.
• Map your processor's vocabulary once so nothing slips. A "warning" in one dashboard is a "request for information" in another.

Common mistakes

• Assuming no money moved, so it can wait.
• Treating a PayPal claim and a card chargeback as the same case. They have different decision-makers, deadlines and evidence rules.
• Sending a partial refund and expecting the case to close.

How Verdikx helps

Verdikx is a fraud, chargeback and dispute platform for e-commerce and SaaS merchants, made by Verdikx LLC. Every case lands in one queue sorted by deadline, whatever your processor calls it: Shopify Payments and Stripe sync directly (Stripe on Growth and Pro), and retrieval requests, inquiries, chargebacks and pre-arbitration notices forwarded by email are recognized and added as cases on every plan. Retrieval requests also import from connected processors that report them, such as Braintree and Cybersource (both beta). PayPal's direct connection is coming soon. See how Verdikx manages chargebacks across processors.