Respond to disputes
Learn the terminology and lifecycle of disputes.
Disputes in MoneyCollect Dashboard
You can find disputes in the MoneyCollect Dashboard. Each one includes all relevant information about the payment being disputed and the reason the cardholder reported it to the card issuer. When you receive a dispute, you can respond to it by submitting the appropriate evidence or accepting it.
When a dispute occurs, MoneyCollect receives a notification of the disputed payment and sends you an automated email. And you can also see a banner on the Home
page reminding you how many disputes have not been responded to.
This process creates a Dispute with the status needs_response
.
Respond to disputes in the Dashboard
You can respond disputes within the MoneyCollect Dashboard. The Dashboard guides you through the submission process, step-by-step, automatically formatting the information you provide. You’re asked to provide different pieces of evidence and upload all necessary files, depending on the dispute reasons. These steps increase the likelihood of a dispute being found in your favor.
Request for information
Sometimes, the issuer will request more information about a transaction (also known as a retrieval request or soft chargeback). They may do this before raising a formal dispute, or use it instead of a dispute if they can no longer raise one because too much time has passed since the transaction. No money is taken from your account at this stage. You should provide the requested information to the issuer as quickly as possible. And, if you think the transaction being questioned is not valid, it's best to refund the customer to avoid the potential of a formal dispute being raised.
Some card issuers may begin to investigate a payment before creating a chargeback, and request further information about the charge. Most card networks call these “retrievals," and American Express calls them “inquiries." These are common for American Express and Discover payments. Mastercard and Visa almost always create a chargeback immediately. To avoid an inquiry or retrieval becoming a chargeback, submit any required evidence or refund the payment in full. Refunding the payment marks the inquiry or retrieval as resolved and doesn’t incur a dispute fee.
Many inquiries and retrievals are the result of the cardholder not recognizing the transaction—providing basic information about your business and what was purchased is usually sufficient to close the case. However, if the cardholder refutes your evidence, or the card issuer considers it insufficient, the card issuer might escalate the inquiry or retrieval into a chargeback and reclaim the cardholder’s funds. It’s important to resolve the case while it’s still in the inquiry or retrieval stage, before it escalates. Regardless of which option you choose, it’s always best to reach out to your customer first to get more information about the reason for the inquiry or retrieval.
Accepting disputes
You can accept a dispute, effectively agreeing with the cardholder that the dispute was valid for the reason given. Accepting a dispute isn’t considered an admission of wrongdoing and is sometimes the most appropriate response. The customer has already received their refund through the dispute process—if you agree with the refund, it’s best to accept the dispute. This is the action you should take if you don’t intend to respond and submit evidence. Although accepting disputes doesn’t negatively affect your business any further, it’s not a viable alternative to an effective refund or returns policy. Dispute activity is calculated based upon the disputes received, not won or lost, so dispute prevention is critical.
Submitting evidence
If it is not appropriate to accept the dispute or work with your end-customer to withdraw the dispute, please follow these steps to enter the dispute process and submit your evidence:
You can only submit dispute evidence once. Make sure to provide all relevant information and review it carefully before you submit it. Your progress is automatically saved, so you can return to the submission process at a later time and review the evidence before submitting it.
Navigate to
Dispute details
page from your MoneyCollect dashboard. (The status of this dispute should beOpen(Needs response)
.Click
Submit evidence
button to submit evidence.
3. Add Product or service details
, Representment letter
and Supporting documents
on Submit dispute evidence
page.
Learn more about evidence submission ->
4. You can only submit evidence to the customer’s bank once. Make sure you have no more evidence to submit before clicking Submit
button.
5.The status of this dispute changes to Reviewing
and you can check the progress of the evidence you submitted by clicking View submission
button from Dispute details
page.
The evidence you submit should be appropriate for the reason for the dispute. Web logs, email communications, shipment tracking numbers and delivery confirmation, proof of prior refunds or replacement shipments, etc., can all help.
For example, a response to a dispute with the reason “product not received” should have evidence that includes shipping information and any screenshots of package tracking. We will electronically submits this information to your cardholder’s issuer and notifies you of any updates to the dispute.
We will automatically puts the evidence you provide into a format accepted by card issuers. This includes all mandatory payment information (e.g. amount, date of payment), CVC or postal code verification results (if available),and any additional information or documents that you provide. You can prepare a suitable response that has the most relevant evidence using the following best practices. Following them can help ensure you have the greatest possible chance of a dispute being found in your favor—and your funds returned:
Keep your evidence relevant and to the point
Provide clear and accurate evidence
Include proof of service or delivery
Include a copy of your terms of service and refund policy
Formatting documents and images to upload
Card issuers review thousands of dispute responses every day. A long introduction about your product or company, complaint about the customer, or the unfairness of the dispute isn’t going to make your responses more compelling. Instead, provide only the facts surrounding the original purchase, using a neutral and professional tone.
You can investigate the dispute while collecting evidence to submit. For example, you can take a look at Google Maps and Street View to see where your delivery took place, or check social media like Facebook or LinkedIn to help establish the customer as the legitimate cardholder.
Many merchants also include email correspondence or texts with the customer, but be aware that these exchanges don’t verify identity. If you’re going to include them, make sure to include only the relevant information (for example, if you’re going to include a long email thread, redact any text that only quotes previous emails).
Your evidence should be factual, professional, and concise. While providing little evidence is a problem, overwhelming the card issuer with unnecessary information can have the same effect.
Escalating dispute to Arbitration
Navigate to
Dispute details
page from your MoneyCollect dashboard. (The status of this dispute should bePre-arbitration(Needs response)
.Click
Arbitration
button to escalate your dispute to Arbitration.
Dispute fees
When your business receives a dispute (also called a chargeback), the payment amount as well as a separate dispute fee levied by the card network will be deducted from your account balance.
Card networks apply this additional dispute fee to help protect cardholders and discourage dishonest or fraudulent business practices that could lead to chargebacks. The network fees for chargebacks are imposed regardless of whether you choose to dispute the chargeback, and regardless of the outcome of any given dispute.
Learn more about dispute handling fee in MC ->
Misunderstandings
For disputes that are the result of a misunderstanding, your customer can tell their card issuer that they no longer dispute the transaction. It’s still important that you submit evidence to show that the payment was valid, however, and to ensure that the card issuer knows you’re not accepting the dispute. In cases where you agree that the customer should keep the disputed funds, accept the dispute rather than ask the cardholder to withdraw the dispute for a regular refund. Remember, the card networks don’t consider how many disputes you win or lose, only how many you receive—a withdrawn dispute still counts as a dispute.
Disputes on partially refunded payments
Even if you plan to accept the unrefunded portion of the dispute, it’s important for you to provide evidence of the partial refund in your response. This should include the amount and date of the refund, and even a screenshot of the refund information from your Dashboard.
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