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The unified orchestration layer for wallets and alternative payments
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The secure repository for all your payment methods
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Workflow-driven payments intelligence for smarter routing and higher auth rates
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A flexible fraud and authentication layer. Instantly add advanced fraud tools and 3DS
One integration to sell inside ChatGPT, Gemini, and every agentic platform
The visual workflow builder that ties fraud, identity, and payment routing together in one place
The unified orchestration layer for wallets and alternative payments
The secure repository for all your payment methods
Workflow-driven payments intelligence for smarter routing and higher auth rates
A flexible fraud and authentication layer. Instantly add advanced fraud tools and 3DS
One integration to sell inside ChatGPT, Gemini, and every agentic platform
The visual workflow builder that ties fraud, identity, and payment routing together in one place
Dispute Management
Dispute management is the operational discipline of monitoring, responding to, and resolving payment disputes, primarily chargebacks initiated by cardholders through their issuing banks. It encompasses the entire lifecycle from initial dispute notification through evidence submission, representment outcomes, and post-resolution analysis to prevent future disputes.
Effective dispute management starts before a dispute is filed. The best disputes are the ones that never happen: clear billing descriptors (so cardholders recognize the charge on their statement), proactive fulfillment communication (so customers know their order is coming), easy and accessible refund policies (so customers resolve issues directly rather than escalating to chargebacks), and quality fraud prevention (so unauthorized transactions are caught before they become disputes). Prevention investment consistently delivers better ROI than response capability alone.
When disputes do arrive, time is the critical variable. Card networks impose strict deadlines for merchant response, typically 7 to 30 days from the dispute notification, depending on the network and reason code. Missing a response deadline results in automatic loss of the dispute regardless of the evidence available. Merchants processing significant transaction volumes need automated dispute monitoring and workflow management to ensure no dispute deadline is missed.
Chargeback Representment, the formal process of contesting a chargeback, requires presenting compelling evidence that the transaction was legitimate, authorized, and fulfilled. The evidence required varies by dispute reason code: "unauthorized transaction" disputes require authentication evidence (3DS2 authentication logs, AVS and CVV match results, device fingerprints); "item not received" disputes require delivery confirmation; "not as described" disputes require product description documentation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What evidence is most effective in chargeback representment?
The most compelling evidence directly contradicts the stated reason for the dispute. For "unauthorized transaction" claims on card-not-present transactions, the most powerful evidence is a 3DS2 authentication record showing the issuer authenticated the transaction, this is difficult for the cardholder to refute. For "item not received" disputes on physical goods, confirmed delivery to the cardholder's address via carrier tracking is the strongest evidence.
How should a merchant decide whether to contest a chargeback?
The decision to contest should be driven by expected representment success probability and economics, not by principle. For disputes where the merchant has clear, compelling evidence and the transaction amount justifies the response effort, representment makes sense. For disputes where the evidence is weak or the amount is below the cost of preparing a response, absorbing the loss is more efficient.
What is a pre-arbitration and when does it occur?
Pre-arbitration is a stage in the dispute lifecycle that occurs after the initial chargeback and representment exchange, when the issuer disagrees with the merchant's representment evidence and escalates the dispute before formal card network arbitration. It is an opportunity for the merchant to provide additional evidence or for the parties to reach resolution without formal arbitration fees. If pre-arbitration does not resolve the dispute, it may proceed to formal card network arbitration, a binding, fee-bearing process where the card network reviews the evidence and issues a final ruling.
