Glossary
Dispute
A dispute is a payer's claim that a payment was wrong: fraudulent, duplicated, for goods not received or not as described, or not refunded as promised. For cards it is raised with the issuer and runs through the scheme's stages: an inquiry or retrieval request, a chargeback, the merchant's representment, a second chargeback or pre-arbitration, and arbitration by the scheme. Wallets and marketplaces run their own dispute processes with similar stages and shorter timelines.
Stages and timelines
A cardholder has up to 120 days from the transaction or the expected delivery to dispute; the issuer files a chargeback with a reason code; the merchant has days to weeks to accept or represent with evidence; the issuer may accept or escalate; arbitration is a paid decision by the scheme. Each stage has a fee, and the merchant’s ratio counts the chargeback whatever the outcome.
Handling disputes
Answer inquiries fast with the receipt and delivery proof, which often ends the matter; refund rather than fight where the payer is right or the amount is small; represent with the evidence the reason code asks for; track outcomes per merchant to fix the product, the descriptor or the onboarding decision behind them.
On the platform
Tranzify records the chargebacks acquirers and providers report against the payments with their reason, debits and credits the merchant’s balance accordingly, keeps the payment’s evidence in the journal and shows chargebacks per merchant and terminal in the reports; the stages of a dispute run at the acquirer, in its own tools.
Updated: 2026-11-08