What a dispute really costs your business.
A chargeback isn't just a refund you didn't approve. It pulls revenue back out of your account, adds fees, takes your team's time and, left unchecked, can put your ability to accept cards at risk.
From one phone call to money leaving your account.
Every card network has its own rules and deadlines, but almost every dispute follows the same path.
The customer calls their bank
They question a charge on their statement, for almost any reason.
The money is pulled back
The amount is taken from your account, usually with a processor fee on top.
Funds removedThe clock starts
Your processor gives you a short window to respond, often just a couple of weeks.
DeadlineYou respond with evidence
Receipts, tracking, logs and policies, matched to the exact reason code.
The bank decides
Win and the money comes back. Lose and it's gone, and some cases escalate to pre-arbitration.
Won or lostMost disputes aren't what they look like.
Disputes come from three places. Knowing which one you're dealing with changes how you fight it, and how you prevent the next one.
True fraud
A stolen card or account is used to buy from you. The real cardholder disputes it, and they're right to.
- Stolen card numbers
- Account takeovers
- Card-testing attacks
Friendly fraud
The customer made the purchase, then disputes it anyway, sometimes by mistake, sometimes not.
- Didn't recognize the charge on their statement
- A family member made the purchase
- Buyer's remorse or skipping the refund process
Service & processing issues
Something went wrong, or looked like it did, between checkout and delivery.
- Item not received or not as described
- Subscription billed after cancelling
- Duplicate or incorrect charges
A $100 dispute can cost you $228.
The sale is only the start. Mastercard's 2026 research puts the average cost of a chargeback at $128 on top of the disputed amount: about $46 in processor and network fees, and $82 in your own team's time and tools.
And that's before the product and shipping you already sent. Run your own numbers in our calculator →
Too many disputes can cost you the ability to take cards.
Card networks watch your dispute and fraud ratios. Cross their thresholds and the consequences build on each other.
Monitoring programs
You're placed in a network monitoring program, with monthly fines and pressure to bring your ratio down fast.
Reserves & higher rates
Your processor may hold back a share of your sales as a reserve and raise your processing fees, squeezing cash flow.
Account termination
Your merchant account can be closed, and you may be added to an industry list that makes it hard to get a new one for years.
Thresholds as of 2026 and simplified for clarity. Programs and limits change; we'll walk through your actual numbers with you.
What doesn't show up on the statement.
Cash flow
Disputed funds are pulled immediately and can be tied up for weeks or months while the case plays out.
Team time
Every case means digging up receipts, tracking and messages, then writing a response that fits the rules.
Deadlines
Miss a response window and you lose automatically, no matter how strong your evidence was.
Processor trust
A rising ratio changes how your processor sees you, long before any program flags you.
You don't have to figure this out alone.
Whether you want guidance, a team that runs it for you, or the platform to do it yourself, we meet you where you are.
Advisory Support
A monthly read on your disputes and clear fixes for the root causes.
Learn more → Hand it offDispute Operations
Our team runs your disputes end to end, powered by Dispute OS.
Learn more → Do it yourselfDispute OS
Our AI-powered platform checks every case against network rules and drafts the rebuttal.
Explore Dispute OS →Not sure where your disputes stand?
Talk to a dispute expert about your ratios, win rates and monitoring exposure.