Glossary

Chargeback glossary

93 chargeback terms in plain English. Updated .

3

3-D Secure (3DS, Visa Secure, Mastercard Identity Check)
An extra check on online card payments where the card's bank confirms the shopper, often with a code or an app prompt. When a payment is authenticated this way, responsibility for many fraud chargebacks can shift from the merchant to the card issuer. See Liability shift, Visa 10.4.

A

Acceptance (accepting a dispute)
Choosing not to fight a dispute. The customer keeps the money and the case closes, but it still counts toward your chargeback ratio. See After you lose a chargeback.
Acquirer (merchant bank, acquiring bank)
The bank that signs up businesses to take card payments and settles the money to them. A chargeback lands at the acquirer first, and it reaches you through your processor. See Processor, How to fight a chargeback.
Appeal
A narrow review of an arbitration or compliance ruling. Networks allow it only in limited cases, and very few merchants ever get this far. See Arbitration.
Arbitration
The last stage, where the card network itself decides who pays, based on what the two banks already exchanged. The losing side pays the network's fee. Merchants don't file it directly, and some processors, Stripe among them, don't support this stage at all. See Pre-arbitration.
ARN (Acquirer Reference Number)
A tracking number attached to each card transaction record, refunds included. Banks use it to trace a charge or refund through the system, which makes it the number to hand a customer who says your refund never arrived. See Refund.
Authorization
The card issuer's real-time approval of a payment amount. It shows the card was good for the money at that moment. It does not prove who was holding the card. See Capture.
Authorization code (approval code)
The short code returned with an approved payment. It is proof the bank approved the charge, not proof of who made it.
AVS (Address Verification Service)
A check that compares the billing address the customer typed with the address the card issuer has on file. The result (match, partial match, no match) is useful fraud data, but a match alone doesn't prove the cardholder made the purchase.

B

BIN (Bank Identification Number, IIN)
The first digits of a card number. They identify the bank that issued the card.
BNPL (buy now, pay later)
Pay-over-time services such as Affirm, Klarna and Afterpay. Each provider runs its own dispute process with its own deadlines. If the provider paid you with a virtual card, though, the dispute arrives as an ordinary card chargeback through your processor. See Patient financing disputes.

C

Cancellation policy
Your written terms for how and when a customer can cancel, and what it costs. In a dispute it carries weight only if you can show the customer saw and agreed to it before paying, such as a signed form, a checked box or a booking confirmation. See No-show fee chargebacks, Visa 13.7.
Capture
The step that turns an approved authorization into an actual charge that will be settled. Authorized but never captured means the customer was never really charged.
Card network (card brand, card scheme)
Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and others. Networks write the dispute rules, deadlines and reason codes and move the money between banks. American Express and Discover often act as the card issuer too. See Reason code lookup.
Card on file (stored credential)
A customer's card details saved so you can charge them later, for a balance, a membership or a missed-appointment fee. Visa treats charges to a stored card as card-not-present, so keep the customer's signed or recorded permission to use it. See Card-not-present, No-show fee chargebacks.
Card testing (enumeration)
Fraudsters running many small payment attempts to find card numbers that work. Visa tracks it separately in its monitoring program. It usually shows up as a burst of tiny declined or approved charges.
Card-not-present (CNP, card-absent)
A sale where the card isn't at a terminal: online, by phone, by mail, or charged to a card on file. For these sales the merchant usually carries fraud losses unless the payment was authenticated with 3-D Secure. See Visa 10.4.
Card-present
A sale where the customer's card is at your terminal: chip, tap or swipe. A chip read gives you much stronger fraud protection than a number typed in by hand. See EMV.
Cardholder
The person or business that owns the card account. In a dispute, that's your customer. They complain to their own bank, never to the network.
Change order
A signed approval for a change to the scope or price of a job after work has started. Without one, a customer who disputes the extra cost has only your word against theirs. See Contractors and home services.
Chargeback (dispute)
The customer's bank pulls the money for a card payment back from the merchant after the customer says something went wrong. Money moves first; the argument comes second. Visa calls this step a Dispute, and Mastercard calls it a chargeback. See What is a chargeback, How to fight a chargeback.
Chargeback fee (dispute fee)
A fee your processor charges when a dispute opens, on top of the disputed amount. Most processors keep it even if you win. Amounts vary by processor, so check your agreement. See Chargeback fees.
Chargeback ratio (dispute rate, dispute ratio)
Disputes divided by transactions over a period. Each network and processor counts it its own way. Disputes you win still count. See VAMP, Excessive Chargeback Program.
Clearing
The exchange of transaction details between the merchant's bank and the card issuer after a sale is approved. Settlement, the actual money transfer, follows.
Compelling evidence
Visa's term for proof that the cardholder took part in the purchase, received the goods or services, or otherwise benefited. Visa lists which items count for which dispute types, and even qualifying evidence doesn't force the bank to rule for you. See Chargeback evidence checklist.
Compelling Evidence 3.0 (CE 3.0)
A Visa rule for online and phone fraud disputes (reason code 10.4). If the same card was used for two earlier undisputed purchases that share key details with the disputed one, such as IP address or device, the fraud claim can be knocked out. Visa expanded the rule on October 24, 2026. See Visa 10.4, Friendly fraud.
Completion record
Dated proof that a service actually happened: a signed sign-off, a chart note, a timesheet or a finished-job photo. A booking or invoice shows a sale was planned. A completion record shows it was delivered. See Services not rendered chargebacks.
Compliance case
A separate network process for losses caused by a rule violation when no chargeback right exists, such as an improper surcharge. The bank must try a pre-compliance step first, and contesting one can carry a sizable network fee.
Counter fee
A second fee some processors charge when you respond to a dispute. Stripe charges one and returns it if you win. See Chargeback fees, Stripe disputes.
Credit not processed (refund not processed)
A dispute where the customer says a promised refund never arrived. Visa uses reason code 13.6 and American Express uses C02. See Visa 13.6, Amex C02.
CVV (CVV2, CVC2, card security code)
The three- or four-digit code printed on the card. A correct code shows the buyer had the card details. It doesn't prove the buyer was the cardholder.

D

Deposit
Money paid up front to hold a date, order materials or start work. Deposits draw disputes when the customer cancels and wants the money back, so the refund terms need to be in writing and accepted before payment. See Deposit chargebacks.
Descriptor (statement descriptor)
The business name that shows on the customer's card statement. If customers don't recognize it, they dispute the charge as fraud. Visa also uses the descriptor to tell merchants apart in its monitoring program. See Unrecognized charge disputes.
Dispute
Another word for chargeback, and Visa's official name for the first chargeback step. Processors also use it loosely for inquiries and later rounds, so read the notice to see which stage you're at. See Chargeback vs inquiry.
Dispute category
Visa sorts its reason codes into four groups: 10 Fraud, 11 Authorization, 12 Processing Errors and 13 Consumer Disputes. The first two digits of a Visa code tell you which one you're facing. See Reason code lookup.
Dispute fee
What many processors call the chargeback fee: a charge for handling a dispute, separate from the disputed amount. Winning returns the amount, but usually not this fee. See Chargeback fee.
Dispute response
Visa's name for the merchant's formal answer to a dispute, sent through the acquirer. It's the same thing merchants call representment. See Representment.
Duplicate processing (double charge)
A dispute saying the same purchase was charged twice. Visa uses reason code 12.6 and Mastercard uses 4834. See Visa 12.6.

E

Early fraud warning (EFW, TC40, SAFE report)
A fraud report the card issuer sends to the network about a charge. It isn't a chargeback and no money moves, but Visa counts it in its monitoring ratio, and refunding the charge doesn't erase it.
EMV (chip card)
The chip standard on payment cards. If a counterfeit chip card is used at a terminal that didn't read the chip, the merchant can be stuck with the fraud loss (Visa 10.1). See Liability shift.
Ethoca
A Mastercard-owned company that alerts merchants to cardholder complaints before they turn into chargebacks, and can share order details with participating banks so customers recognize a purchase. See Pre-dispute alert.
Excessive Chargeback Program (ECP, ECM, HECM)
Mastercard's program for merchants with high monthly chargeback counts and ratios, with two tiers: Excessive Chargeback Merchant and High Excessive Chargeback Merchant. Merchants in it face monthly assessments that grow the longer they stay in. See Chargeback ratio.
Excessive Fraud Merchant (EFM)
A Mastercard program for online merchants with high fraud chargebacks and little use of 3-D Secure. Low 3-D Secure use is one of the entry conditions, so using it widely helps keep a merchant out. See 3-D Secure.

F

First-party misuse (first-party fraud)
The industry's more formal name for friendly fraud: the real cardholder made or benefited from the purchase and disputes it anyway. See Friendly fraud.
Friendly fraud
The real cardholder, or someone in their household, makes or benefits from a purchase and then disputes it, on purpose or by mistake. It usually arrives labeled as fraud even though no stranger was involved. See Friendly fraud guide, Compelling Evidence 3.0.

G

Gateway
Software that carries card data from your website or terminal to the processor. Disputes don't come from the gateway; they come from the processor or bank behind it.
Guaranteed reservation
A booking secured with a card but no payment, so the room, table or appointment is held. Visa defines a no-show charge as one made when the customer neither cancels nor shows up for a guaranteed reservation. See No-show fee, Hotels.

H

High-risk merchant
A business in a category with higher fraud or dispute levels, such as free-trial subscriptions, travel clubs, online dating or nutraceuticals. Processors and networks apply closer monitoring, extra registration or larger reserves. See Reserve.

I

Inquiry (request for information)
A question from the card issuer or network before, or instead of, a chargeback, asking you to explain or document a sale. Usually no money has moved yet. American Express and Discover use this step most, and a good answer can stop the chargeback. See Chargeback vs inquiry.
Interchange
The fee that flows from the merchant's bank to the card issuer on every card sale. It's part of your processing cost, not a dispute fee.
Issuer (card-issuing bank)
The bank that gave the customer their card. It decides whether to open a dispute, picks the reason code and judges your response in the first round. See What is a chargeback.

L

Liability shift
A rule that moves responsibility for certain fraud losses from the merchant to the card issuer when the merchant used stronger security, such as reading the chip or authenticating with 3-D Secure. See 3-D Secure, EMV.
Loss (lost dispute)
The case ends in the customer's favor. The disputed money stays with them, the dispute fee stays with the processor, and nothing more moves because the money already left your balance when the dispute opened. See After you lose a chargeback.

M

MATCH (Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants)
Mastercard's list of businesses whose card accounts were closed for reasons such as excessive chargebacks or fraud. A listing lasts for years, and most processors turn away listed businesses and their owners. See VMSS.
MCC (Merchant Category Code)
The four-digit code that tells the networks what kind of business you run. It affects pricing, risk monitoring and, for some categories, which dispute rules apply.
Merchant agreement
Your contract with your processor or acquirer. It sets fees, reserves and who pays for disputes. Almost all of a merchant's dispute rights and duties come from this contract, not from consumer law.
Merchant of record (MoR)
The business the cardholder paid, and the name on their statement. It's responsible for the charge, so disputes go to it. On a marketplace, whoever is merchant of record gets the dispute.

N

No-show fee (late cancellation fee, missed appointment fee)
A charge for an appointment or reservation the customer missed or cancelled too late. Disputes over these come down to two questions: did the customer agree to the fee in advance, and did the no-show really happen? See No-show fee chargebacks, Salons and spas.
Not as described
A dispute saying the goods or services were different from what was promised or were defective. Visa uses reason code 13.3; American Express uses C31 (not as described) and C32 (damaged or defective). See Visa 13.3.

O

Order Insight
A Verifi (Visa) service that shows the card issuer the purchase details while the customer is asking about a charge, so the bank can clear up confusion without opening a dispute. See Verifi.

P

Partial dispute (partial chargeback)
A dispute for only part of a charge, such as one missed session out of a package. A charge you already partly refunded can still be disputed for the full amount, so show the refund in your response. See Refund.
Patient financing
Loans or credit lines, such as CareCredit, Sunbit or Wisetack, that patients use to pay for treatment. A complaint usually runs through the lender's own program and deadlines rather than a card network, and the lender can claw back money it paid the practice under the practice agreement. See Patient financing disputes, Dental practices.
Payment facilitator (PayFac, aggregator)
A company such as Stripe, Square or PayPal that signs up many small businesses under its own master merchant account. It handles disputes for you, on its own terms and deadlines. See Stripe disputes, Square disputes.
Pre-arbitration (pre-arb)
The second round. If the bank isn't satisfied with your response, it comes back with new information and says it will escalate to arbitration unless you accept. In Visa fraud and authorization disputes, the merchant's side makes the pre-arbitration attempt instead. See Pre-arbitration guide.
Pre-dispute alert (chargeback alert)
A notice from a service such as Ethoca or Verifi that a cardholder has complained to their bank, sent before a chargeback is filed. A refund in time can stop the chargeback, but you still give up the sale. See Ethoca, Verifi.
Processing error
Visa's category 12: disputes about how a charge was processed rather than what was sold, such as a duplicate charge, a wrong amount or a charge sent in too late. See Visa 12.6.
Processor (payment processor)
The company that runs your card payments and the one you actually deal with. It sends the dispute notice, runs the portal, sets your response deadline and charges the dispute fee. The deadline that counts is the one on its notice. See Processor dispute deadlines.
Provisional credit
A temporary credit the bank puts on the customer's account while it investigates a complaint. It's the bank's money, not a refund from you, and it can become permanent if the bank sides with the customer.

R

Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR)
A Verifi (Visa) service that automatically accepts and refunds disputes matching rules the merchant sets in advance, before they become chargebacks. A dispute accepted through it can't be fought later. See Verifi.
Reason code
The code on a dispute that names the customer's complaint, such as Visa 13.1 or Mastercard 4853. It tells you what the bank says went wrong, and so what your proof has to answer. See Reason code lookup, Mastercard 4853.
Recurring transaction (subscription charge)
One in a series of charges to a stored card at regular intervals, which the customer agreed to once up front. Charges after a customer says they cancelled are a leading cause of disputes (Visa 13.2). See Visa 13.2, Subscriptions and SaaS.
Refund (credit)
Money you send back to the customer's card yourself; banks and network rules often call it a credit. Before a dispute, it's usually the cheaper way out. Once a dispute is open, a separate refund can pay the customer twice, so settle it inside the dispute instead. See ARN, Credit not processed.
Regulation E (Reg E)
The US rule for electronic transfers, including debit cards and ACH. It gives consumers 60 days from their statement to report an error and makes the bank investigate. A complaint about the quality of goods or services isn't a Reg E error, so those disputes run on card network rules.
Regulation Z (Reg Z)
The US rule for consumer credit, including credit card billing-error rights. A cardholder generally has 60 days after the statement to report a billing error, and the legal duties fall on the bank, not on you.
Representment (second presentment, dispute response)
The merchant's formal answer to a chargeback, sent through the acquirer with evidence. If the bank accepts it, the money comes back to you. See How to fight a chargeback, Chargeback rebuttal letter.
Reserve (rolling reserve, holdback)
Money your processor holds back from payouts to cover future disputes. It's common for higher-risk businesses or when disputes climb, and the terms sit in your merchant agreement.
Retainer
Money paid in advance and applied to work as it's done, common for lawyers, consultants and contractors. Unearned retainer money may have to be returned, and law firms also face trust-account rules that complicate card disputes on retainers. See Professional services, Deposit chargebacks.
Retrieval request (copy request, ticket retrieval request)
A request for a copy of the sales record behind a charge. Discover calls it a ticket retrieval request. Answer it on time: it's a chance to settle the question before any money moves. See Chargeback vs inquiry.
Reversal
Undoing a step. In Visa's rules it cancels a transaction sent in error, and a bank can also reverse its own chargeback, for example after the customer tells the bank they recognize the charge.

S

Second presentment
Mastercard's name for the merchant's answer to a chargeback, sent through the acquirer. Most people just call it representment. A refund you made before this step must be shown here, not saved for a later round. See Representment.
Services not rendered (services not provided)
A dispute where the customer says the service they paid for never happened or wasn't finished. Visa uses 13.1, Mastercard 4853 (older notices show 4855) and American Express C08. Dated proof the work happened matters most. See Services not rendered chargebacks, Visa 13.1, Amex C08.
Settlement
The transfer of money between banks and on to the merchant after a sale clears. It's the moment a sale turns into money in your account.

T

Time limit (dispute deadline, response deadline)
Every stage has a clock. Customers can usually dispute for 120 days after the sale, longer for services delivered later, while your processor's deadline to respond is often one to three weeks. Miss it and you lose by default. See Chargeback time limits, Deadline calculator.
Treatment plan
A written plan for care in phases, with costs and when payment is due, signed by the patient before treatment starts. In a dispute it shows what the patient agreed to, and why money was collected before all the work was done. See Dental practices, Patient financing disputes.
True fraud (third-party fraud)
A stranger used the card or card details without the cardholder's permission. Unless a liability shift protects you, these disputes are usually hard to beat, and fixing your fraud screening matters more than the response. See Friendly fraud.

U

Unrecognized charge
A dispute that starts because the customer doesn't recognize the name or amount on their statement. These are often filed as fraud even though the customer did buy from you. See Unrecognized charge disputes, Descriptor.

V

VAMP (Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program)
Visa's program, started in June 2025, that tracks fraud reports and disputes against settled card-not-present sales. It counts events, not dollars, so many small disputes hurt as much as a few big ones, and disputes count whether you win or lose. See Chargeback ratio, Early fraud warning.
Verifi
A Visa-owned company that runs pre-dispute services, including Rapid Dispute Resolution, Order Insight and complaint alerts sent before a chargeback posts. See Rapid Dispute Resolution, Order Insight.
VMSS (Visa Merchant Screening Service)
Visa's list of businesses whose card accounts were closed for serious reasons, the counterpart to Mastercard's MATCH. Listed businesses struggle to get a new processor. See MATCH.

W

Win (won dispute)
The bank or network sides with the merchant and the disputed amount comes back. The dispute still counts toward your chargeback ratio, and the original dispute fee usually isn't refunded. See Chargeback fees.
Withdrawal
The customer drops the dispute with their bank. If they tell you they've done so, get it in writing: Visa accepts evidence that the cardholder no longer disputes the charge. See How to fight a chargeback.
Work order
A document listing the job, the agreed price and the customer's sign-off, used in repairs, auto shops and home services. A signed work order shows the customer approved the work before it started. See Auto repair, Contractors and home services.

Sources

  1. Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026 edition; glossary terms, dispute stages and time limits; read October 25, 2026.
  2. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Regulation Z §1026.13 (credit card billing errors), 60-day notice window; read October 25, 2026.
  3. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Regulation E §1005.6 (debit card liability), 60-day reporting window; read October 25, 2026.
  4. Stripe: How disputes work, dispute process and filing windows; read October 25, 2026.
  5. American Express US Disputes Reference Guide, Amex inquiry and chargeback terms.
  6. Mastercard Chargeback Guide, Merchant Edition, Mastercard dispute stages and program names.

General information, not legal advice. Network and processor rules change; the due date on your own dispute notice always governs.

You earned it.
Defend it.

Dispute Daddy builds the case and keeps the deadline in view. A flat $99 a month.

About this site

This site uses examples made for illustration. They are not real customer records.

Early-access signup stores your email and, if provided, company name for your request. We count page visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which uses no cookies and doesn’t identify you. No advertising trackers are used. Read the Privacy Policy.