A chargeback occurs when a customer disputes a transaction with their bank or credit card company, reversing the payment. The funds are withdrawn from your merchant account, and you may face additional fees.
A chargeback occurs when a customer disputes a transaction with their bank or credit card company, reversing the payment. The funds are withdrawn from your merchant account, and you may face additional fees.
Chargebacks were designed to protect consumers from fraud, but in ecommerce they're frequently triggered by buyer's remorse, confusion about billing descriptors, or items not matching expectations. When a chargeback is filed, the payment processor deducts the transaction amount plus a fee (typically £15–£25) from your account. You can submit evidence to fight it, but the process takes weeks and win rates average around 30%. Excessive chargebacks (over 1% of transactions) can lead to higher processing fees or account termination.
A customer buys a £45 dress from your store. Two weeks later, they file a chargeback claiming the item wasn't as described. Your payment processor deducts £45 plus a £20 chargeback fee. You lose the product, the revenue, and pay the fee — a total loss of £65 plus the COGS of the dress.
Chargebacks are one of the most expensive problems in ecommerce. Each chargeback costs you the product, the sale amount, a processing fee, and time spent on disputes. High chargeback rates can trigger monitoring programmes from Visa and Mastercard, leading to higher fees or loss of payment processing entirely.
Not responding to chargeback disputes within the deadline, resulting in automatic losses
Having a billing descriptor that doesn't match your store name, confusing customers
Ignoring chargeback rate trends until the payment processor flags your account
StoreLyst tracks all your chargebacks in one dashboard, monitors your chargeback rate, and alerts you when it approaches dangerous thresholds. You can see patterns by product, region, or time period.
Learn more about Chargebacks →A refund is initiated by you (the merchant) directly. A chargeback is initiated by the customer through their bank, bypassing you entirely. Chargebacks carry additional fees and count against your chargeback ratio, while refunds don't.
Yes, through a process called representment. You submit evidence (order confirmation, tracking numbers, delivery proof, communication logs) to your payment processor. Win rates vary but average around 30%. Respond quickly as deadlines are strict.
Use clear billing descriptors, send shipping confirmation with tracking, have accurate product descriptions and photos, make your refund policy visible, and respond to customer complaints quickly before they escalate to disputes.
Stop calculating in spreadsheets. Get real-time chargeback tracking for your Shopify store.